The Spillover Effect: Fact or Fiction

In light of recent pro-environmental behavior (PEB) campaigns like banning plastic straws, some have raised concerns that performing small behaviors may undermine support for more difficult, and arguably more effective, political PEBs. Recent psychological research has focused on understanding how performing one PEB may spill over to increase (positive spillover) or decrease (negative spillover) the likelihood of performing additional PEB. We hypothesized that participants asked to perform a PEB due to identity reasons would display positive spillover and that participants asked to perform a PEB due to guilt reasons would display negative spillover. 120 student participants (93 women) were randomly assigned to conditions fostering pro-environmental identity or guilt, or to a control condition. The participants were then asked to commit to use a reusable cup for an entire week (PEB1). One week later participants were asked if they would be willing to write a letter to the governor in support of alternative energy sources (PEB2). We found no evidence of the condition affecting PEB1 or PEB2. Additionally, there was no significant relationship between performing PEB1 and performing PEB2. Therefore, we found no evidence of spillover effects. Worry about negative PEB spillover to political behaviors may be unwarranted