scholarly journals Seeing Green and Becoming Green: Applying Normative Social Influence to Promote Pro-Environmental Behaviour Across Two New Zealand Contexts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benjamin A Tilyard
Keyword(s):  
Social Norm ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Social Reference ◽  
Normative Messages ◽  
Environmental Behaviours

<p>Intervention programmes aimed at promoting pro-environmental behaviours typically rely solely on information-only appeals. However, research has shown that information-based interventions do not often lead to behaviour change, instead presenting the use of social norms as a better catalyst for change (see, e.g., Cialdini, 2003; Schultz, 1998; Schultz & Kaiser, forthcoming). The current research adds to a growing body of literature that employs normative influence (information regarding the behaviour commonly conducted by others) to promote pro-environmental behaviour. Two experimental studies compared the effectiveness of normative information with information-only environmental messages. Study 1 used a survey questionnaire to measure participants’ self-reports of household energy efficiency and Study 2 used a field experiment to directly measure hotel guests’ towel reuse. Results indicated that individuals provided with social norm information engaged in more pro-environmental behaviour than those who were presented solely with environmental information. The findings also suggest that there is a need to distinguish between types of pro-environmental behaviour and the role of social reference groups when designing normative messages. The implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for future research.</p>

scholarly journals Seeing Green and Becoming Green: Applying Normative Social Influence to Promote Pro-Environmental Behaviour Across Two New Zealand Contexts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benjamin A Tilyard
Keyword(s):  
Social Norm ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Social Reference ◽  
Normative Messages ◽  
Environmental Behaviours

<p>Intervention programmes aimed at promoting pro-environmental behaviours typically rely solely on information-only appeals. However, research has shown that information-based interventions do not often lead to behaviour change, instead presenting the use of social norms as a better catalyst for change (see, e.g., Cialdini, 2003; Schultz, 1998; Schultz & Kaiser, forthcoming). The current research adds to a growing body of literature that employs normative influence (information regarding the behaviour commonly conducted by others) to promote pro-environmental behaviour. Two experimental studies compared the effectiveness of normative information with information-only environmental messages. Study 1 used a survey questionnaire to measure participants’ self-reports of household energy efficiency and Study 2 used a field experiment to directly measure hotel guests’ towel reuse. Results indicated that individuals provided with social norm information engaged in more pro-environmental behaviour than those who were presented solely with environmental information. The findings also suggest that there is a need to distinguish between types of pro-environmental behaviour and the role of social reference groups when designing normative messages. The implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for future research.</p>

Designing for Trust: Understanding the Role of Agent Gender and Location on User Perceptions of Trust in Home Automation

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Damen ◽  
Christine Toh
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Home Automation ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
User Perceptions ◽  
User Behaviors ◽  
Design Characteristics ◽  
Carry Over

Although trust can have a positively mediating effect on information technology adoption and usage, the concept has not been extensively investigated in the home automation field. Therefore, this work is aimed at exploring the role of agent location and the gender of the agent's voice on users' perception of trust toward automation through two experimental studies (N = 8 and N = 20) and a web-based smart lock simulation. Explicit trust behavior was captured using directly observable behaviors and decisions, while implicit trust behavior was captured using detailed click-level user behaviors with the smart lock simulation as a proxy for reaction time. The results show that users displayed more explicit trusting behavior toward the system when it displayed design characteristics that were stereotype congruent (female-home and male-office) compared to stereotype incongruent systems (male-home and female-office). These results show that users carry over the social expectations and roles encountered in human-to-human relationships to interactions with simulated automated agents. These findings empirically demonstrate the influence of design characteristics on the formation of trust relationships between users and automated devices and provide a foundation for future research geared at critically examining our evolving relationship with technology.

scholarly journals The Influence of Religion on Sustainable Consumption: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 7901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anabel Orellano ◽  
Carmen Valor ◽  
Emilio Chuvieco
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Responsible Consumption

Background: Due to the current environmental crisis, sustainable consumption (SC) behaviour and its drivers has gained significant attention among researchers. One of the potential drivers of SC, religion, have been analysed in the last few years. The study of the relationship between religion and adoption of SC at the individual level have reached mixed and inconclusive results. Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of articles published between 1998 and 2019 was conducted using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Search terms included sustainable consumption, green consumption, ethical consumption, responsible consumption, pro-environmental behaviour and religion. Results: This systematic review reveals that contradictory results are due to methodological and theoretical reasons and provides a unifying understanding about the influence of religion on SC practices. Results highlight the role of religion as a distal or background factor of other proximal determinants of environmental behaviour. Conclusions: This paper contributes to the literature concerning SC by synthesising previous scholarship showing that religion shapes SC indirectly by affecting attitudes, values, self-efficacy, social norms and identity. The review concludes with a research agenda to encourage scholars the study of other unexamined mediating constructs, such as beliefs in after life, cleansing rituals and prayer, moral emotions, moral identity, the role of virtues and self-restrain.

scholarly journals The New Ecological Paradigm, Pro-Environmental Behaviour, and the Moderating Effects of Locus of Control and Self-Construal

