1. Changing Behaviour Workshop
Tuesday 18th
September, 11:45-16:30
Cork County Hall
Dr. Vincent Carragher
Behaviour; Models
Measurement; Surveys
Driving LCB; Campaign Efficiency
Effective Communication
2. Research
Background
Ecological footprint (EF) measures direct
and indirect energy use, resource depletion
and emissions associated with our lifestyles.
Developed an EF method for Irish
communities. Measured 88 community EFs
Worked with a Tipperary community for 5
years.
– Reduced its emissions by 28%
– Equates to 4,900t CO2
– Validated by ISO 14064
– PDD issued for verification
– Cosain
– www.ul.ie/lowcarbonfutures
Energy
Waste
Transport
Food
Water
Built Land
4. Vast Array of Communities
Spatial
Population
Physical
Functional
Residential
Office
Factory Floor
School
University
A group of
people
connected
through
common
interest
5. Explaining human behaviour, and potential intervention,
is complex. Such enquiry within the literature, is
actuated from diverse perspectives, ranging from
concern with physiological or even psychological
processes at one extreme to concentration on social
institutions at the other (Ajzen, 1991). Authors have
developed their models to explain types of human
behaviour encountered and it is for this reason that
countless models exist. Within this review, elements of
models which help explain LCB will be discussed.
Linear internalized behavioural models and
externalized behavioural models capable of
incorporating a multitude of factors will be discussed.
Behaviour
7. Attitude Action Gap
Behaviour
An early practical demonstration of this was revealed
by Bickman in which subjects were interviewed
(N=500), prior to surveillance, and virtually all (94%)
indicated that individuals have a responsibility for
picking up litter. Subsequently, however, just 2%
demonstrated their belief by picking up the litter that
had been “planted” by the researchers accomplice
(Bickman, 1974).
8. Behaviour
A myriad of such examples clearly demonstrate that
though we declare pro-environmental values or
attitudes, this does not necessarily translate into
relevant behaviour. Factors that bridge the attitude-
action gap are:
1. intention,
2. situational factors,
3. ascription of responsibility,
4. value orientations,
5. habit and emotion, and
6. subjective norms.
9. Behaviour
Intention
Intentions are indications of how hard people are willing
to try, in order to perform a particular behaviour.
Theory of Reasoned Action model, by Fishbein-
Ajzen, posits that intention to act is the immediate
antecedent and key determinant of behaviour.
This model also proposes that beliefs about, and
evaluations of, outcome lead to an attitude towards the
given behaviour, and this attitude towards the behaviour
is one of two main influences on people’s intention to
act in the given way.
11. Behaviour
A second major influence on intention is a person’s
subjective norm. The subjective norm is an individual
belief about what other people (who are important to
the actor) think of the specific behaviour.
This is to be distinguished from a personal norm
which is the individual’s personal belief about the given
behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). This is the first
individualistic model to include the influence of other
people around the actor, and in that sense moves
closer to approximating the complexity of behaviour in
a community or social setting.
12. Behaviour
The Theory of Planned Behaviour is an adaptation of
TRA and includes a new variable known as Perceived
Behavioural Control (PBC) as an additional indicator of
both intention and action. PBC is defined as the
person’s belief as to how easy or difficult
performance of the behaviour is likely to be. Includes
external factors such as availability of essential
infrastructure, opportunities and resources (situational).
This model argues that collectively, these factors
represent the actor’s actual level of control over the
behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). TPB has been used frequently
to explore ERB and is capable of incorporating moral
antecedents of behaviour (Jackson, 2005).
14. Behaviour
The presence or absence of situational factors can
predict and explain the attitude-behaviour gap.
Authors have adapted TRA and TPB and developed
basic derivative models from the perspective of ERB
shown next. In this adaptation, environmental
values have been placed at the heart of factors
shaping intention while situational and
psychological factors also impact on the
relationship between intention and behaviour (Barr
and Gilg, 2005).
