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P. WESLEY SCHULTZ
P R O F E S S O R O F P S Y C H O L O G Y
C A L I F O R N I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
A P R I L 2 0 1 2
The Role of Social Norms in Conservation Behavior
Conservation Behavior
Human behavior is having adverse consequences on the environment
Overconsumption, nonsustainable use of resources, pollution
Changing behavior is central to a sustainable future 1. Technology (efficiency)
2. Policy and law
3. Structural investments
4. Encourage voluntary actions
Voluntary Actions
Education
Awareness
Fear appeals
Values-based messaging (e.g., future generation)
Themes: most people are doing the wrong thing, but you should be different
Video example
Normative Social Influence
Social norms--an individual’s beliefs about the common and accepted behavior in a specific situation.
1. Formed through social interaction
2. Powerful influence on behavior
3. Most powerful in novel situations
4. Types of norms (injunctive and descriptive)
Applying the Theory
Curbside recycling
Mandated by most cities in order to meet 50% diversion requirements set by State.
Field experiment with 600 households for 8 weeks
Information, no treatment control, descriptive normative feedback
Baseline (4 weeks), intervention (4 weeks), follow-up (4 weeks)
Normative-based Messages
Normative Feedback
Information Only
No Treatment (control)
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.
Normative Social Influence -- Study 1: Household energy conservation
Note: These findings are based on a thesis by Jessica Nolan, with assistance from a team of CSUSM students, including: Matt Dorlaque, Dulce Contreras, Veronica Bresiño, Monica Tinajera, Nigel Hartfield, Leezel Nazareno, Ron Tilos and Christina Wade.
Normative Social Influence -- Household energy conservation
Funded by the Hewlett Foundation following the 2000 “energy crisis.”
Survey of Californians showed self-interest, environmental, social responsibility main reasons identified for conservation
Sample: 1207 households in San Marcos
Experimental conditions: descriptive norms, information, environmental, financial, social responsibility
Delivered on doorhangers to households for 4 consecutive weeks.
Door-to-door interviews with household residents, meter readings of electricity consumption
Results based on an ANCOVA using baseline consumption as a covariate. Pairwise comparisons show descriptive norms to be significantly lower than all other conditions. Nolan, J., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Griskevicius, V., & Goldstein, N. (2008). Normative social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 913-923.
Results:
Average daily household energy consumption during the intervention
Results based on oneway ANOVA. Pairwise comparisons show descriptive norms to be significantly lower than environmental and social responsibility. Nolan, J., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Griskevicius, V., & Goldstein, N. (2008). Normative social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 913-923.
Results:
Q: “How much did the information on these doorhangers motivate you to
conserve energy?” 1 (not at all) to 4 (extremely)
Field Implementation at a local Beach Resort
Note: My appreciation to the team of CSUSM students who worked on this experiment: Azar Khazian, Michelle Hynan, Joy Francisco, Christine Jarvis,
and Jenny Tabanico.
Hotel Intervention
• Study focused on 132 condo units (separate studies of hotel)
• Randomly assigned rooms to experimental (N=102) or control (N=30)
• Total of 794 guest “stays” were analyzed (each stay = 1 week)
• Number of towels taken from the room (continuous up to 4)
Results Number of towels taken out of the room on the first towel replacement day.
F(1,792)=13.40; p<.001). A 25% reduction in the number of towels used!
Note: Data also tested in HLM with participant “nested” within room. ICC=.07; At level 2, treatment effect ( γ01=-.57, t(142.14)=-3.25, p<.001)
Schultz, P. W., Khazian, A., & Zaleski, A. (2008). Using normative social influence to promote conservation among hotel guests. Social Influence, 3, 4-23.
Normative Social Influence
Our Results: Can cause behavior
Not perceived as motivational
Apply to both private and public behavior
Problems in Application Can serve as an anchor for folks already doing
the behavior
Implemented incorrectly (awareness campaigns)
Normative Social Influence -Study 3: Buoys and Anchors
Participants: 290 households with visible utility meters
Distributed individual feedback and normative feedback to households for two consecutive weeks
Conditions: Usage level (above or below
neighborhood average)
Emoticon
(positive or negative )
Normative Social Influence - Results
High Consumers
Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.
Normative Social Influence - Results
High Consumers
Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.
Normative Social Influence - Results
Low Consumers
Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.
Normative Social Influence - Results
Low Consumers
Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.
More to the story
Normative beliefs serve as a guide to behavior
Same message can lead to an increase or decrease (anchors and buoys)
Personal norm--an individual’s belief about what s/he should do.
I believe strongly, but no one does it.
Göckeritz et al. (2010)
More to the Story - Indignation
Participants: 301 single-family households that responded to initial mail survey and provided consent
Conditions: Control, information, descriptive, aligned norms (descriptive + injunctive)
Delivered via web or postal mail.
Comparison group (info and control) used more water than descriptive norms and aligned norm.
More interesting: Treatment moderated by household personal norms.
Scaling Up
Basic principles of normative social influence are well-established.
Can the approach be scaled?
www.opower.com
Incorporating principles of normative influence into a conservation product marketed to utilities across the country.
Home Energy Reports (postal mail, billing inserts, web access)
Working with 60 utilities nationwide, with distribution to ~3,000,000 homes in 2011.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility Pilot
Launched in 2008
35,000 households received normative feedback (opower, postal mail)
Randomized control with 50,000 households
Meter data
Six months: 2.5% reduction in consumption
Particularly effective for households that previously set a personal conservation goal (8%)
Concluding Thoughts
Social norms can play a powerful role in residential energy consumption
More than just feedback (SmartMeters)
Can be scaled
Promising alternative to traditional information-based messages
References
Keizer, K., & Schultz, P. W. (in press). The role of social norms in understanding and changing
pro-environmental behaviour. In L. Steg, A. van den Berg, & J. de Groot (Eds.), Environmental
psychology. Wiley-Blackwell.
Göckeritz, S., Rendón, T., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2010).
Normative social influence: The moderating roles of personal involvement and injunctive
normative beliefs. European Journal of Social Psychology.
Schultz, P. W. (2010). Making energy conservation the norm. In K. Ehrhardt-Martinez (Ed.),
Behavior, energy, and climate change. Washington, DC: American Council for an Energy-Efficient
Economy (ACEEE). Available online.
Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive,
destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.
Schultz, P. W., Khazian, A., & Zaleski, A. (2008). Using normative social influence to promote
conservation among hotel guests. Social Influence, 3, 4-23.
Nolan, J., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Griskevicius, V., & Goldstein, N. (2008). Normative
social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 913-923.
Schultz, P. W., Tabanico, J., & Rendón, T. (2008). Normative beliefs as agents of influence: Basic
processes and real-world applications. In R. Prislin & W. Crano (Eds.), Attitudes and attitude
change (pp. 385-409). New York: Psychology Press.
Schultz, P. W. (1999). Changing behavior with normative feedback interventions: A field
experiment of curbside recycling. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 25-36.