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7728
Author(s):  
Lukasz Andrzej Derdowski ◽  
Åsa Helen Grahn ◽  
Håvard Hansen ◽  
Heidi Skeiseid
Keyword(s):  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Future Research ◽  
New Ecological Paradigm ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Internal Locus Of Control ◽  
Self Construal ◽  
Ecological Paradigm ◽  
Purchasing Behaviour ◽  
The Relationship

Acquiring a better understanding of what drives pro-environmental and sustainable behaviour is important for both researchers and practitioners alike. The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating role of locus of control and self-construal on the relationship between pro-environmental beliefs and pro-environmental consumer behaviour. We explicitly model the endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) as a predictor of three specific types of environmental behaviour—travel, purchasing and day to day activities. The results show a positive and significant association between the endorsement of NEP and a person’s pro-environmental traveling behaviour, purchasing behaviour and day to day activities. Moreover, we find that the effects are moderated by a person’s locus of control, specifically, it remains positive and significant only for people with an internal locus of control. However, we found no moderating effect of a person’s self-construal on the association between NEP and pro-environmental behaviour. The findings are important in the continuing work to understand what is limiting consumers to behave according to their beliefs. Practical and theoretical implications of the results as well as suggestions for future research are presented.

Do Emotions Cause Eating? The Role of Previous Experiences and Social Context in Emotional Eating

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gizem Altheimer ◽  
Heather L. Urry
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Emotional Eating ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Discrete Emotions ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Desire To Eat

Emotional eating is defined as an increase in eating following negative emotion. Self-reported emotional eating has been associated with physical-health concerns. However, experimental studies indicate that negative-mood inductions do not reliably lead to increased eating in healthy eaters, not even among those with a high desire to eat when emotional. We argue that experimental studies will help us understand emotional eating only if they account for the following ideas: (a) Emotional eating may require that people learn to associate emotion with eating, (b) emotional eating may follow only specific discrete emotions, and (c) emotional eating may depend on social context. Each of these points suggests a fruitful direction for future research. Specifically, future studies must acknowledge, identify, and account for variations in the extent to which people have learned to associate emotions with eating; assess or elicit strong discrete emotions; and systematically examine the effect of social context on emotional eating.

scholarly journals A Review of the Concepts and Measurements for Connection to Nature and Environmentally Responsible Behaviour—a Call for Research on Human-Forest Relationships

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-338
Author(s):  
Liina Häyrinen ◽  
Sari Pynnönen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Connection To Nature ◽  
Environmental Behaviour ◽  
Scientific Discussion ◽  
The Past ◽  
Environmentally Responsible ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Purpose of Review The review examines recent scientific discussion on the concepts and measurements of human connection to nature (CTN) and pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). In addition to that, we explore the environmental contexts in which study populations are exposed to nature or nature experiences, particularly the contexts in which forests emerge from these studies, and lastly outline gaps in research. Recent Findings Outlining the association between CTN and PEB has been widely researched over the past 5 years. The concepts and measurements referring to these terms vary, but a few commonly used concepts were identified. The review classifies the approaches used for exploring the relationship between CTN and PEB into four categories. The review indicates that the interconnection between CTN and PEB is mostly studied as a part of the wider concept. Approximately half of the reviewed articles explored the actual exposure to some natural environment or nature activity either directly or indirectly. Forests only played a small role as a natural environment in the reviewed articles. Summary Forests appear to be of very little weight or under-represented in CTN and PEB literature as an explicitly identified natural environment. Results also indicate that the human-forest relationship has not been defined precisely in empirically based scientific literature. The paper discusses implications for the future research focusing on emphasizing the role of forests as natural environments in the research of CTN and PEB.

Self-concept clarity as a predictor of self-disclosure in romantic relationships

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1873-1891
Author(s):  
Maryam Tajmirriyahi ◽  
William Ickes
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Multiple Regression Models

Several studies have examined the role of self-esteem in self-disclosure while overlooking a potentially important confounding variable: self-concept clarity. Across three studies, we found an association between self-concept clarity and self-disclosure to one’s romantic partner. This incremental effect held even when the variance attributable to self-esteem was statistically controlled in a multiple regression analysis. Moreover, in two of the three studies, self-esteem was no longer a significant predictor of self-disclosure after controlling for the variance in self-concept clarity. These data suggest that self-concept clarity is an important predictor of self-disclosure—one that is conceptually and empirically distinct from self-esteem. That self-concept clarity tended to supplant self-esteem in the multiple regression models suggests that disclosing the specific aspects of the self that one clearly perceives (one’s attributes, goals, motives, values, etc.) might be more essential to everyday self-disclosure than disclosing only whether one has a globally positive or negative self-view. Future research should explore the causal relationships involved with the aid of experimental studies.

scholarly journals The role of memory in posttraumatic stress disorder: implications for clinical practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 119-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Montagner Rigoli ◽  
Gustavo Ramos Silva ◽  
Fernando Rainho de Oliveira ◽  
Giovanni Kuckartz Pergher ◽  
Christian Haag Kristensen
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Future Research