16. Behaviour
Ascription of Responsibility:
Strong evidence has been found for the importance of
a sense of responsibility in predicting ERB. This
suggests that those who feel a responsibility to
contribute to the community in general, and
specifically sustainability, are more likely to report
ERB (Cotter, 2007). In 1977, Schwartz developed the
Norm-Activation Theory which proposes that moral
behaviours are the result of a personal norm to act
in a particular way (Stern et al, 1999).
18. Behaviour
Value Orientations:
Stern and Dietz (in Moser & Dilling, 2007) suggest there
are three distinct value orientations which provide
the basis for an individual creating their own belief
system. The Ecological Value Model (EVM) proposes
that ERB emerges from an individual dependant on the
levels of these value orientations (Jackson, 2005):
1. egoist value orientation; individuals appreciate the
environment for what they can get out of it,
2. social altruist orientation; individuals who want to
preserve the environment for others’, and finally
3. biospheric value orientation; individuals concerned
about the biosphere for its own sake.
19. Behaviour
It posits that those who hold primarily self-interested or
egoistic values are less likely to engage in ERB than
those who hold values expressing less self interest
(social and/or biospheric).
In 1978, Dunlap and Van developed the New Ecological
Paradigm (NEP) and focused on a set of core values
which pay increased respect to natural limits and the
importance of preserving the balance and integrity of
nature (Dunlap et al, 2000).
20. Behaviour
Stern’s Value-Belief-Norm suggests:
1. a chain of impact stretching from the EVM value
sets through to beliefs and the emergence of a
personal norm and that
2. acceptance of the NEP precedes awareness of
consequences which in turn precedes ascription
of responsibility (Stern et al, 1999).
Tribbia posits that these different value orientations
form early in a person’s life and deeply affect a
person’s belief system and attitudes toward LCB (in
Moser & Dilling, 2007). This early value orientation
suggests that early environmental education is
essential to LCB.
22. Behaviour
Triandis developed a Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour
and similar to the TRA, TIB includes both expectancy-
value and normative belief considerations and posits
that while behaviour is influenced by rational
deliberation and social factors, habits and emotions
also play their part.
In the next slide you will see that TIB was the first
theory, reviewed here, which includes the influence of
habitual, social and emotive factors on behaviour
(Darnton, 2008).
24. Behaviour
Imagine that you have agreed to
participate in an experiment on upon
arriving for the study, you are asked
to take your place at a table at which
five other participants are seated,
you are fourth in the group of 5.
And then I ask “which line is the
same length as X?”
And you say?
Subjective Norms
Normative =
group
pressure
25. Behaviour
Imagine that you have agreed to
participate in an experiment on upon
arriving for the study, you are asked
to take your place at a table at which
five other participants are seated.
And then I ask “which line is the
same length as X?”
And you say? B
Subjective Norms
Normative =
group
pressure
26. Behaviour
Imagine that you have agreed to
participate in an experiment on upon
arriving for the study, you are asked
to take your place at a table at which
five other participants are seated.
And then I ask “which line is the
same length as X?”
And you say? 99%
Subjective Norms
Normative =
group
pressure
27. Behaviour
Same again but this time one by
one the first three participants in
your group of 5 answer C.
How many of you would say C?
28. Behaviour
Same again but this time one by
one the first three participants in
your group of 5 answer C.
How many of you would say C?
75%
29. Behaviour
Asch's wrote the fact that “reasonably intelligent and
wellmeaning … people are willing to call white black is a
matter of concern".
If we are to make the transition to a sustainable future and
increase the efficiency of campaigns to impact on LCB it is
essential to support integration of drivers like societal
norms. Personal norms and ascription of responsibility
are also extremely significant.
31. Cialdini and his colleagues placed flyers on every car
windshield in a library parking lot. Subsequently, on
return to their cars, the participants were given the
opportunity to scatter (the flyer) into either a previously
clean, or a fully littered environment, after first
witnessing a confederate who either dropped trash into
the environment or simply walked and passed by
(Cialdini, 2003). As can be seen from the following
Figure there was more littering in the littered
environment than in the clean environment and the
most littering occurred when participants observed
a model drop trash into a littered environment.
Behaviour
33.
