refuting fear in heuristics and in recycling promotion ... · questionnaire residents in the canary...

Dr. Gonzalo Díaz Meneses

REFUTING FEAR IN HEURISTICS AND IN RECYCLING PROMOTION: TOWARDS A SOCIAL

MARKETING BASED ON HOPE.

ObjectivesHighlighting the importance of recycling behaviouras an affective conduct.Giving more insight into how emotions work in thisrecycling adoption process.

1) The review of the literature2) The methodological aspects3) The analysis of results4) The conclusions

The general idea that a person with somedegree of ecologicalconscience issusceptible toenvironmentalbehaviours is highlyplausible and thus itis not surprising thatcognitive basedbehavioural modelshave received suchattention fromenvironmentaleducators and social marketers.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE (1)

NeverthelessDo they adopt a person-centredmindset for strategy developmentstarting with what the audience

might process far better?

It seems very clear nowadays that recycling behaviouris more emotional than cognitive since, people havelived the experience of recycling and so this desiredconduct is far from theoretical information or anydeep knowledge such as ecological conscience andknowledge about how to recycle.


HYPOTHESIS 1

Recycling behaviour iscorrelated more withemotions than withcognitions.

It seems, following the environmental literature, fearappeal and pessimism are predominant in terms ofenvironmental promotion.


Nevertheless(1) Should one ask whether society need to feel

threatened with ecological catastrophe.(2) There must be some ethical shortcomings

inherent to provoking fear and anguish in thepublic.

(3) The latest research clearly shows recyclingconsumer as a person driven by environmentalhabit.

Then what type of emotions would it be associated with recyclingbehaviour?

Recycling is not only very common in society but alsoconvenient and cost-free given the widespreaddevelopment of selective waste collection systemand, consequently, ecological suffering does notcome into play.


HYPOTHESIS 2

Recycling behaviour is more correlated with positive emotions thanwith negative emotions.

It seems logical to think that the higher involvementwith recycling, the higer satisfaction is obtained by consumer since recycler is performing what he/sheconsiders relevant to be developed.


HYPOTHESIS 3

The higher theinvolvement withrecycling is, the more strongly the positiveemotions are associated withrecycling behaviour.


HYPOTHESIS 4

The higher theinvolvement with recyclingis, the more strongly thecognitive resources are associated with recyclingbehaviour.

When the consumer is highly involved with recycling, it is because recycler has relevant informationabout nature and the principal environmentalproblem.

The level of recycling involvement is more linked toinformative or cognitive aspects since attitudesdisplay this nature of cognition or belief and not a personal or experiential character. By contrast, recycling behaviour has an experiential, rather thantheoretical, nature.


HYPOTHESIS 5While any change in

involvement with recycling isassociated with more differences in terms ofcognitions than of emotions, any change in recyclingbehaviour is associated withmore differences in terms ofemotions than of cognitions.

METHOLOGOGICAL ASPECTSData source

Universe

Sample

Error

Scales

Questionnaire

Residents in The CanaryIslands (spring 2007)

339 individuals

5.32% for reliability interval of95.5%

Knowledge of recycling andecological conscience: 16-item, 5-

point Likert Type.

Sentiments and emotions related torecycling: 48-item, 5-point Likert

Type.

Involvement with recycling: 6-item, 5-point semantic differential question.

Recycling conduct:: 3 Likert TypeQuestions, each with one item and

five points.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS (1)

EXPLORATORY FACTORIAL

CRONBACH ALPHA

Reliability & validityanalysis

Internal consistency of the measurement instruments

EMOTIONAL SCALE

Sadness

Empathy

Shame & guilt

Confidence

Disgust

Boring

Anger

Sense of pride

Self-esteem

Envy

COGNITIONS SCALE

Ecologicalconscience

Knowledgeabout

recycling

Involvement withecology

Ecologicaldisconcern

INVOLVEMENT

Unique factor

EMOTIONAL SCALE

Sadness

Empathy

Shame & guilt

Confidence

Disgust

Boring

Anger

Sense of pride

Self-esteem

Envy

COGNITIONS SCALE


Knowledgeabout

recycling



INVOLVEMENT

Unique factor

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS (2)Correlation analysis

RECYCLING

Unique factor

COGNITIONS SCALEEcological conscience

Knowledge about recycling

Involvement with ecology

Ecological disconcern

EMOTIONAL SCALESadness

Empathy

Shame & guilt

Confidence

Disgust

Boring

Anger

Sense of pride

Self-esteem

Envy


HYPOTHESIS 2

HYPOTHESIS 1Recycling behaviour is correlated more with emotions than with

cognitions.

