Conditioned stereotypes and social sanctioning

A neural network analysis of environmental behavior in Spain

Abstract

Although environmental sustainability is widely endorsed as a social norm, engaging in everyday environmental behaviors can still entail social costs. Previous research has mainly examined the stigmatization of radical environmental activists, paying limited attention to whether similar social penalties affect mainstream individuals who adopt routine environmental practices. Addressing this gap, we shift the analytical focus from the environmental actor to the observer, examining how sociodemographic identity traits and informational environments shape the social evaluation of individuals performing everyday environmental behavior in Spain. Methodologically, the study draws on survey data from 1,864 respondents and combines regression analyses with interpretable neural networks. The results show that mainstream green individuals are, on average, socially evaluated positively; however, social validation is conditional and unevenly distributed. Negative stereotype attribution varies across observer profiles defined by gender, age, and social class. The social normalization of sustainability is strongest among middle-income and older observers, although exposure to digital information environments is associated with smaller generational differences in stereotype attribution. Overall, the findings indicate that the social acceptance of everyday sustainability varies according to the observer’s identity and informational context, highlighting how social evaluation processes contribute to the uneven normalization of sustainable lifestyles.