Abstract Recent research found that when asked explicitly, people associate (future) sustainable actions with positive instead of negative emotions. This empirical finding implies that policy makers could harness people's intrinsic motivation to promote sustainable actions. It is however not clear where this association between sustainable actions and positive emotions stems from. Why would people report that going green feels good, given that such actions often require more effort or inconvenience? We argue and show that the previously found relationship between sustainable actions and anticipated positive emotions is not merely a matter of social desirability, but rather a matter of meaning: acting sustainably is often perceived as a moral choice and thus as a meaningful course of action, which can elicit positive emotions. Specifically, we found that participants also associate sustainable actions with positive instead of negative emotions when using an implicit association measure – one that reduces the likelihood of socially desirable responses (Study 1). Moreover, participants anticipated more intense emotions when those actions were meaningful to them: they felt more positive about sustainable actions, and more negative about unsustainable actions, when they chose to engage in those actions and when those actions are considered personally relevant to the individual (Study 2). Together, these studies explain why acting green feels good, and support the notion that sustainable actions are indeed expected (not merely reported) to be intrinsically motivating.

中文翻译：

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为什么绿色感觉很好

摘要 最近的研究发现，当明确询问时，人们会将（未来）可持续行动与积极情绪而非消极情绪联系起来。这一实证发现意味着政策制定者可以利用人们的内在动机来促进可持续行动。然而，目前尚不清楚可持续行动与积极情绪之间的这种关联源自何处。考虑到这些行动通常需要更多的努力或不便，为什么人们会报告绿色感觉很好？我们论证并表明，先前发现的可持续行动与预期积极情绪之间的关系不仅是社会愿望的问题，而且是意义问题：可持续行动通常被视为一种道德选择，因此是一种有意义的行动方案，这可以引起积极的情绪。具体来说，我们发现，参与者在使用隐性关联度量时，也会将可持续的行为与积极情绪而非消极情绪联系起来——一种降低社会期望反应可能性的方法（研究 1）。此外，当这些行动对他们有意义时，参与者预期会有更强烈的情绪：当他们选择参与这些行动以及当这些行动被认为与个人个人相关时，他们对可持续的行动感到更积极，对不可持续的行动更消极。研究 2)。总之，这些研究解释了为什么绿色行动感觉良好，并支持可持续行动确实被预期（不仅仅是报告）具有内在激励的观点。