Ken Nelson

A profiling tool?

I always been suspicious of people who bought green, organic, were men and wore pony tails, or any combination there of. Turns out, as is so often the case, I was right.

But new research by Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong at the University of Toronto levels an even graver charge: that virtuous shopping can actually lead to immoral behavior. In their study (described in a paper now in press at Psychological Science), subjects who made simulated eco-friendly purchases ended up less likely to exhibit altruism in a laboratory game and more likely to cheat and steal.

The scientists offer cautions and rationalizing explanations blah blah blah….  Here  it is from a straight shooter…  if somebody is different in one public way, they are likely different in other private ways. So be wary!