scholarly journals Social Comparison Information Influences Intentions to Reduce Single-Use Plastic Water Bottle Consumption

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Bruchmann ◽  
Sarah M. Chue ◽  
Keelin Dillon ◽  
Jaime K. Lucas ◽  
Kayla Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Water Bottle ◽  
False Feedback ◽  
Campus Environment ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Motivate Behavior ◽  
Relative Standing ◽  
Comparison Information

Single-use plastic consumption is at an all-time high and threatens environmental and human health. College campuses in particular serve as a hub for single-use plastics due to their convenience for students on the go. The present research tests whether social comparison information can influence self-perceptions of single-use plastic consumption and motivate behavior change within the college campus environment. In a controlled experiment, we measured college students' existing plastic water bottle usage and gave them false feedback about their behaviors and relative standing to their classmates: participants in comparison conditions learned they were either above or below average in their plastic water bottle sustainability behaviors. Results indicated that (relative to a no-comparison control), being above average at water bottle sustainability led students to be more satisfied with their sustainability efforts. However, either kind of comparison information (i.e., being above or below average) led to greater behavioral intentions to reduce single-use plastic water bottle consumption in the future. This study highlights how comparison information can be used to motivate sustainable behavior change with regards to single-use plastics.

scholarly journals Stop Piling on: Assessing Efforts to Reduce Single-Use Water Bottles at Allegheny College

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8864
Author(s):  
Matthew Bethurem ◽  
Beth Choate ◽  
Stephanie Bramwell
Keyword(s):  
Free Water ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Bottled Water ◽  
Water Bottle ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Awareness Campaign ◽  
Valuable Lesson ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Place Of Origin ◽  
Modern Era

Plastic waste represents one of the largest environmental problems of the modern era and disposable water bottles comprise a substantial portion of that waste in the U.S. Colleges are in a unique position to create systems that foster sustainable behaviors among their constituents. Since 2015, Allegheny College has installed water refill stations, and initiated a free water bottle program and an awareness campaign to reduce single-use bottles on the college’s campus. Two surveys were distributed to the student body between 2018 and 2019 to assess the efficacy of those initiatives and learn about any barriers. Bottled water use has reduced significantly since 2014, with the majority of students stating that they most commonly drink water from refill stations while on campus. Demographic factors like income, sex, or place of origin were not related to the amount of bottled water consumption or type of water preference among students. The primary barrier to students eliminating disposable water bottle use was found to be a lack of water refill stations in dormitories. Research aimed at changing behaviors to benefit the environment should consider the barrier of convenience. This research provides a valuable lesson that can extend beyond college campuses and into public settings.

scholarly journals The Formulation of Epidemic Prevention Work of COVID-19 for Colleges and Universities: Priorities and Recommendations

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2081
Author(s):  
Wan-Chi Jackie Hsu ◽  
Huai-Wei Lo ◽  
Chin-Cheng Yang
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Campus Environment ◽  
Overseas Students ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
The World ◽  
Criteria Weights ◽  
Multiple Experts

As the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic spreads all over the world, governments of various countries are actively adopting epidemic prevention measures to curb the spread of the disease. However, colleges and universities are one of the most likely places for cluster infections. The main reason is that college students have frequent social activities, and many students come from different countries, which may very likely cause college campuses to be entry points of disease transmission. Therefore, this study proposes a framework of epidemic prevention work, and further explores the importance and priority of epidemic prevention works. First of all, 32 persons in charge of epidemic prevention from various universities in Taiwan were invited to jointly formulate a campus epidemic prevention framework and determined 5 dimensions and 36 epidemic prevention works/measures/criteria. Next, Bayesian best worst method (BWM) was used to generate a set of optimal group criteria weights. This method can not only integrate the opinions of multiple experts, but also effectively reduce the complexity of expert interviews to obtain more reliable results. The results show that the five most important measures for campus epidemic prevention are the establishment of a campus epidemic prevention organization, comprehensive disinfection of the campus environment, maintenance of indoor ventilation, proper isolation of contacts with confirmed cases, and management of immigration regulations for overseas students. This study provides colleges and universities around the world to formulate anti-epidemic measures to effectively reduce the probability of COVID-19 transmission on campuses to protect students’ right to education.

scholarly journals Social Comparison Features in Physical Activity Promotion Apps: Scoping Meta-Review (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Arigo ◽  
Megan M Brown ◽  
Kristen Pasko ◽  
Jerry Suls
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Behavioral Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Smartphone Apps ◽  
Comparison Theory ◽  
Activity Promotion ◽  
Meta Review ◽  
Definition Of