Behaviour
Cialdini defines two types of subjective norms:
1. a descriptive norm (what most people do, it carries little
moral weight & simply refers to the perception we hold
about what is normal in a given situation) &
2. the injunctive norm (reflecting the moral rules &
guidelines of the social group) (Cialdini, 2003).
For example, there is clearly an injunctive norm established
while driving through speeding restrictions, fines,
penalties, & public disapproval. It operates in such a way
as to motivate people to stay within the speed limit, even
as the descriptive norm often operates in such a way to
34.
Behaviour
Signs were placed in hotel rooms which possessed
different messages but which all asked the customers to
reuse towels if they were staying for more than one night. A
descriptive norm message relays and informs the
subject on the choices other people make and how they
behave. The descriptive norm message yielded a
significantly higher towel reuse rate (44.1%) than the
environmental protection message (35.1%; N=433), which is
the industry standard (Goldstein et al, 2008). Goldstein
evaluated the potency of a variety of descriptive normative
messages by placing these messages in hotel bedrooms
and examining towel reuse rates.
35.
Behaviour
The same room identity descriptive norm condition
yielded a significantly higher towel reuse rate (49.3%)
than the other three descriptive norm conditions combined
(42.8%; N=1,318), and individually the citizen identity
descriptive norm (43.5%), the gender identity descriptive
norm (40.9%), and the guest identity descriptive norm
(44.0%) (Goldstein et al, 2008). Basically, participants
were more likely to follow the descriptive norms of a
group of individuals with whom they shared the same
setting than the norms of groups sharing the social
identities that were tested.
39.
Behaviour
The richness of interconnections means that any one
change has several prior causes and itself may contribute to
further changes in these causes. It is precisely in these
circumstances that a holistic or systems approach is
essential, because the components cannot sensibly be
separated, as the reductionist approach assumes. It also
means that the behaviour of the system is determined
more by its own internal structure than by specific
external causes. Furthermore, its own internal structure will
have evolved as a result of its particular history, including its
previous adaptations to changes in its environment,
Chapman 2004.
50.
Group Behaviour
Mehrabian rated human communicative impact as being 7%
verbal, 38% tone of voice and 55% facial expression and
body language illustrating the sheer importance of non-verbal
communication, sub-conscious cues. Normative
considerations already mentioned defined how what others
say, feel or do impacts on our behaviour. Research
underscores how poorly defined visual and sensory cues act
on our impressions and impact on behaviour in unconscious
ways. In this context communication mechanisms, as drivers,
are thought to vary and some of the more significant pathways
are reviewed elsewhere (Raafat, 2009 and Johnson, 2001).
Verbal and chiefly non-verbal communication mechanisms
affect LCB.
54.
Behaviour Summary
To drive LCB you must:
Activate Subjective Norms – visible
conformity
Case Studies
rewards and competitions
Activate Personal Norms through
measurement
and ascription
Communication – local level interaction
conscious
unconscious dimensions
Activate Spill Over Behaviour – conservation of more than energy
Impact PBC and agency
We need to
understand the
context to LCB,
barriers, situational
factors, etc - surveys
useful
66.
Measurement: Basic Surveying
Questions should be easily answered and go from easier to
more difficult (de Vaus, 1996).
Set a time frame for behaviour questions (last 12 months)
Good division and separation between sections and pages
Open questions are unavoidable but the majority of
questions should be closed. Advantages of using such
questions are:
•simplification of the questionnaire,
•reduction of the risk of accumulating useless data
(Fowler, 1988a), and
•the ease of data retrieval (Bourque & Fielder, 1995).
68.
Measurement: Basic Surveying
Face to face surveys 69% RR
Mailed surveys 23-34% RR with personal contact increased
39%
The following factors have been found to increase
response rates (Oppenheim, 2000):
•advance warning and inviting participation
•provision of information and engendering trust
•explanation of sections where necessary and
explanation of why the respondent is being surveyed
•assurance of confidentiality and anonymity, and
•the use of cover letters.
78.
