Graffeo, M, Ritov, I, Bonini, N et al. (1 more author) (2015) To Make People Save Energy Tell Them What Others Do But Also Who They Are: A Preliminary Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. 1287. ISSN 1664-1078
Abstract
A way to make people save energy is by informing them that “comparable others” save more. We investigated whether, one can further improve this nudge by manipulating Who the “comparable others” are. We asked participants to imagine receiving feedback stating that their energy consumption exceeded that of “comparable others” by 10%. We varied Who the “comparable others” were in a 2 × 2 design: they were a household that was located either in the same neighborhood as themselves or in a different neighborhood, and its members were either identified (by names and a photograph) or unidentified. We also included two control conditions: one where no feedback was provided, and one where only statistical feedback was provided (feedback about an average household). We found that it matters Who the “comparable others” are. The most effective feedback was when the referent household was from the same neighborhood as the individual’s and its members were not identified.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015, Graffeo, Ritov, Bonini and Hadjichristidis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
Keywords: | social norms, comparative feedback, nudge, identified victim effect, pro-environmental behavior |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Management Division (LUBS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 11 Sep 2015 10:18 |
Last Modified: | 11 Sep 2015 11:19 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01287 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Frontiers |
Identification Number: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01287 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:89829 |