Transcript Environmental Econ Presentation 2015

PSYCHOLOGICAL
UNDERPINNINGS OF
PROMOTING
ENVIRONMENTALLY
SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIORS
DR. PA HER
ASSISTANT
PROF. PSYCHOLOGY
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Outcomes
• By the end of the session, I hope you can--– Understand the psychological principles related to
behavior change
•
•
•
•
Provide Usable Information
Cash/Tangible Rewards
Verbal or Written Feedback to Promote Efficacy
Social Norms
– Explain why a research perspective is important
when creating behavioral change initiatives,
campaigns, or strategies
Which disciplines study behavioral change?
• Behaviorism (Learning Psychology)
– The scientific study of how experience or practice results
in a relatively permanent change in behavior
• Social Psychology
– The scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors are influenced by other people
• Environmental Psychology
– The scientific study of how people influence the
environment and how the environment influences people
• Behavioral Economics—Environmental
– “the hybrid offspring of psychology and economics”
– a branch of economics that studies how social, cognitive,
and emotional factors influence economic decisions.
Why an Experimental Approach?
• Experimental methods and tools help us test the
effects of relevant variables on environmentally
protective behaviors.
– Intuitive interventions do not always work
Changing a Behavior
• Pick a habit/behavior
– Using a refillable water bottle
– Idling while waiting to pick up your partner at work/school
– Hanging laundry rather than using the dryer
– Using public transportation
– Littering
– Exercising
• What are some ways you can get people to start adopting the
new behavior?
“The Rationale”
Education
Attitude Change
Behavioral Change
• 1971 Ad Council Environmental
Advertisement
– Said to be one of the most
memorable and successful
ads of the 20th Century.
– Works for instigating
attitude change, but does
not provide any information
to practically change
behavior
Assumptions About Behavioral Change 1
Reinforcement
• Behaviors, emotions,
and thoughts don’t
necessarily correspond.
– “Educating” people
often does not change
either their attitudes or
behaviors.
– Even when attitudes
change, behaviors don’t
necessarily follow.
• Delayed reinforcement!
Climate Change
• Scary!!!!!!
• Because?????
Public Perceptions: Climate Change &
Environment
• National Public Opinion Polls:
– 82% - Climate change is real (60% caused by human activities)1.
– 65% - concerned “a great deal” or “a fair amount” about climate
change2.
– 53% - Climate change is one of the most serious long-term issues
facing our country3.
1Fox
News Survey, 2007; 2Pew Research Center, 2008; 3Presidential Debate on Science
Survey, 2008; 4Clean Air Partnership & Vanderbilt University, 2003 - 2007
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APA Task Force on the Interface
Between Psychology and Global
Climate Change
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•
•
•
•
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Uncertainty – Research has shown that uncertainty over climate change reduces
the frequency of “green” behavior.
Mistrust – Evidence shows that most people don’t believe the risk messages of
scientists or government officials.
Denial – A substantial minority of people believe climate change is not occurring
or that human activity has little or nothing to do with it, according to various polls.
Undervaluing Risks –many people believe environmental conditions will worsen in
25 years. While this may be true, this thinking could lead people to believe that
changes can be made later.
Lack of Control – People believe their actions would be too small to make a
difference and choose to do nothing.
Habit – Ingrained behaviors are extremely resistant to permanent change while
others change slowly. Habit is the most important obstacle to pro-environmental
behavior
Assumptions About Behavioral Change
• Many behaviors that are predictable are not
economically “rational”
– We often don’t know why we do what we do
– We can’t always tell when we’re being influenced
• Many things that influence us do so below the threshold of
consciousness
• Cialdini’s Influence: Science and Practice
• Charles Duhigg The Power of Habits
Strategies for Promoting Behavioral
Change
• Provide Usable Information
• Cash/Tangible Rewards
• Verbal or Written Feedback to Promote
Efficacy
• Social Norms
I. Usable Information
• Green NYC Ads - Practical Ways to Behavior Change
Think About the Behavior You
Wanted to Change
• What are some ways you could use usable
information to get people to start adopting
the new behavior?
II. Rewards/Reinforcement
Operant
• Any behavior by which an individual operates
on his or her environment
Rewards
Cash/Tangible Rewards
*note that symbolic things can also represent a consequence
(e.g. getting a Hummer may indicate higher social status vs.
riding the bus)
Social Meaning can have ‘value’
• The social meaning or
symbolic significance
behaviors will
determine their
probability of
occurrence, e.g.,
– If behaviors like, public
transport, or recycling
connote low status, they
will be avoided.
The Habit Loop: Cue as a Reward
2.
1.
3.
CRAVING
From the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
From the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The Habit Loop
From the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Think About the Behavior You
Wanted to Change
• What are some ways you could provide
immediate reinforcement to get people to
start adopting the new behavior?
– Could be positive or negative reinforcement
– What did RecycleBank do to engage the
consumer?
III. Feedback to confirm we are
good at what we do
Verbal or Written Feedback
Feedback
• We are less motivated to engage in
behaviors that we feel are ineffective.