Normative Considerations
Despite our best efforts at independence and
individuality, we learn by example, and model our
behaviours on those we see around us (Jackson, 2005).
“Social Learning Theory holds that people change by
aligning their behaviour to that of their role models
………. Social Learning Theory is helpful because it can
help us understand why some ideas and practices
spread exponentially with virtually no promotional activity
on the part of government or institutions…” (Collins et al,
2004).
81.
Indicators and Feedback
Indicators are selections of information which
“summarise or typify characteristics of complex systems”
and as a result may be used to identify the trends within a
system (O’ Regan and Moles, 2004). Sustainability
indicators are useful for (Reed et al, 2006):
•measuring progress,
•identifying problems,
•setting sustainable goals and targets, and
•identifying suitable management strategies.
Individuals identify themselves with an action or behaviour
through positive feedback or recognition, by association
(Barr, 2004).
84.
Compliance
In compliance, individuals alter their behaviour for
various reasons:
•to receive a reward,
•to provoke a favourable reaction from others,
•or to avoid being punished.
The change in behaviour occurs because there is a
tangible consequence for not doing the behaviour in
the participant’s mind, for exaample bottle deposits, user
fees for waste disposal, energy utility grants provision and
the plastic bag tax. The LCB tends to be elastic, as once
the rewards and punishments are removed, the gains
made by using compliance are often diminished
(McKenzie-Mohr, 1999).
87.
Effective Communication
Two topics here; (i) Message Framing and (ii)
Communication Channels. The framing of a message is
a critical factor in:
•raising awareness,
•enabling knowledge, and
•translating awareness into LCB change.
Essentially, the content of the message needs to be
specific to the issue, and the context, as well as the
needs and characteristics of different consumer
segments (Ipsos MORI, 2007). Message framing is
subdivided into two phases and they are identifying
context and effective messaging.
88. Message Framing; context
No Contextual Factors No Contextual Factors
1 Places 4 Varied beliefs
2 Demographics 5 Various repertoires
3 Potential benefits 6 Identify and target barriers
89. Message Framing
Benefits of LCB are often intangible, for example
recycling household waste, no obvious personal benefit.
Benefit occurs at the collective level (Collins et al, 2004)
& most people fail to recognize that their individual actions
make a difference at this level (Collins, 2004). Need to
broadcast the following benefits: practical, financial,
health, local improvements, jobs, household or self
improvements.
“Did you know that the highest rates of asthma, lung
disease, and respiratory problems are found in those
communities where the coal and gas powered plants are
located?”
90. Message Framing
Place:
The importance of place has been clearly defined in
research as mentioned by Goldstein. He found that
participants were more likely to follow the pro-
environmental norms of a group of individuals with
whom they shared the same setting than the equivalent
norms of groups sharing the same social identities
(Goldstein et al, 2008). The success of Energy
Neighbourhoods was a good example of this principle in
action (http://www.energyneighbourhoods.eu/)
91. Message Framing
Beliefs:
“Before you craft the content of your message, and
decide when and how you will present it, you need to
know the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of your
intended audience. The messages that you develop will
need to be tailored to the different segments of your
community” (McKenzie-Mohr and Smith, 1999).
Can be complex and it costs time?
92. Message Framing
Audience subsets
Different social groups respond differently to
behavioural change strategies. For instance,
informational campaigns tend to have a greater impact
on the behaviour of well-off social groups, who can
create their own opportunities for change. Meanwhile,
lower social groups may benefit more from a combined
approach that offers both an educational element and
concrete opportunities for making the change. To
counter the notion of message segmentation it has
been argued that an enormous range of
motivations should be included providing a driver
for “almost everyone” (NEF, 2008).
93. Message Framing
Barriers
Each form of LCB has its own set of barriers, and the
factors that impede individuals from composting are quite
different from those that preclude low carbon transport
(McKenzie-Mohr, 2000). Such barriers include changes
that need to be made in order for the behaviour to be
more convenient as in provision of:
•refuse collection
•recycling or organic waste treatment facilities
•reliable public transport
•bicycle racks and
•bus stops.