BACKGROUND Smartphone apps promoting physical activity (PA) are abundant, but few produce substantial and sustained behavior change. Although many PA apps purport to induce users to compare themselves with others (by invoking social comparison processes), improvements in PA and other health behaviors are inconsistent. Existing literature suggests that social comparison may motivate PA for some people under some circumstances. However, 2 aspects of work that apply social comparison theory to PA apps remain unclear: (1) how comparison processes have been operationalized or harnessed in existing PA apps and (2) whether incorporating sources of variability in response to comparison have been used to tailor comparison features of apps, which could improve their effectiveness for promoting PA. OBJECTIVE The aim of this meta-review was to summarize existing systematic, quantitative, and narrative reviews of behavior change techniques in PA apps, with an emphasis on social comparison features, to examine how social comparison is operationalized and implemented. METHODS We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for reviews of PA smartphone apps. Of the 3743 initial articles returned, 26 reviews met the inclusion criteria. Two independent raters extracted the data from these reviews, including the definition of social comparison used to categorize app features, the percentage of apps categorized as inducing comparison, specific features intended to induce comparison, and any mention of tailoring comparison features. For reference, these data were also extracted for related processes (such as behavioral modeling, norm referencing, and social networking). RESULTS Of the included review articles, 31% (8/26) categorized app features as prompting social comparison. The majority of these employed Abraham and Michie’s earliest definition of comparison, which differs from versions in later iterations of the same taxonomy. Very few reviews specified what dimension users were expected to compare (eg, steps, physical fitness) or which features of the apps were used to induce comparison (eg, leaderboards, message boards). No review referenced tailoring of comparison features. In contrast, 54% (14/26) reviews categorized features for prompting behavioral modeling and 31% (8/26) referenced tailoring app features for users’ personal goals or preferences. CONCLUSIONS The heterogeneity across reviews of PA apps and the absence of relevant information (eg, about dimensions or features relevant for comparison) create confusion about how to best harness social comparison to increase PA and its effectiveness in future research. No evidence was found that important findings from the broader social comparison literature (eg, that people have differing preferences for and responses to social comparison information) have been incorporated in the design of existing PA apps. Greater integration of the mobile health (mHealth) and social comparison literatures may improve the effectiveness of PA apps, thereby increasing the public health impact of these mHealth tools. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-https://osf.io/nh4td/

Individual Differences in Social Comparison

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham P. Buunk ◽  
Frederick X. Gibbons ◽  
Pieternel Dijkstra ◽  
Zlatan Krizan
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Physical Attractiveness ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Personality Variables ◽  
Work And Organizations ◽  
Comparison Information

Individuals differ considerably in their social comparison orientation (SCO), that is, the extent to which and the frequency with which they compare themselves with others. In this chapter, the major findings with the scale assessing SCO are discussed. After presenting the basic psychometric properties of the scale and the relationships with various personality variables, the authors discuss how SCO is related to, among others, seeking upward and downward social comparison information, to establishing one’s risk, and to assessing one’s future prospects. Next, we present particularly the role of SCO in moderating the effects of upward and downward social comparison information with respect to a variety of contexts and dimensions, including close relationships, ageing, work and organizations, depression, health, and physical attractiveness. Special attention is paid to the question if SCO fosters identification and assimilation rather than contrast.

scholarly journals Investigation of persuasive system design predictors of competitive behavior in fitness application: A mixed-method approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 205520761987860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiemute Oyibo ◽  
Julita Vassileva
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
System Design ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Physical Inactivity ◽  
Persuasive Strategies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Method Approach ◽  
Fitness Application

Fitness applications aimed at behavior change are becoming increasingly popular due to the global prevalence of sedentary lifestyles and physical inactivity, causing countless non-communicable diseases. Competition is one of the most common persuasive strategies employed in such applications to motivate users to engage in physical activity in a social context. However, there is limited research on the persuasive system design predictors of users’ susceptibility to competition as a persuasive strategy for motivating behavior change in a social context. To bridge this gap, we designed storyboards illustrating four of the commonly employed persuasive strategies (reward, social learning, social comparison, and competition) in fitness applications and asked potential users to evaluate their perceived persuasiveness. The result of our path analysis showed that, overall, users’ susceptibilities to social comparison (βT = 0.48, p < 0.001), reward (βT = 0.42, p < 0.001), and social learning (βT = 0.29, p < 0.01) predicted their susceptibility to competition, with our model accounting for 41% of its variance. Social comparison partially mediated the relationship between reward and competition, while social learning partially mediated the relationship between social comparison and competition. Comparatively, the relationship between reward and social learning was stronger for females than for males, whereas the relationship between reward and competition was stronger for males than for females. Overall, our findings underscore the compatibility of all four persuasive strategies in a one-size-fits-all fitness application. We discuss our findings, drawing insight from the comments provided by participants.

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