Motivation Science, Vol 12(2), Jun 2026, 164-172; doi:10.1037/mot0000355
Recycling is a fickle behavior: most people think of recycling as important and that it is the “right thing to do,” but they are also quick to justify not doing it. Recent messaging has highlighted recycling failures as a tool for individuals to recycle more and recycle better. But is confronting individuals with past failures an effective method of behavior change? According to research on moral self-regulation, acting immorally, or failing to act morally, threatens a person’s moral self-concept, often motivating compensatory behavior (such as increased recycling). To test this model, participants were randomly assigned to watch a short video highlighting poor levels of recycling or to a control condition. Results showed that participants in the video condition reported greater moral threat and greater guilt, relative to those in the control condition. This effect was stronger for individuals who believed more strongly that recycling is a moral issue. Mean levels of recycling intent did not differ by condition; however, path analyses indicated that moral threat and guilt mediated the relationship between moral beliefs and recycling intent for those in the video condition, but not for those in the control condition. Results are interpreted within a broader framework of moral self-regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)