Description:
In an online experiment (N = 832), we examine whether priming participants on positive and negative future events affects pro-environmental behavior measured with an incentivized decision task with true environmental consequences. In this task, individuals decide between keeping money for themselves and investing part or the entire amount in planting trees. The results show that participants primed on future events plant significantly more trees and have higher pro-environmental intentions than participants in the control group, with priming unrelated to the future. However, we find no statistically significant effect between the positive and negative future priming conditions. The results further suggest that both future primes may have caused the behavioral change by activating greater concern for the future and the environment. Together, these findings suggest that increasing the salience of future events can help promote pro-environmental intentions and behavior