sustainable behavior and behavior change · 2015-09-15 · sustainable behavior communication and...

Sustainable Behavior and Behavior Change

1

Presentation at the Collegiate Sports Sustainability Summit

June, 24-26, 2015, Purdue University

Communication and Cognition Lab

Brian Lamb School of Communication

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~treimer/



Behavior and Behavior Change

Psychology aims to

understand how people

think, feel, and behave.

There is a long and rich

tradition in the

behavioral sciences of

theories on behavior and

behavior change.

What are characteristics

of sustainable behavior?



2

Sustainable Behavior



3

Sustainable behavior, pro-environmental

behavior, conservation behaviors,

environmentally friendly behaviors …

Typically, conflicts between short-term

self-interest and long-term collective

interest (climate change; over-fishing)

-Temporal Construal Sustainable behavior is typically related to

choices with consequences that are delayed

in time and are often highly uncertain

-Common Good Dilemma Individuals who do not engage in sustainable

behavior have an advantage

Climate change

4 Communication and Cognition Lab


Over-fishing

Sustainable behavior, pro-environmental

behavior, conservation behaviors,

environmentally friendly behaviors …

Typically, conflicts between short-term

self-interest and long-term collective

interest (climate change; over-fishing)

-Temporal Construal Sustainable behavior is typically related to

choices with consequences that are delayed

in time and are often highly uncertain

-Common Good Dilemma Individuals who do not engage in sustainable

behavior have an advantage

Sustainable Behavior

Behavior Change Know your goals

Long-term change in attitudes:

Persuasion techniques

Challenges: small changes; correlation

with behavior;

Short-term change in behavior:

Compliance gaining techniques

Challenges: Behavior change may not

be sustainable;

Long-term change in behavior:

Influence routines and habits;

Challenges: Difficult to achieve;



Know your audience

What are the attitudes and habits of your

audience? What are specific barriers?

Consider tayloring your messages/strategy. Differences in Social Identity

Behavior Change



Know your goals

Long-term change in attitudes:

Persuasion techniques

Challenges: small changes; correlation

with behavior;

Short-term change in behavior:

Compliance gaining techniques

Challenges: Behavior change may not

be sustainable;

Long-term change in behavior:

Influence routines and habits;

Challenges: Difficult to achieve;

Know your audience

What are the attitudes and habits of your

audience? What are specific barriers?

Consider tayloring your messages/strategy. Differences in Attitudes

BEHAVIOR CHANGE

WHAT WORKS?

7



Osbaldiston and Schott (2011) aimed to

answer 3 questions:

8

1) What interventions/strategies/treatments have been used?

2) What is the relative average efficacy of each treatment?

3) Are certain strategies more effective for promoting certain types

of behaviors than others?



Meta-Analysis: What Works?

Osbaldiston and Schott (2011)

9

• Conducted a meta-analysis focusing on pro-environmental

behavior

• Meta-analysis entailed 87 reports including 253 experimental

treatments of observable behaviors

• Authors provide a list of behaviors and strategies that were used

to promote pro-environmental behavior



Meta-Analysis: What Works?

10

Three general categories of sustainable behaviors:

• Recycling behaviors

(e.g. curbside, public, central location)

• Conservation behaviors

(e.g. energy, water, gasoline)

• Technology adoption behaviors

(e.g. energy-saving technology)



Behaviors Studied

Osbaldiston and Schott (2011)

11

Convenience Reminders

Justifications Information

Rewards Goal-setting

Cognitive dissonance Social modeling

Commitment Feedback



Interventions/Strategies Studied Osbaldiston and Schott (2011)

12

What behavior will be changed?

Classification of Strategies

How will people change the behavior?

Why will people change the behavior?

See: Cooley, A. (2013). Going Public. Resource Recycling. See

http://americarecyclesday.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/RRarticle-

Nov2013.pdf



Strategies Studied

http://americarecyclesday.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/RRarticle-Nov2013.pdf





Strategy Definitions and Examples

13

How Strategies

How strategies concern the initiation and enactment of the

desired behavioral change (and can increase people’s

perceived efficacy)

Convenience, Reminders, Information

Why Strategies

Why strategies concern the underlying motivation for individuals

to enact a behavioral change

Justification, Rewards, Cognitive dissonance, Social modeling

How / Why / What Strategies

Strategies which target both the motivation to enact a behavior

and the means by which it can be enacted

Feedback, Commitment, Goal setting



How Strategies

14

How-Strategies concern the initiation and enactment of the

desired behavioral change (and can increase people’s perceived

efficacy)

Convenience

Making behaviors easier to perform

Ex. Making recycling bins readily available

Reminders

Reminders that focus on when to perform a specific action

Ex. A sign that reads “turn off the lights when leaving the room”