94. Message Framing
Guilt provocation alone is detrimental so practical
solutions must be provided (McKenzie-Mohr and Smith,
1999) and a sense of empowerment created explaining
that these are human caused problems that we can tackle
collectively.
Establishing collective action can help people feel that
their individual actions are part of something bigger,
and that this action is supported by consistent policies and
regulation at a national and global level, with governments
leading by example (Ipsos MORI, 2007)..
95. Message Framing
Naysayers: there is a need to treat the climate change
debate as having been won. Acknowledging climate
change as real and individual LCB as effective is
essential (Ereaut and Segnit, 2005). Broadcast the
connections between climate change and issues
which are perceived as being more salient such as:
•human health,
•extreme weather events and
•national security implications.
Leiserowitz argues that while the naysayer may argue
against climate change they cannot argue in relation to
depleting economic, political and military resources
(Leiserowitz in Moser and Dilling, 2007).
96. Message Framing
Preliminary work for any awareness campaign is
therefore identification of activity barriers. Such
identification should first include review of relevant
articles, surveillance, report with subsequent focus
groups and finally, surveying the group concerned
(McKenzie-Mohr, 2000):
“Since the barriers that prevent individuals from
engaging in sustainable behaviour are activity specific,
community-based social marketers begin to
develop a strategy only after they have identified a
particular activity's barriers” (McKenzie-Mohr and
Smith, 1999).
97. Message Framing; Effective Messaging
Having established the context and an understanding of
the factors in the last Table campaigns need to cultivate
an effective message - make a message “sticky”.
No Message Factors No Message Factors
1 Internalising the message 6 Facilitation
2 Induce rivalry 7 Narrative threads
3 Normative messaging 8 Bridging metaphors
4 Modelling 9 Immediacy
5 Local & solution orientated
messaging
10 Feedback
98. Message Framing
Internalisation and facilitation:
Campaigns should aim to facilitate and incorporate
dialogue with and within communities and the climate
debate work package of Energy Neighbourhoods is a
good practical example of such dialogue. By doing so
Energy Neighbourhoods seeks to stimulate local
dialogue and embed it in local policy.
Workshops, events, demonstrations, presence on
the ground.
99. Message Framing
Induce rivalry
In the case of Energy Neighbourhoods the competition
strategy has the added bonus of setting a target for the
community to reach.
Recommendation of the “Climate Change: From
Science to Action” Conference is to:
“Create a variety of academic and nonacademic
competitions centered on climate change, or
harness existing competitions by introducing
climate change as a topic” (Abassi, 2006).
100. Message Framing
Narrative threads:
NEF (2008) recommend that the narrative should be
inclusive while Burningham and Thrush suggest that
familiar language use is necessary, as the language of
environmentalism is often “suffused with jargon” that
excludes those who are unfamiliar with it (Burningham
and Thrush, 2004). Others agree (Collins et al, 2004)
and perhaps the sentiments are best encapsulated by
the words of Nelson Mandela (UNEP, 2005):
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands,
that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his
language, that goes to his heart”.
101. Message Framing
Normative messaging
A majority of respondents (92%; N=134) felt that
prescriptive messages are more effective than
proscriptive messages (Winter et al, 2000).
Descriptive norm messages convey information about
other people’s behaviour, injunctive norm messages
express information about other people’s approval or
disapproval of a behaviour. Participants recycle more
frequently, and greater amounts, when they were given
feedback which expressed injunctive social norms or
descriptive social norms (Bator and Cialdini, 2007)
104. • Goodall (2007) summarises that stressing the benefits
in terms of social approval of taking the “good”
action, rather than noting the deleterious effects of
“bad” actions, is now a widely understood principle.
• “persuasive communications are likely to have their best
effects when communicators align descriptive and
injunctive normative messages to work in tandem rather
than in competition with one another. It is possible to do
so by conveying to recipients that the desired
activity is widely performed and roundly approved,
whereas the unwanted activity is relatively rare and
roundly disapproved” (Cialdini et al, 2006).
