t3 conservation psych Flashcards
3 ways to change to sustainable behaviour
- curtailment (stop the behaviour)
- behaviour choice
- technology choice
internal influences on behaviour
cake ave / kev(in) care
- cognitive dissonance
- attitudes
- knowledge
- efficacy
- attribution of (R) responsibility
- values
- emotion
external influences on behaviour
gapp first
- goals
- affordances
- peer-perceived endorsement
- prompts
- feedback
- incentives
- reinforcement contingencies
- social norms
- taxes & laws
affordances
the use of function of something
if the environment provides useful affordances, people will act environmentally proactively
(if there is a means there is a way)
social norms
to behave in accordance to others
effective at curtailment
allows people to compare with each other (see how you are doing, a little like competition)
messages about other’s behaviour is more effective than information
peer-perceived endorsement
people respond better to friend’s endorsement
greater effect on females
peer-perceived endorsement (household toxin study)
study on high school children showing they were more influenced by a discussion style than lecture style because this included endorsing messages from within their group
reinforcement contingencies
positive or negative consequences of behaviour
rewards more ideal than punishment
punishment can lead to counter hostility and evasion
role of punishments
public good games
people hypothetically invest money into the game, but people can choose to invest less and ride the wave (like slackers)
when you add punishment, those who try to cheat, invest less, they are punished then this increase cooperation
“in the absence of punishment, contributions steadily decline in all treatments”
taxes & laws
increase the cost of performing unwanted behaviour
regulate behaviour to sustainable level
for example having high taxes on cigarettes and cars
—> to decrease consumption and use of these products, as prices increase, it deters you from using or buying
incentives
encourage desirable behaviour
behaviour can revert is incentive is removed
eg. rebates or certification on good energy use, people will prefer to buy these environmentally friendly appliances
prompts
reminders to behave in a certain way
effective at triggering behaviour if immediately associated with target
eg. “turn of the light when you are leaving the room” right by the switch
setting goals
write it down provides a clear direction of what to achieve set a motivation and incentive works best with feedback commitment is important
feedback
can see what you did good, how to improve or what to maintain
brings people closer to their goal
rewarding to see their goals being met
knowledge
ecological awareness is a powerful predictor of sustainable behaviour
works best if person already has the intention
more likely to act if the person understands
attitudes
people with positive attitudes only need to be reminded to act sustainably
without attitudes, they need to be persuaded
values
value-belief-norm model: values influence behaviour via beliefs and personal norms
pro-sustainable values: openness or change, concern for others
emotion
people can have string emotion toward nature and this triggers them to take action
environmental guilt predicts sustainable behaviour
fear-mongering: can be useful or backfire (helplessness)
self-efficacy
perceives ability to complete an action -> easy things you can do, they will more likely do it
TPB: perceived control
stronger factor than knowledge or attitude
attribution of responsibility
people need to feel responsible before acting
problem of the bystander effect: other people can do it. why should it be me?
anonymity effect: thinking that my effect is so small, so i’m not responsible, there’s nothing i can do
cognitive dissonance
two inconsistent states within the self
might rationalise our behaviour
can lead to attitude change to accommodate satiating one’s desire (so you don’t act environmentally proactively)
models for changing behavior
- applied behavioural analysis
2. elaboration likelihood model
applied behavioural analysis
approach
- focus on observable behaviour
- identify external factors that could improve behaviour
- use behavioural reinforcement methods
DO IT
define, observe, intervene, test
methods used in behaviour change interventions
Please Call DR SeuS Friend
- Promoting behaviour
- obtaining Commitments
- improve environmental Design
- offer Rewards/disincentives
- Self-efficacy
- establish sense of community & Social norms
- Foster individual-level care and concern
community-based social marketing (4 steps)
- identify barriers & benefits
- developing strategy
- implementation
- evaluation
strategies in community-based social marketing
CoCo PoP Is So Very Delicious
- personal Commitment
- establish Communication with communities
- Persuasion and marketing
- Prompts
- Incentives and disincentives
- Social norms
- Values
- improve environmental Design
new zealand didymo problem
invasive aquatic plant that clogs rivers and streams
spread by didymo on people’s boats
Check, Clean & Dry campaign started
successful
used CoCo Pop Is So Very Delicious
commitment (personal, ppl listen), communication (raise awareness, tell everyone), prompts (reminders), persuasion, incentives (otherwise fine), social norms (to protect the waters)
elaboration likelihood model
focus on
- learning characteristics of the target group
- communicate to group in an appropriate and familiar way
- persuasion
- change attitudes, implant a new social norm
- cause positive change in behaviour
ELM model details
- peripheral vs central
- motivation
- ability
central: more likely to change attitudes, more predictive of behaviour
peripheral: temporary shift
enforcement of protected areas
persuasion does not always work, use law enforcement
- costly (need to pay ppl)
- tends not to generate positive change
- can create avoidance and resistance (ppl don’t learn their lesson, they just get sour and angry)
+ effective in short term
+ restraining effect (just don’t do when ppl are looking)
+ enforcement of fines can raise money for conservation efforts
collective behaviour, community participation
- public hearing
- stakeholder negotiation
- participatory planning
eco team program
target intervention of household behaviour discussion sessions through social support to try and foster habitual behaviour change - effective - less water use - less natural gas - less electric consumption - less solid waste
social networks
identify social connections, find the strongest links (leaders, influential people), inject desired norms and values through these people
economic theory of externalities
environment is a common public good
when we buy a product, we pay for the value of the good, not the costs of producing the good (externalities)
how do we internalise externalities
- enforcing property rights (own land)
- auctioning use (hunting/fishing permits)
- charging/taxing for use (carbon tax)
incentives for sustainable transportation options
- take train/bus (make it more efficient, and cheaper)
- walk
- people prefer cars (but make it expensive)
most ppl think about themselves, their direct impact to themselves, what is the benefit to them not how it affects the environment
driving has more immediate rewards and less punishments
fare incentives
offer fare tickets with incentives, reward tokens increase usage
patrons get discounts and bus systems gain riders
structural barriers to transportation change
- low gas prices
- good highways
- home ownership
- change is difficult
HOV lanes
encourage car pooling, one lane for cars with more than 1 rider
waste and recycling numbers
waste could increase by 70% by 2025
recycling rates avg at 22% in developed countries, 1-3% in developing countries
how to improve recycling?
- well-designed recycling system
- improve knowledge
- understand environmental impacts of waste
recycling incentives
- Geller dorm study:
newspaper recycling, rewards increased recycling rates - Jacob household study:
offered rewards for curb side pickup, incentives produced small increases - good recycling system makes recycling easy
bottle bills
consumer pays a deposit with bottle purchase
deposit retuned when bottle is returned to the store
shown to reduce roadside litter
not sustainable (soft-drink industry find it more costly to reuse than to make new bottles)
cash for trash
get money for recycling (aluminium cans, metal tins, paper, cardboard, clothing, etc)
improving trash disposal
garbage collectors can alter incentive schemes to improve disposal efficiency
- Seattle: pay per (rubbish bin), if you have too much trash you have to pay more
incentive to lessen overall trash
reducing energy use
- energy price changes
- financial rewards
- simplification of tasks