Recycling behaviour is more correlated with positive emotions thanwith negative cognitions.

OK

OK


Means differences testEMOTIONAL

SCALE

Sadness

Empathy

Shame & guilt

Confidence

Disgust

Boring

Anger

Sense of pride

Self-esteem

Envy

COGNITIONS SCALE


Knowledgeabout

recycling



EMOTIONAL SCALE

Sadness

Empathy

Shame & guilt

Confidence

Disgust

Boring

Anger

Sense of pride

Self-esteem

Envy

COGNITIONS SCALE


Knowledgeabout

recycling



INVOLVEMENT

Red: negative associationBlue: positive association

White: non association


HYPOTHESIS 4

HYPOTHESIS 3

OK

OK

The higher the involvement with recycling is, the more strongly thepositive emotions are associated with recycling behaviour.

The higher the involvement with recycling is, the more strongly thecognitive resources are associated with recycling behaviour.


Means differences testEMOTIONAL

SCALE

Sadness

Empathy

Shame & guilt

Confidence

Disgust

Boring

Anger

Sense of pride

Self-esteem

Envy

COGNITIONS SCALE


Knowledgeabout

recycling



EMOTIONAL SCALE

Sadness

Empathy

Shame & guilt

Confidence

Disgust

Boring

Anger

Sense of pride

Self-esteem

Envy

COGNITIONS SCALE


Knowledgeabout

recycling



Recycling behaviour

Red: negative associationBlue: positive association

White: non association


HYPOTHESIS 5

XWhile any change in involvement with recycling is associated with

more differences in terms of cognitions than of emotions, any changein recycling behaviour is associated with more differences in terms ofemotions than of cognitions.

CONCLUSIONS (1)The result show that, if the aim is to design

campaigns in keeping with the target audience, there must be greater emphasis on emotional thanon cognitive aspects.

IMPLICATIONS (1)Consumer might be convinced to recycle by

peripheral routes of persuasion, such as music andpoem appeal, a sense of humour or telling storiesabout our emotional bond with nature.

CONCLUSIONS (2)The consumer lives recycling as a pleasant and

positive experience in which the feeling ofconfidence and peace of mind is always strongerthan other, disagreeble emotions such as anghish, rage or guilt.

CONCLUSIONS (3)That evidence not only challenges the traditional

doctrine based on the theories of multiple attributesand reasoned action, which stress the importanceof the persuasive power of informative content, italso questions the suppossed good fit betweencampaings that emphasise fear of an ecologicaldisaster.

IMPLICATIONS (2)Campaigns might consist of avoiding the use of fear

appeal as persuasive content even if climatechange is real since negative affections do notmatch the recycling adoption consumer processvery well.

CONCLUSIONS (3)The more consumer is involved with recycling, the

more cognitive is his/her approach. The lessconsumer is involved with recycling, the more emotional is his/her approach.

IMPLICATIONS (4)Which suggests a greater opportunity of informative

persuasion in the case of high involved consumerand a greater opportunity of emotional persuasionin the case of low involved consumer.

FUTURE LINES OF RESEARCH (1)

Why have the teaching of such theoretical contentand the invocation of fear acquired such notorietyin academic and professional consultancy circles?

We should explain the importance of emotion as anessential variable to explain human behaviour andtherefore the recycling conduct.

ON RESULTS

FUTURE LINES OF RESEARCH (2)

It would be important to measure emotion by usingelectric equipment so that reported and indirectinformation are contrasted.

It is necessary to test these results in differentcircumstances where the system of collectingmaterials for recycling is less developed.

It is also necessary to check the importance of themoderating role of sociodemographic andpsychographics characteristics on the emotionalprocessing response.

TO OVERCOME SOME LIMITATIONS

THE END

This work proposes that greater effort be devoted tothe heuristics of hope: it is not the fear ofdoomsday that should become the basis of theecological ideology of the new millennium butrather the hope that the consumer can becomemore oriented to recycling.

This article shows that today´sconsumer gives less credit toprophecies of doom than to

prophecies of salvation.

ENJOY RECYCLING!!!!!

Dr. Gonzalo Díaz Meneses

REFUTING FEAR IN HEURISTICS AND IN RECYCLING PROMOTION: TOWARDS A SOCIAL

MARKETING BASED ON HOPE.

refuting fear in heuristics and in recycling promotion ... · questionnaire residents in the canary...

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