Abstract Introduction: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a highly prevalent disorder with important social consequences. Several models have been developed with the aim of understanding the mechanisms underlying its symptoms. Intrusions are idiosyncratic symptoms that commonly take the form of involuntary recollection of images or flashbacks about the traumatic event. Objective: To review how memory is conceptualized in each of these models and the implications for clinical practice. Methods: A narrative review of the literature was conducted through analysis of the perspectives of memory in theoretical models of PTSD. Results: Two main perspectives were identified: 1) models in which specific mechanisms of memory for processing traumatic events are proposed, especially those based on clinical studies, and 2) models in which common mnemonic mechanisms are utilized to explain the phenomenon, primarily based on basic experimental research studies investigating memory. The different theories based on these approaches have led to distinct psychotherapy interventions. Conclusion: In order to clarify these discrepancies, future research should aim for the methodological rigor of experimental studies, while maintaining the ecological applicability of findings. Cognitive experimental psychopathology is therefore an area on which research funding should be focused. Such studies could elucidate the role of mnemonic aspects in PTSD and how they impact psychological treatments.

How religiosity influences the consumption of luxury goods: exploration of the moral halo effect

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 2530-2555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Geiger-Oneto ◽  
Elizabeth A. Minton
Keyword(s):  
Belief Systems ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Luxury Consumption ◽  
Luxury Goods ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moral Licensing ◽  
Luxury Products

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of religion, morality and mindset in influencing perceptions of luxury products. Design/methodology/approach The study uses three experimental studies to investigate this relationship. Findings Study 1 shows that religiosity influences negative moral emotions (but not positive moral emotions), which then negatively influence luxury consumption and morality evaluations. Study 2 replicates the effects of Study 1 and shows that priming a moral (marketplace) mindset decreases negative moral emotions and increases luxury consumption evaluations for highly (less) religious consumers. Study 3 explains the effects found in Studies 1 and 2 as driven by moral licensing, such that priming a moral (marketplace) mindset decreases (increases) the negative moral emotions experienced by those primed (not primed) with religiosity. Study 3 also improves the external validity of findings by including a social media sample of regular luxury purchases. Implications for theory and marketing practice are discussed. Research limitations/implications The present research is limited by samples conducted in Western culture with a predominantly Western, Christian religious audience. Future research should examine how moral vs marketplace mindsets differentially influence the consumption of luxury products for Eastern religious consumers (e.g. Hindus, Buddhists and Confucianists). Additionally, this research was conducted using Allport and Ross’ (1967) religiosity measure. Some could argue that the measure is not the most representative for atheists or agnostics or is outdated, so further research would benefit from replicating and extending the findings in this paper with other, newer religiosity measures better adapted to measure all belief systems. Practical implications Marketers of luxury products should realize the potential of a new target audience – religious consumers. While religiosity is positively correlated with negative moral emotions toward luxury products in Study 1, Studies 2 and 3 reveal that priming a moral mindset can reduce negative affect and increase evaluations of luxury products. Thus, marketers could seek out ways to emphasize morality in messaging. For example, a marketer may incorporate words such as virtues, ethics and/or noble, when describing attributes of their brand in advertising, thereby resulting in a moral licensing effect. Research suggests advertising content has the potential to influence consumers’ perceived moral obligation, inclusive of the moral or immoral nature of the consumption of luxury brands. Originality/value While the link between religion and luxury goods is evident in popular culture, previous research has yet to empirically explore this relationship. This study fills this gap by investigating the role of religiosity on the perceived morality and ultimately the purchase of luxury branded goods.

scholarly journals Relieving the regret for maximizers

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-304
Author(s):  
Louise May Hassan ◽  
Edward Shiu ◽  
Miriam McGowan
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Negative Experience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Choice Context

Purpose Prior research consistently found maximizers to experience greater regret over their choice than satisficers. Moreover, research also found maximizers to be trapped in a “maximization-regret-maximization” cycle. This paper aims to assess the role of construal level theory in alleviating regret felt by maximizers. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine the construal level theory (CLT) in conjunction with the choice context (comparable and non-comparable choices). Three experimental studies tested our assertion that a match between CLT mindset and choice set relieves regret for maximizers. Findings The authors show maximizers experience similar levels of regret compared to satisficers when considering comparable options in a concrete mindset, and non-comparable options in an abstract mindset. However, maximizers experience heightened regret in comparison to satisficers when considering non-comparable (comparable) options in a concrete (abstract) mindset. Choice difficulty mediates our effect. Research limitations/implications Future research is needed to replicate our results in real-life settings. Practical implications If marketers think that their product is likely to be compared with other comparable products, they should adopt product-specific information that focusses on how the product would be used. However, if marketers think that consumers will compare across non-comparable products, then they should focus on why their product is the most suitable to fulfil consumers’ needs. Originality/value This research represents the first attempt at reducing regret for maximizers and answers the call for an examination of the relationship between maximization and CLT. The research adds to the maximization literature by evidencing a CLT-based strategy that attenuates the negative experience of regret for maximizers.

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