Message Framing
105. Bridging Metaphors
In a society in which 25% of the population do not
understand the meaning of percentages, the
complexities of energy economics are going to be
beyond most people (Goodall, 2007). Energy
communications should instead (Ipsos MORI, 2007):
• prioritize key pieces of information that are relevant to
the consumer,
• use everyday language or symbols instead of kWh,
and
• use pictorial or simple graphical information with
clear labeling.
Message Framing
106. Note the success of the “ozone hole” as a simple and
understandable metaphor (Ungar in Moser and Dilling,
2007). Tangible constructs equated to energy
consumption need to be utilised in order to make energy
information understandable. Consumption metrics need
to be first converted into understandable constructs and
then communicated, and this makes the message more
“vivid” and adds to its persuasive power (Aronson,
2004). Thickening blanket analogy for increasing
concentrations of GHG in the atmosphere.
Message Framing
107. • Energy-efficiency assessors trained to describe the
inappropriate ventilation leakage through the walls of
residents households. The tangible construct used here
was that the cracks, in the walls of the average
household, amounted to a hole the size of a football and
that removes a lot of heat from the household:
• "Psychologically, a crack is seen as minor, but a hole the
size of a football feels disastrous. The fact that they
encompass the same area is of interest to an engineer;
but in the mind of the average homeowner, the football
will loom larger than the cracks under the door”
(Gonzales et al, 1988).
Message Framing
108. • Modelling
• Personalized information, model the behaviour we wish
others to adopt, case studies (McKenzie-Mohr and
Smith, 1999).
• The power of “real-life” stories, is that they create an
arresting message which is hard to ignore (Duffy et al,
2005).
• Personal communication is also extremely effective;
• “Think how you can activate social networks so that your
message is delivered by real people” (UNEP, 2005).
Message Framing
109. Feedback, Recognition and Conformity
Warlop et al (2008) suggests that drawing attention to
established ecological behaviour increases what this
researcher defines as a behavioural overlap and by
doing so improves other people’s attitudes towards
ecological behaviour. This in turn potentially impacts on
their behaviour, and effectively a pro-behaviour layer of
information feeds back into the community and the
recognition elicited impacts on self perception.
Message Framing
110. Reviewing the San Diego experience Pratt and Rabkin
(Pratt and Rabkin in Moser and Dilling, 2007) state that
stronger feedback messages that applaud current
success, but which make clear the need for further
concessions and cooperation, are required.
These techniques influence consumer’s self-perception
such that someone who perceives themselves as an
environmentally friendly consumer is internally motivated
to act upon this perception. It is a well-documented
fact that internal motivation results in increased
performance and persistence of a behaviour (Warlop
et al, 2008).
Message Framing
111. Local and Solution Orientated Messaging
Talking about ways to take local actions to deal with
climate change impacts shifts the discourse toward one
of empowerment and unification. Communicators have
to be more solution oriented, give specific ideas of
what to do and how to do it, need to evoke hope and
empower people (Moser and Dilling, 2007). Research
shows that when participants were given clear
information on the suggested behaviour that a significant
positive difference in those performing it occurred. This
solution orientated message is more persuasive
(Gladwell, 2002).
Message Framing
112. Communication Channels
No Channels No Channels No Channels
1 Guidebooks 11 Awards 21 Advertisements
2 Email 12 Survey reports 22 Blogs
3 Webinars 13 Directories 23 Webcasts
4 Information ‘toolkits’ 14 Web pages 24 Podcast
5 Letters 15 Sermons 25 Competitions
6 Payslip inserts 16 TV and videos 26 Press releases
7 Posters 17 Meetings 27 Newsletters
8 Newspapers 18 Leaflets &booklets 28 Interviews
9 Pester power 19 Workbooks 29 Interactive
10 Navigation service 20 Interpersonal 30 Workshops
113. Reviewed:
1) 13 LCAs
2) 17 LCDs
3) 6 Contextual Messaging Factors
4) 10 Effective Messaging Factors
5) 30 Communication Channels
6) Total 76 Factors
7) Effective Campaigns incorporate 2/3’s of these
8) Aim for 50 of these…….
Effective Communication
