scholarly journals Social incentive factors in interventions promoting sustainable behaviors: A meta-analysis

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0260932
Author(s):  
Phu Nguyen-Van ◽  
Anne Stenger ◽  
Tuyen Tiet
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Conservation Policy ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Network Connection ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Trust In Institutions

Based on a meta-analysis, this paper highlights the strength and relevance of several social incentive factors concerning pro-environmental behaviors, including social influence, network factors (like network size, network connection and leadership), trust in others, and trust in institutions. Firstly, our results suggest that social influence is necessary for the emergence of pro-environmental behaviors. More specifically, an internal social influence (i.e., motivating people to change their perceptions and attitudes) is essential to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Secondly, network connection encourages pro-environmental behaviors, meaning that the effectiveness of a conservation policy can be improved if connections among individuals are increased. Finally, trust in institutions can dictate individual behaviors to shape policy design and generate desired policy outcomes.

scholarly journals Who is more likely to influence others? A value-based approach to pro-environmental social influence behavior (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Kis ◽  
Mark Verschoor ◽  
Rebecca Sargisson
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Environmental Behavior ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
A Value ◽  
Environmental Actions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Influence Behavior

Biospheric values can promote, and egoistic values inhibit, a broad range of pro-environmental behaviors. However, people who strongly endorse egoistic values might undertake pro-environmental behavior involving attempts to influence others. We used a questionnaire to assess the relationship between values and the likelihood that with 193 students will attempt to influence their housemates to engage in pro-environmental behavior. To measure this type of influence behavior, we developed and used the Environmental Social Influence Behavior (E-SIB) questionnaire. Both biospheric and egoistic values promoted influence behaviors. Biospheric values more strongly predicted the likelihood of social-influence actions as egoistic values decreased, except when egoistic values were high. We discuss the connections between values and social-influence behaviors, and current knowledge on the role of egoistic values in environmental actions.

scholarly journals The ecological roots of human susceptibility to social influence: a pre-registered study investigating the impact of early-life adversity

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 180454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre O. Jacquet ◽  
Lou Safra ◽  
Valentin Wyart ◽  
Nicolas Baumard ◽  
Coralie Chevallier
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Childhood Adversity ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Initial Finding ◽  
Early Life Adversity ◽  
Evaluation Task ◽  
The Impact

There is considerable variability in the degree to which individuals rely on their peers to make decisions. Although theoretical models predict that environmental risks shift the cost–benefit trade-off associated with social information use, this idea has received little empirical support. Here we aim to test the effect of childhood environmental adversity on humans' susceptibility to follow others’ opinion in the context of a standard face evaluation task. Results collected in a pilot study involving 121 adult participants tested online showed that susceptibility to social influence and childhood environmental adversity are positively associated. Computational analyses further confirmed that this effect is not explained by the fact that participants exposed to early adversity produce noisier decisions overall but that they are indeed more likely to follow the group's opinion. To test the robustness of these findings, a pre-registered direct replication using an optimal sample size was run. The results obtained from 262 participants in the pre-registered study did not reveal a significant association between childhood adversity and task performance but the meta-analysis ran on both the pilot and the pre-registered study replicated the initial finding. This work provides experimental evidence for an association between individuals' past ecology and their susceptibility to social influence.

Understanding the spatial unevenness of regional renewable energy deployment: insights for policy design

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla De Laurentis ◽  
Peter JG Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Capacity Planning ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Background This paper suggests that renewable energy (RE) deployment processes and their spatial unevenness can be explained by analysing the socio-material dimensions of RE. It explains how particular regional RE paths come to be favoured or hampered, and identifies factors that have contributed to these different outcomes. The paper shows the merit of investigating regional agency in energy research. Methods Using a novel analytical framework, the research performs a comparative case study analysis of selected regions in Italy and the UK, drawing on data obtained via documentary analysis and extensive in-depth interviews. Results The factors that explain regional variation in RE deployment are highlighted, providing evidence of how the distinctive features of RE deployment in five different regions arose and could be identified. The paper shows that understanding the socio-material dimensions of RE offers opportunities to understand the spatial unevenness of RE deployment at the regional levels and how to address it. While some regions have managed to successfully align their strategies and governance in order to maximise their RE potential, others have been less effective. The key features that influence the pace and direction of RE deployment at the regional level are i) the ways in which targets and resource availability are seen as drivers for RE deployment, ii) the degree of political autonomy in planning and the capacity to facilitate consenting processes at sub-regional levels, iii) the political will for RE expansion, elite consensus and the presence of relevant industry actors, and iv) the participation and involvement of regional government, even in the absence of formal regulatory powers, in shaping essential energy infrastructure investment. Conclusion While institutional capacity, planning and governance, the variety of actors and interests, compelling visions and credible expectations are all necessary prerequisites for coherent policy outcomes, the effects and degree of success can vary. This variance is influenced by the peculiarities and specificities of the regional contexts in which RE projects emerge. By identifying which aspects tend to constrain or enable RE deployment at the regional level, the paper helps to reveal the policy challenges that emerge and how they might be addressed.

Conservation payments to reduce tropical deforestation and degradation : evidence from the Ecuadorian Andes to the Amazon basin

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Phillip Mohebalian
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Conservation Policy ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Environmental Services ◽  
Forest Owner ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Resource Managers

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Payment for Environmental Services (PES) are market-based policy instruments. Which compensate private resource managers financially for the environmental services their forests provide. As forest PES policies are increasingly implemented; further research is needed to quantify their environmental benefits and to strategize their improved efficiency. This dissertation evaluates PES policy outcomes from a quantitative analysis within the specific case study of Ecuador's Socio Bosque Program (Span.: Programa Socio Bosque-PSB). The PSB is a national forest PES program instituted in 2008. The dissertation aims to bridge the gap in knowledge regarding the role of PES policies in preventing deforestation and forest degradation. It approaches this aim by presenting methods which integrate and analyze data in a way which progresses the science of conservation policy evaluation. Ultimately, the insights provided advance the science of conservation policy thereby preventing the needless degradation and loss of forest ecosystems. The specific objectives of the overall dissertation are to: (1) better understand the relationship between variations in the structure PES contracts and forest owner enrollment, and (2) go beyond measuring the effect of conservation payments in preventing deforestation to estimate their effect in preventing forest degradation.

scholarly journals Assumptions About Behavior and Choice in Response to Public Assistance

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crystal C. Hall ◽  
Martha M. Galvez ◽  
Isaac M. Sederbaum
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Social Service Delivery

Assumptions about decision making and consumer preferences guide programs and products intended to help low-income households achieve healthy outcomes and financial stability. Despite their importance to service design and implementation, these assumptions are rarely stated explicitly, or empirically tested. Some key assumptions may reflect ideas carried over from an earlier era of social-service delivery. Or they may reflect research on decision making by higher income populations that do not hold or have not been tested in a low-income context. This disconnect between assumptions and evidence potentially results in less effective policy design and implementation—at substantial financial and social cost. This piece examines how insights from psychology can help policymakers analyze the core assumptions about behavior that underlie policy outcomes. Three policy areas serve as case studies, to examine some implicit and explicit assumptions about how low-income individuals make decisions under public and nonprofit assistance: banking, nutrition, and housing. Research on preferences and decision making evaluates these foundational assumptions. This perspective provides a unique and under-utilized framework to explain some behavioral puzzles, examine and predict the actions of individuals living in poverty, and understand what are often disappointing program outcomes. Recommendations suggest how psychology and behavioral decision making can impact policy research and design.

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