北大国发院马京晶老师同美国四位教授近期被国际一流期刊Journal of Consumer Research 接受发表的关于环保和消费者行为的文章得到了美国诸多媒体的关注。下面是此文的内容简介和相关媒体报道。

Brough, Aaron, Jim Wilkie, Jingjing Ma, Mathew Issac, and David Gal (forthcoming), “Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly? The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption,” Journal of Consumer Research.

你或许有所不知，除了乱扔垃圾、浪费水源、过度用电之外，让男人感觉自己缺乏男子气概也会对环境造成伤害。想象一个男性消费者在两种产品中做选择——一种对环境友好，一种则不。你可能想不到，他的选择会受到性别认同安全感的影响，而这恰恰是本研究的发现。

性 别差异存在于可持续的行为之中。相较于女性，男性更多地乱扔垃圾，更少地回收旧物，对不环保的生活方式更少感到愧疚。本研究将说明，男性对于是否选择绿色 行为的犹豫，源自对“绿色即女性化”这一流行信条的认同。在这种刻板印象的作用下，一旦一位男性感觉自身男子气概受到挑战，就会通过选择不环保的行为来强 化他的阳刚之气。对应的，一位对自己男子气概很有安全感的男性，更能欣然接受绿色的行为方式。

研究组由来自五所不同高校的营销学教授组成，他们通 过一系列的实验来验证自己的猜想，实验涵盖了超过2000名来自中美的参与者。教授们的第一个目标是检测“绿色即女性化”的刻板印象是否存在。正如预期所 料，在各个年龄组和性别中普遍发现了“女性化”和“环境保护”这两个概念之间的心理联系。 比如说，拿着可重复使用购物袋的消费者比拿着塑料袋的消费者会被认为更加女性化。不仅如此，即便只是把曾经做过的一些有益于环境的事情（相较于不利于环境 的事情）写下来，人们也会认为自己更加女性化。

研究组的第二个目标是探究“绿色即女性化”的刻板印象是否会影响消费者——尤其是男性消费者——的 行为。他们发现，当一位男性的男子气概面临威胁时（比如送他一张印花的粉色礼物卡），他会避免选择一些环境友好的产品。相反地，如果强调一位男性的男子气 概（比如告诉他他的字体非常刚劲有力），可以增强他的信心，帮助他克服对于因选择环境友好的产品而被贴上女性化标签的恐惧。另一种减少男性对环保产品的抵 触的方法是借助男性化的品牌。如果某绿色非盈利项目被冠以非常男性化的品牌名（比如“荒野游士”而不是“自然之友”），以及使用更加男性化的字体、配色和 肖像，男人们对其的捐款会更多。对宝马中国经销商的实地研究发现，当一辆环境友好的汽车广告使用更男性化的词语，如“保护”，而不是传统的绿色词语，比如 “环境友好”时，男性消费者们会更喜欢它。

与男性不同的是，女性的绿色行为就对性别暗示没那么敏感：女性往往会自然而然地做出绿色选择。不过，让 男性在做出绿色行为时感到不适的“绿色即女性化”的刻板印象，在男性和女性之中都是存在的。所以意识到这种刻板印象深入人心，并且尝试去改变对于绿色行为 的成见，对男性和女性来说同等重要。

研究组中的一员，来自犹他州立大学的艾伦·布拉夫教授指出，“我们的研究首次提出了追求男子气概的内在动力会造成男性对绿色行为的抗拒，而且这不单单是由于男性和女性的个性差异所致。”

当 被问到研究成果是否只适用于异性恋时，来自西雅图大学的合作者，马修·艾萨克教授回应道：“因为我们大部分的数据都来自于异性恋者，所以性别认同的不同会 对实验结果造成哪些影响，我们仍未有明确的答案。这无疑是未来研究的一个开放领域。不过，我们认为，性别取向是次要的，更关键的是在一个人的自我形象中， 男性化的一面对他们来说有多重要。我们观察到的结果在那些自恃阳刚、但男子气概受到挑战的男性身上表现得最为明显，而那些自我认同为女性的男性则可能不会 做出相同的反应。

据布拉夫教授所言，核心的结论在于，“并不是男性不如女性重视可持续的生活方式——他们只是想表现得更阳刚一些。 所以如果今天你想要为环境做点好事的话，那就让男人们对自己的男子气概更有信心吧。”

（翻译：刘佳佳校对：曾莹）

原文 Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly?The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption

