1 . There’s a useful concept from psychology that helps explain why good people do things that harm the environment: the false consensus effect. That’s where we overvalue how acceptable and prevalent (普遍的) our own behavior is in society. Put simply, if you’re doing something (even if you secretly know you probably shouldn’t), you’re more likely to think plenty of other people do it too. What’s more, you likely overestimate how much other people think that behavior is broadly OK.

This bias (偏见) allows people to justify socially unacceptable or illegal behaviors. Researchers have observed the false consensus effect in drug use and illegal hunting. More recently, conservationists are beginning to reveal how this effect contributes to environmental damage.

In Australia, people who admitted to poaching (偷猎) thought it was much more prevalent in society than it really was, and had higher estimates than fishers who obeyed the law. They also believed others viewed poaching as socially acceptable; however, in reality, more than 90% of fishers held the opposite view. The false consensus effect has also shown up in studies examining support for nuclear energy and offshore wind farms.

Just as concepts from psychology can help explain some forms of environmental damage, so too can they help address it. For example, research shows people are more likely to litter in areas where there’s already a-lot of trash scattered around; so making sure the ground around a bin is not covered in rubbish may help.

Factual information on how other people think and behave can be very powerful. Energy companies have substantially reduced energy consumption simply by showing people how their electricity use compares to their neighbors. Encouragingly, stimulating people’s natural desire for status has also been successful in getting people to “go green to be seen”, or to publicly buy eco-friendly products.

As the research evidence shows, social norms can be a powerful force in encouraging and popularizing environmentally friendly behaviors. Perhaps you can do your bit by sharing this article!

The pleasure of Reading

We’ve all heard the advice to “get out of your comfort zone” by taking on a new challenge. A recent study goes a step further: Make discomfort a direct goal. That’s more likely to motivate you     1     if you only focus on what you hope to learn.

In the first of five experiments, the researchers assigned several hundred students training at Second City Chicago     2    (participate) in a small-group improvisation(即兴) exercise, and then instructed half of the group that their goal during the session was “to feel awkward and uncomfortable.” The rest,     3    (that) in the control group,     4    (tell) to “feel yourself developing new skills.” Members of the first group kept at the exercise longer than the others did and took     5    (great) risks.

Experiments     6    (involve) other dimensions of personal growth—engaging in expressive writing, learning about gun violence, and hearing about opposing political     7    (belief)—produced similar results.

Reframing anxiety as excitement has been proven a way to improve singing in front of strangers, and thinking of stress as     8     means to boost achievement demonstrated a stress-management technique.

“When people reinterpret negative experiences as     9    (function), they are more willing to engage in tasks that call forth those experiences,” the researchers explain. “Instead of seeing discomfort as unrelated to the goal     10     a signal to stop, they will start perceiving it as a sign of progress toward their goal.”