Going green to be seen: status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation.

@article{Griskevicius2010GoingGT,
  title={Going green to be seen: status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation.},
  author={Vladas Griskevicius and Joshua M. Tybur and Bram Van den Bergh},
  journal={Journal of personality and social psychology},
  year={2010},
  volume={98 3},
  pages={
          392-404
        }
}
Why do people purchase proenvironmental "green" products? We argue that buying such products can be construed as altruistic, since green products often cost more and are of lower quality than their conventional counterparts, but green goods benefit the environment for everyone. Because biologists have observed that altruism might function as a "costly signal" associated with status, we examined in 3 experiments how status motives influenced desire for green products. Activating status motives… 
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