• Particularly important for frequent & easy to change
behaviors.
• Promoting Efficacy:
– Message framing
• Stress the connection between behaviors and outcomes.
– Feedback
• Feedback meters associated with
5 to 60% reduction in energy use.
• Continuous feedback is
most effective (feedback meters)
• Periodic feedback is better
than no feedback (public
announcements)
80%
70%
55%
60%
50%
40%
31%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Weekly Feedback
Continuous Feedback
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Petersen et al. (2007)
Think About the Behavior You
Wanted to Change
• What are some ways you could use feedback
to get people to start adopting the new
behavior?
IV. Social Norms
Using Social Norms
• Social Norms:
– Pressure to comply (social approval) –what we ought to do to fit in
– Pressure to conform (popularity, fitting in) –what most people do
• We often change our behavior to accommodate social norms.
– 75% of participants gave an
obviously wrong answer (Asch, 1951).
X
A B C
35
Social Norm Example:
Petrified Forest Experiment
Message Framing is Important and can have
boomerang effects
Environmental Theft:
The (Negative) Power of Descriptive Norms
•
•
Message at Petrified Forest National Park(Arizona)—OLD SIGN
• Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of
petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time.
• Conveys the message that “everyone is taking it”
Experiment (Cialdini and colleagues; 2003)
• Marked pieces of petrified wood in park
• Injunctive Norm Condition (new sign Sign #1 Read):
• Please don’t remove petrified wood from the Park, in order to
preserve the natural state of the Petrified Forest.
• Descriptive Norm Condition (new sign Sign #2 Read):
• Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the
Park, changing the natural state of the Petrified Forest.
Boomerang effects
- Descriptive Norm
Establishes a
negative norm
Source: Cialdini et al. (2006). Activating and aligning social norms for persuasive impact. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology.
Boomerang effects
- Descriptive Norm
Establishes a
positive norm
Boomerang effects
- Injunctive Norm
Establishes social
responsibility
norm “It’s bad”
Results
Percentage of Marked
Wood Stolen
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Most Steal
•
•
Most Don’t
Don’t/It’s Bad
Theft Rates:
• Injunctive Norm (1.67%) vs. Descriptive Norm (7.92%)
Conclusion?
• When the socially undesirable action is prevalent (lots of theft), PSAs should focus on injunctive (not
descriptive) norm
Littering:
More Evidence for the Power of Descriptive Norms
•
Cialdini, Reno and Kallgren (1990)
•
Subjects find a handbill on their windshield which they can litter
•
Environment is either clean or littered
•
Clean environment conveys descriptive norm that people don’t litter
•
Littered environment conveys descriptive norm that people do litter
•
Subject sees another person (confederate) litter or not
•
Observe whether people litter – Results 
Social Psychology
Social Psychology
• Person littering
Recycling Towels in Hotels:
Even More Evidence for the Power of Descriptive Norms
Old Message:
This seems like a
message that would
solicit the desired
result. That is
because we are
judging based on
what WE would do.
In the following
experiment updated
notes were left
establishing social
norms.
Recycling Towels in Hotels:
Even More Evidence for the Power of Descriptive Norms
Below “Help Save Environment”
Control: HELP SAVE THE
ENVIRONMENT. You can show your
respect for nature and help save the
environment by reusing your towels
during your stay
Social Norm: JOIN YOUR FELLOW
GUESTS IN HELPING TO SAVE THE
ENVIRONMENT. Almost 75% of
guests who are asked to participate in
our new resource savings program do
help by using their towels more than
once. You can join your fellow guests
in this program to help save the
environment by reusing your towels
during your stay.
Goldstein, Cialdini, & Griskevicius (2008, J of Consumer Research)
A room with a viewpoint
Social Norm Messages
Curbside Recyling
Curbside recycling
Curbside recycling
 Mandated by most cities in order to meet 50% diversion
requirements set by State.
 Field experiment with 600 households for 8 weeks
 3 groups:
 1. Information only 2. No treatment control, 3. Descriptive
social norm feedback (informing what neighbors are doing)
 Baseline (4 weeks), intervention (4 weeks), follow-up (4 weeks)
Normative-based interventions
52%
Normative
Feedback
50%
48%
Information
Only
46%
44%
No Treatment
(control)
42%
40%
38%
Baseline
Intervention
Follow-up
Change from baseline to follow-up for the normative feedback condition is significant (p<.05), and
corresponds to a 19% increase in recycling rates!
Source: Schultz, P. W. (1999). Changing behavior with normative feedback interventions: A field experiment of curbside
recycling. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 25-36
Think About the Behavior You
Wanted to Change
• These door handles and yellow and blue
cubbies served as ‘cues’ for the routine. What
are some ways you could use ‘cues’ to get
people to start adopting the new behavior or
‘norm’?
– How will you make that behavior a social norm?
Final Thoughts
• “Educating” people often does not change
their attitudes or behaviors.
• We might be more successful by just targeting
the behavior without worrying about what
people believe
• Harnessing the power of human nature is
always a good bet