The Social Side of Consumption Reduction for Environmental Reasons: Nonzero-Sum Beliefs and Gratitude

Nonzero-sum beliefs are lay theories that potentially conflictual social interactions can yield mutually beneficial outcomes, serving the needs of the parties involved. We argue that these beliefs are relevant to situations in which individuals consider reducing consumption for environmental reasons. Across five preregistered studies (N = 1,804) with cross-sectional, experimental, and longitudinal designs, we tested whether nonzero-sum beliefs predict the willingness to reduce consumption and whether gratitude is positively related to both. We found that nonzero-sum beliefs were consistently associated with greater gratitude and greater willingness to reduce consumption, and gratitude was indirectly associated with consumption reduction through nonzero-sum beliefs. However, experimentally inducing gratitude increased neither nonzero-sum beliefs nor willingness to reduce consumption, and a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model over twelve weeks revealed no systematic within-person associations among the three constructs. The longitudinal data instead replicated the indirect and direct associations at the between-person level. These findings extend research on consumption reduction by identifying nonzero-sum beliefs and gratitude as stable, co-occurring orientations linked to the willingness to reduce consumption for environmental reasons. Beyond their theoretical contribution, these findings speak to ongoing debates about whether environmental action is necessarily a zero-sum trade-off, suggesting instead that individuals who see shared benefit in social interdependence are more willing to act for the environment.