Information

Includes educational materials and instructions

Ex. “Wrappers should go in the trash bin”



Why Strategies

15

Why-Strategies concern the underlying motivation for individuals to

enact a behavioral change

Justification

Reasons for performing a specific behavior

Ex. Information about the amount of energy wasted during winter

months on heating

Rewards

Any kind of monetary gain for participating in a behavior

Ex. Money, rebates, gifts, prizes for engaging in a desired behavior



Why Strategies

16

Cognitive Dissonance

Dissonance is an aversive state which emerges when an individual

holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same

time

Ex. Pointing out that a person does not behave according to their

values (also see Aitken, McMahon, Wearing & Finlayson, 1994)

Social Modeling

Telling people or demonstrating what others do

Ex. The absence of trash in a parking lot indicates the norm that

people do not typically litter (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990)



How & Why Strategies

17

Strategies which target both the motivation to enact a behavior

and the means by which it can be enacted

Feedback

Provides information about the extent to which a behavior has been

performed by participants in an earlier time frame

Ex. Monthly electric or water billing

Commitment

Making a verbal or written commitment to engage in behavior

Ex. Signing a pledge card to refrain from littering

Goal setting

Aiming for a pre-determined goal

Ex. Establishing a goal to cut water consumption by 10%



18

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Information

Feedback

Commitment

Justification

Rewards

Convenience

Reminders

Social modeling

Goal setting

Cognitive dissonance

Overall effectiveness of strategies

*Overall weighted average effect size



Results of the Meta-Analysis Osbaldiston and Schott (2011)

Recycling strategy effectiveness

19

0 1 2 3 4

Convenience

Prompts

Justifications

Education

Rewards

Social Modeling

Cognitive Dissonance

Feedback

Commitment

Goal-setting

Central

Curbside

Public

*Weighted average effect size



Results of the Meta-Analysis

Conservation strategy effectiveness

20

0 1 2 3 4

Convenience

Prompts

Jusficiation

Education

Rewards

Social Modeling

Cognitive disonnance

Feedback

Commitment

Goal setting

Gasoline

Home energy

Water

Public Energy



Results of the Meta-Analysis

21

Six combinations of strategies that worked

particularly well:

1) Rewards and goals

2) Instructions and goals

3) Commitment and goals

4) Reminders and convenience

5) Reminders and justification

6) Dissonance and justification



Results of the Meta-Analysis Osbaldiston and Schott (2011)

Caveat: Unintended Effects and Boomerang

Know your goals,

strategies, and audience!

Strategies can have

unintended and

boomerang effects.

Try to understand specific

barriers and hurdles

(knowledge, motivation,

convenience?)



Purdue campaign may not

appeal to IU fans

Rewards can decrease intrinsic

motivation

Project: Increase Recycling Compliance on Campus

funded by Keep America Beautiful

Dr. Torsten Reimer, Dr. Kip Williams,

Christopher Roland, Andrew Hales,

Michael Gulich

Studies aim to test a number of

strategies in field and lab experiments

(convenience, signage, norms)

-Lack of knowledge is one barrier

-Identify routines, habits, and

defaults

Let’s test the experts!



Where Would You Put It?

24

.



TRASH

25

.



Where the Items Should Go

TRASH

26

*Photo courtesy of Dr. Kip Williams



Need to Improve Communication

The ABCs of Behavior Change

Know your goals!

Know your audience!

Know your strategies!

Talk to your local Behavioral Scientist!



References

28



Aitken, C. K., McMahon, T. A., Wearing, A. J., & Finlayson, B. L. (1994). Residential water

use: predicting and reducing consumption1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24(2),

136-158.

Burn, S. M. (1991). Social psychology and the stimulation of recycling behaviors: The block

leader approach. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 611629.(MJ)

Cho, H., Reimer, T.O., & McComas, K.A. (Eds.). (2014).The SAGE handbook of risk

communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., & Kallgren, C. A. (1990). A focus theory of normative conduct:

recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 58(6), 1015-1026.

Cooley, A. (2013). Going Public. Resource Recycling. See http://americarecyclesday.org/wp-

content/uploads/2013/11/RRarticle- Nov2013.pdf

Osbaldiston, R., & Schott, J. P. (2011). Environmental sustainability and behavioral science:

Meta-analysis of proenvironmental behavior experiments. Environment and Behavior, 44,

257-299.

Schultz, P. W., & Oskamp, S., & Mainieri, T. (1995). Who recycles and when: A review of

personal and situational factors. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 105-121.









sustainable behavior and behavior change · 2015-09-15 · sustainable behavior communication and...

Documents