Chapter 16
In this chapter,
• we first provide a brief overview of the most common interventions used to
promote environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) and discourage
environmentally harmful behavior (EHB)
• Two main research designs employed by researchers to evaluate the
effectiveness of an intervention,
within‐subjects design and a between‐subjects design ; advantages and
disadvantages of each design, and general issues in conducting
intervention‐based research, including issues related to intervention
planning and implementation.
How can
householders be
encouraged to
reduce their
energy
consumption?
is an
approach to intervention development and evaluation initially
conceptualized and researched by B. F. Skinner (Geller, 2008).
According to Skinner, people engage in behavior to gain
positive or pleasant consequences and to avoid negative or
unpleasant consequences (Skinner, 1974).
While consequences motivate behavior,
activators direct behavior.
or behavioral antecedents are
stimuli in the environment that tell people what to
do, and sometimes point out the availability of a
reward or positive consequence or a penalty or
negative consequence if the target behavior is
performed.
specify a reward (e.g., a
lottery coupon per each reusable bag for
groceries), whereas
indicate a penalty for
designated behavior (e.g., $100 fine for
littering).
These behavior‐change interventions reflect the sequence of
Activator – Behavior – Consequence
(ABC model)
This model is the foundation for many interventions
designed and implemented to encourage ERB or
discourage EHB (Bolderdijk, Lehman, & Geller, 2013).
In line with the distinction between activators and
consequences,
Behavior‐change interventions are
generally classified as either activator or
consequence interventions
Activators provide knowledge or
awareness, and are incentives or
disincentives if they indicate a behavioral
consequence
Consequence interventions influence ERB
by providing a positive consequence
contingent on the occurrence of a desired
target behavior.
A number of ERB intervention strategies
are classified as activator strategies.
These include
information,
prompts,
goal setting,
modeling, and
behavioral commitment.
serves to inform
people about the importance and the benefits
of engaging in certain ERBs.
Information is more effective when it is
tailored for the target group in question.
Also, the use of social influence can improve the
impact of information provision.
Furthermore, the behavioral influence of information
is enhanced when it refers to social norms by
making it salient that other people are
performing
Verbal and written prompts inform people of a
desired behavior in a particular setting.
are most effective when they are
given in close proximity to the designated target
behavior and this target is easy to perform
provides participants with a
target to hit. Goal setting is often used in
combination with other interventions, such as
behavioral commitment and fee
The most effective goals are SMARTS, for
- specific,
- motivational,
- achievable,
- relevant,
- trackable, and
- shared
(Geller, 2014)
employs other people (i.e., “models”) to demonstrate
the desired behaviors to an audience.)
Another activator is
, which involves asking for a formal
agreement to perform a particular behavior. Behavioral
commitments are most influential when they are public,
active, and voluntary (Cialdini, 2001).
Two consequence interventions are typically
used to increase the frequency of ERB:
Rewards & Feedbacks
are introduced following
desirable ERBs to encourage their
recurrence.
Rewards can be very effective at
encouraging the performance of ERBs
but the effects tend to be short‐lived.
Feedback informs individuals of the
consequences of their behavior, enabling them
to recognize the benefits of desirable behavior
or the liabilities of undesirable behavior.
Supportive feedback acknowledges the
occurrence of an ERB and may influence
recurrence of this desirable behavior.
In contrast, corrective feedback designates the
occurrence of an EHB and aims to decrease the
frequency of this undesirable behavior.
Within‐subjects design
every participant contributes to every phase, including the
baseline or no-intervention phase
For this type of design, the effectiveness of an intervention
is assessed by monitoring changes in behavior
over consecutive observation sessions during baseline,
intervention, and post-intervention withdrawal phases
among the same participants (or the same location, such
as a neighborhood).
One of the disadvantages of within‐subjects designs are
carry‐over effects which generally refer to the
possibility that taking one test may influence
performance on the next test (e.g., improved results
because of practice or impaired results because of
fatigue or boredom
Counterbalancing is one way to address this
issue. Specifically, one group of participants receives
information first, followed by incentives, and a
second group first receives incentives, followed by
information.
BETWEEN‐SUBJECTS DESIGN
examines the effect of an intervention by
randomly assigning participants to one or more
intervention groups and a control group, and
thereby addresses some of the disadvantages
of a within‐subjects design.
In a longitudinal study
The ERB, EHB, or a relevant outcome
measure is assessed at two or more time
points.
Longitudinal designs are among the most
powerful designs available because they
evaluate long‐term behavioral impact of an
intervention, but they are also the most costly
and cumbersome to implement.
Measurement
Most intervention studies include an assessment of
the dependent variable(s) before and after
implementation of the intervention.
Assessment before the intervention provides
information about the current quantity and/or
quality of the target ERB(s) or outcome of an
ERB (e.g., electricity or water usage). This is called
a baseline measure.
Measurement after implementation of the
intervention, considered a post‐test measure,
provides information about any changes in the
target ERB(s) or outcome(s) of the ERB(s).
Planning and Implementing an
Intervention
An acronym that defines the application
of behavioral science to increase the
frequency or improve the quality of ERB
is DO IT, for the four sequential
processes of,
(Geller, 2002, 2008).