Environmental framing and left-wing political orientation promote sustainability in a US-based common-pool resource dilemma

TY - JOUR

T1 - Environmental framing and left-wing political orientation promote sustainability in a US-based common-pool resource dilemma

AU - Hansen, Richardt R.S.F.

AU - Koomen, Johannes A.

AU - Buck, Bryony

AU - Betts, John M.

AU - Bliuc, Ana-Maria

AU - Koomen, Rebecca M.

N1 - © 2025 The Authors

PY - 2025/8

Y1 - 2025/8

N2 - Little research has explored whether framing effects differ based on political orientation in a Common-Pool Resource (CPR) dilemma. In this research, American Democrats and Republicans (N = 266 individuals recruited via Prolific Academic) played an online CPR game, FISH, framed either as an Environment Game (environment framing) or a Fishing Game (neutral framing). In groups of four, participants harvested fish from a shared ocean over eight seasons earning $.10 per fish caught. Unbeknownst to the participants, their three groupmates were in fact computerised players (bots). The interaction between political orientation as a dichotomous model (Democrat versus Republican) and framing condition was not significant. However, those playing the Environment Game were significantly more cooperative in the first season of play and across all seasons played than those playing the Fishing Game. Additionally, Democrats cooperated significantly more than Republicans in the first season, but not across all seasons played. Exploratory analyses show that the strength of a participant's political orientation affected cooperation to some degree, with strong Democrats playing the Environment Game cooperating at significantly higher rates than both strong Democrats playing the Fishing Game and strong Republicans in both framing conditions. Moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans cooperated comparably across all framing conditions.

AB - Little research has explored whether framing effects differ based on political orientation in a Common-Pool Resource (CPR) dilemma. In this research, American Democrats and Republicans (N = 266 individuals recruited via Prolific Academic) played an online CPR game, FISH, framed either as an Environment Game (environment framing) or a Fishing Game (neutral framing). In groups of four, participants harvested fish from a shared ocean over eight seasons earning $.10 per fish caught. Unbeknownst to the participants, their three groupmates were in fact computerised players (bots). The interaction between political orientation as a dichotomous model (Democrat versus Republican) and framing condition was not significant. However, those playing the Environment Game were significantly more cooperative in the first season of play and across all seasons played than those playing the Fishing Game. Additionally, Democrats cooperated significantly more than Republicans in the first season, but not across all seasons played. Exploratory analyses show that the strength of a participant's political orientation affected cooperation to some degree, with strong Democrats playing the Environment Game cooperating at significantly higher rates than both strong Democrats playing the Fishing Game and strong Republicans in both framing conditions. Moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans cooperated comparably across all framing conditions.

KW - Common-pool resource dilemma

KW - Cooperation

KW - Framing

KW - Political orientation

KW - Political polarisation

KW - Sustainability

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105008804793

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102663

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102663

M3 - Article

SN - 0272-4944

VL - 105

JO - Journal of Environmental Psychology

JF - Journal of Environmental Psychology

M1 - 102663

ER -