Social Value Orientations and Decisions to Take Proenvironmental Action

Assessed whether social value orientations influence decisions to actively support a proposal for a transportation pollution reduction program. 135 undergraduate students with prosocial or proself orientations, as evaluated using 29 decomposed games, were given the opportunity to send letters of support or opposition to the program director concerning the Employee Trip Reduction Plan. A description of the environmental program was presented along with 2 letters either in support of or in opposition to the plan. Proself Ss were more likely to send letters opposing the program, whereas prosocial participants were more likely to send letters of support. Although proself and prosocial Ss reported equivalent support for the program and equivalent perceptions of the program's environmental benefits, proself Ss reported higher perceptions of personal costs associated with the program. Social value orientations may lead to differences in environmental behaviors, primarily because of differences in perceptions of the personal costs incurred from engaging in these behaviors.