I've written about the descent of the formerly prestigious Scientific American into social justice blogging before. But this jumps the shark. And all the starving polar bears on the ice floes. And Al Gore's mansion and private jet.
Men Resist Green Behavior as Un-Manly
Please, tell us more.
Our own research suggests an additional possibility: men may shun eco-friendly behavior because of what it conveys about their masculinity.
Like caring more about brand virtue signaling than doing anything useful?
But surely this is based on solid research. After all, research was clearly mentioned.
In one study, we threatened the masculinity of male participants by showing them a pink gift card with a floral design and asking them to imagine using the card to purchase three products (lamp, backpack, and batteries). Compared to men shown a standard gift card, threatened men were more likely to choose the non-green rather than green version of each item. The idea that emasculated men try to reassert their masculinity through non-environmentally-friendly choices suggests that in addition to littering, wasting water, or using too much electricity, one could harm the environment merely by making men feel feminine.
This comes from two associate professors of marketing. Their solution is to put more wolves on eco-friendly products. That will be less threatening.
At the end of the article, there's this notice. "Are you a scientist who specializes in neuroscience, cognitive science, or psychology? And have you read a recent peer-reviewed paper that you would like to write about?"
If you're a marketing scientist who specializes in putting wolf virtue signaling, please send your peer-reviewed paper to the Scientific American.