You probably don’t know that in addition to littering, wasting water, or using too much electricity, you can harm the environment by making men feel feminine.  Imagine a male shopper trying to decide between two products—one that is good for the environment and one that is not.  You may not expect his choice to be influenced by how secure he feels with his gender identity, but that is exactly what this research finds. A gender gap exists in sustainable behavior; compared to women, men litter more, recycle less, and feel less guilty about living a non-green lifestyle.  This research helps to explain men’s hesitation to adopt green behaviors by identifying a prevalent belief that ‘green is feminine.’  As a result of this stereotype, when a man doesn’t feel macho, he tries to reassert his masculinity through non-green choices. On the flip side, men who feel secure in their manhood are comfortable going green. The research team, comprised of marketing professors at five different universities, tested their predictions in a series of experiments involving over 2,000 participants from the U.S. and China.  Their first goal was to test whether a green-feminine stereotype exists.  As predicted, a powerful mental link was discovered between the concepts of femininity and environmentalism—one that is prevalent across age groups and among both sexes.  As a result, people judged others who engaged in green behavior as feminine.  For example, a shopper carrying a reusable grocery bag was perceived as more feminine than a shopper carrying a plastic grocery bag.  Moreover, people even rated themselves as more feminine after writing about a time they did something good (vs. bad) for the environment. The second goal of the research team was to test whether this green-feminine stereotype influences the way consumers—and men in particular—behave.  They found that threatening a man’s masculinity (for example, by giving him a pink gift card with a floral design) causes him to avoid choosing eco-friendly products.  Conversely, affirming a man’s masculinity (for example, by telling him his writing style is masculine) can boost his confidence, help him overcome the fear of being judged as feminine for making green choices, and increase his preferences for green products.  Another way to reduce men’s green aversion is through masculine branding— men’s donations to a green non-profit increased when it was branded with a masculine name like ‘Wilderness Rangers’ instead of ‘Friends of Nature’ and used more masculine fonts, colors, and images.  And in a field study conducted at BMW dealerships in China, the researchers found that when an eco-friendly car was described in a print ad with a masculine word like ‘protect’ rather than a traditional green word like ‘eco-friendly,’ male customers liked it more. In contrast to men, the green behavior of women was not as sensitive to gender cues; women tended to be green regardless.  But the green-feminine stereotype, which can make men feel uncomfortable making green choices, was held by both men and women.  So being aware that this stereotype exists and trying to change perceptions of what it means to be green is equally important for men and women. One of the researchers, Dr. Aaron Brough of Utah State University, observed, “Our research is the first to suggest that a motivation to feel masculine could be contributing to men’s reluctance to adopt green behaviors and that it’s not simply due to personality differences between men and women.” When asked whether the findings apply only to heterosexuals, co-author Dr. Mathew Isaac of Seattle University replied, “Since most of our data comes from heterosexuals, we don’t have a good understanding yet of how our results might change among those who define their gender identity differently.  That is definitely an open area for future research.  However, we think it is less about sexual orientation and more about how important the role of masculinity is in one’s self-image. The effects we observed are likely to be strongest among men who have a lot to lose when their masculinity is threatened, whereas men who embrace a feminine identity may not react the same way.” The key takeaway, according to Brough? “It’s not that men don’t care as much as women about sustainability—it’s just that they want to feel macho.  So if you want to do something good for the environment today, make a man feel more manly!”

本文曾被美国多家媒体报道，详见附录。
附录
The Washington Post
Your Manliness Could Be Hurting the Planet
August 31, 2016

New York
Men Are Destroying the Earth Because They Think Environmentalism Is Too Girly
September 1, 2016

Newser
Men Think Going Green Will Make Them WimpsSeptember 4, 2016

Portland Press HeraldCommentary: Research shows recycling’s not very manlySeptember 4, 2016
ABC (Australia）Paint nude women on solar panels: How to get men to care about the environmentSeptember 2, 2016
BroadlyMachismo Is Ruining the Planet, Study SaysSeptember 2, 2016
QuartzStudies Show People Think Caring About the Environment Is “Feminine”September 2, 2016
Yahoo! NewsRecycling’s Not Just for Women, BroSeptember 1, 2016
TakePartRecycling’s Not Just for Women, BroSeptember 1, 2016
MicMen Are Ruining the Planet Because They Think Green Products Are“Feminine”September 1, 2016
Siasat DailyMen Willing to Purchase Eco-Friendly Things If Products Are “Masculine”August 31, 2016
Waste DiveStudy: Men Litter More, Recycle Less to “Safeguard Their Gender Identity”August 31, 2016
Psych CentralIt’s Not Easy Being Green -- At Least for MenAugust 28, 2016
SlateEco-Friendly Branding Must Be Super Manly to Attract Manly Men, Study SaysAugust 26, 2016
Business   Standard Men Willing to Go Green If Products Are “Masculine”August 26, 2016
Science DailyGoing Green Is for Girls, but Branding Can Make Men Eco-friendlyAugust 25, 2016
Notre Dame NewsGoing Green Is for Girls — But Branding Can Make Men Eco-friendlyAugust 25, 2016
Pacific StandardIt’s Not Easy Being Green and ManlyAugust 16, 2016