Is It 'Sexy' To Care About The Environment?

Dr. Manpal Bhogal and Dr. Daniel Farrelly discuss their research exploring the value of pro-environmental behavior in dating and mate choice.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | August 22, 2021

A new study published in Personality and Individual Differences suggests that going out of one's way to be environmentally conscious has unintended positive consequences, like being judged more favorably by potential romantic partners.

I recently spoke with the authors of the research — Dr. Manpal Bhogal of the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom and Dr. Daniel Farrelly of the University of Worcester (also in the UK) — to discuss their findings in more detail. Here is a summary of our conversation.

What inspired you to investigate this topic and what did you find?

We are both interested in the role that helping behaviors can have in relationships and mate choice, and in particular covering the different types of this behavior (e.g. heroism, generosity, trustworthiness). We see pro-environmentalism clearly as a type of helping behavior (where an individual can incur a cost such as sorting recycling to benefit others in the future), and as it is such an important aspect of behavior globally right now, we wanted to concentrate on it in our current research.

Why is it that pro-environmental behavior is seen as "sexy"?

As with other types of helping behavior, it seems clear that pro-environmental behavior can signal to potential partners that the individual has the necessary characteristics that will make them a good long-term partner (e.g. spouse) and potentially a good parent for any future offspring. This is because we find that pro-environmental behavior is more preferred in long-term partners and is important to both men and women.

Are women or men any more (or less) likely to be attracted to environmentally-conscious attitudes and behaviors?

Not really, as with other helping behaviors we found that pro-environmental behavior was a desirable trait in both men and women, and also that both men and women use pro-environmental behavior to try to appear attractive in the presence of potential mates. This is because it is important for long-term relationships, where the mating decision making of both sexes is fairly equal. In other words, it seems to be an example of mutual mate choice driven by the fact that biparental care is vital in humans for raising children, so both men and women need to make sure the other parent has the right altruistic characteristics that pro-environmental behavior can signal.

How does this work connect with research on personality and environmental consciousness?

We would say that it shows that personality characteristics such as environmental consciousness are linked to other underlying characteristics that can make an individual a desirable partner (e.g. kindness, intelligence perhaps). This is something we would like to explore in more detail in the future.

Are there cases where pro-environmental behavior may be judged negatively by potential romantic partners?

Although we didn't find it here, it is often the case that helpful behaviors are actually rated less desirable for short-term relationships (e.g. flings, one-night stands), so it could be the case too with certain pro-environmental behavior. Also, if there are any societies where there is not a social norm to behave in a way that helps the environment, then we would expect there pro-environmental behaviors to be less desirable. This is because in those cases, pro-environmental behavior would not be seen as a positive, helping behavior — fortunately, most societies are not like this, and actually, pro-environmental behavior is becoming an increasingly important social norm.

What else does evolutionary psychology say about pro-environment attitudes and behaviors? Is there any hope for us?

We think it can contribute a lot, as a main principle behind understanding humans as an evolved species is that we are extremely social and are very adapted to living cooperatively in groups. By understanding this and using it as a basis to promote and frame pro-environmental behavior, we think it can lead to some important interventions and perceptions. There are complex issues involved (e.g. it is difficult to see the benefit in engaging in pro-environmental behavior, which is not like the consequences of other helping behaviors) but we can see how established principles in evolutionary psychology can be important (e.g. framing pro-environmental behavior in terms of how it can help future kin such as children and grandchildren).