Peer pressure pushes people to go green
A growing body of research shows the most effective way to get people to go green is not through do-good appeals, but rather peer pressure. Sarah Gardner reports on the latest research findings.
A low-energy florescent light (Stan Honda / Getty Images)
More on Sustainability, Innovation
Links
- Noah J. Goldstein
- Robert Cialdini
- P. Wesley Schultz
- Positive Energy
- Puget Sound Energy
Goldstein, N. J., Cialdini, R. B., & Griskevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint: Using social norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels. Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 472-482. - Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
- Understanding and Motivating Energy Conservation Via Social Norms
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: Habits can be hard to change, especially later in life. But when it comes to fixing our bad environmental habits, it might be time to go back to high school. There's a growing body of research that shows peer pressure may be the most effective way to get people to behave in a more eco-friendly manner. That's opposed, of course, to the classic do-gooder appeals that are so common in the environmental movement. From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk Sarah Gardner reports.
Sarah Gardner:
Noah Goldstein has a Ph.D. in social psychology. He teaches at the prestigious Anderson School of Management at UCLA and tosses around esoteric terms like "injunctive norm." But today he's talking hotel towels.
Noah Goldstein: There are these signs in hotels that ask people to reuse their towels to help save the environment.
That's the standard environmental appeal. The Ph.D.s thought they could do better.
Goldstein: A second one that we created specifically informed guests that the majority of others did reuse their towels sometime during their stay.
The result of that message? Twenty-six percent more recycling. And when Goldstein and his colleagues tweaked the sign further to say the majority of guests in that particular room had re-used their dirty towels, recycling improved 33 percent. Goldstein says it's an adaptive, herd-like response.
Goldstein: If you go to a cafeteria and you've never been there before and nobody is touching the ham and everybody is touching the turkey, it's probably effective for you to go for the turkey sandwich instead of the ham.
Now some energy businesses are starting to apply the research on peer influence. Alex Laskey heads Positive Energy, a company that helps utilities cut their customers' energy use. He's read the latest studies and he's a believer.
Alex Laskey: Despite the fact that your mother and my mother told us countless times that it doesn't matter what the neighbors do -- "I set the rules in this house" -- it turns out at the end of the day, we are all driven by our perceptions of what the neighbors are doing.
One of Laskey's clients is Puget Sound Energy, a utility in suburban Seattle.
Andy Wappler: We know today that if our customers in western Washington did pretty attainable energy efficiency measures -- going to CFL's, doing some upgrades around the house -- we wouldn't have to build two 250-megawatt gas-fired power plants.
That's PSE's Andy Wappler. He says the utility just started a pilot program: It's telling 40,000 of its customers how much energy they use compared to neighbors in similar-sized houses. The initial response? Well, let's just say the customer calls were charged.
Kristy Nice: I have to say they were 100 percent negative. They were people that were offended by them and felt that it was an invasion of privacy and how dare we suggest they should be doing better.
That's PSE employee Kristy Nice. She took hundreds of calls in the first few days. Still, only 19 of those over-users asked to opt out of the pilot program. The results of the utility's peer pressure project aren't in yet. But the success of a similar academic experiment in Southern California gives the utility confidence.
Enter the home of PSE customer John Gegas.
John Gegas: In the kitchen there's probably eight bulbs there, there's four in here.
Gegas actually found out he's actually out-saving his neighbors.
Gegas: My reaction was good. My other reaction was I can do better.
Gegas may not know it, but the tendency for good performers like him is to backslide when they find out they're better than average. Behavioral scientists call this moving to the "magnetic middle." That's why PSE plastered two smiley faces next to Gegas' positive score. The research suggests that kind of kindergarten approval can prevent behavioral relapse. So what symbol do the energy hogs get?
Wappler: We don't give 'em frowns. Nobody wants a frown.
That's apparently another social theory PSE subscribes to. At some point, the customer's always right.
In King County, Washington, I'm Sarah Gardner for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From little rock, AR, 11/17/2009
What a load of crap. Calling people "overusers". I hate you Communitarians.
10/20/2009
i love you sarah gardner
From Los Angeles, CA, 09/01/2009
I realized in my previous comment that I misspelled the URL of Visible Energy. It is www.visibleenergy.com
Apologies!
From Los Angeles, CA, 02/18/2009
Understanding how energy use deviates from the norm can serve as a powerful confirmation of one's virtue . . . or a wakeup call that heating your hot tub year round without a cover may not be the most judicious use of energy. There's a new website that offers its community of users a way to see how their own behavior impacts their consumption of power, and how their energy use compares to their peers. Instead of a retroactive static bill, utility customers can see in real time how they measure up. Check out www.visiblenergy.com or read about it here:
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/11/18/news/20081118_front_185408.txt
From Hyderabad,INDIA, 01/14/2009
Julie Sinistore is right. I agree totally that peer pressure will make people act fast. I distribute green living tips everywhere and mention that when u transform , the world transforms. So be the change. I introduced a concept called - observing Green minute in meetings and occassions to share green living practicies. This is causing amny people enroll into the acting part of it.
From Miami, FL, 01/13/2009
I agree with Christine Haar many times this so called green initiatives are defeated by the service personnel at the hotel. They always change the towels even if we hang them or leave card. Management should have better training so that employees understand the benefits.
01/09/2009
I listened to this story with interest. In my experience, my attempts to be green are thwarted by the hotel maids who change the towels regardless of the fact that I hang them up, place the appropriate card on the bed (which I remake to discourage them from changing the sheets) and even write a note. I find the only effective strategy is to leave the do not disturb sign on the door handle thus by-passing maid service all together.
01/08/2009
As a hotel employee and in regards to Eric Nelson's comment, I would like to point out that some of us involved in environmental projects do care about saving the planet and not just about saving money. To not reuse his towels because he thinks we do not care, it is a selfish and ignorant behavior. We can only change anything if we start changing this kind of attitude.
From Arlington, VA, 01/08/2009
Thank you for your coverage. I thought I’d post some additional information about what we’re doing – and the exciting impact we’re having on energy consumption -- with Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and other forward-looking utilities.
Positive Energy http://www.positiveenergyusa.com is working with 10 major utilities to deliver Home Energy Reports to hundreds of thousands of households across the country. Our products engage customers with information – including neighbor comparisons and personalized, targeted energy-saving recommendations – to help them make better choices about their energy consumption.
The impact of our Reports has been thrilling:
- In eight months, our implementation to 35,000 randomly selected customers of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has reduced electric use equivalent to taking approximately 700 homes off the grid or installing $30 Million in solar panels. - During December, when faced with the worst weather in recent memory, those 40,000 PSE customers receiving the reports saved a significant amount of both electricity and home heating gas compared to a control group.
Based on initial results, if deployed nationwide Positive Energy’s Home Energy Reports, would:
- Save energy equivalent to removing more than 2.5 Million homes from the grid.
- Generate $20 Billion in savings for homeowners and renters over five years.
Our partner utilities and their residential customers have been terrific to work with. As the results – and low opt-out rates – indicate, the majority of these customers are finding the information and recommendations on the reports very helpful.
One customer wrote to PSE: “Thank you! This is the best bad news I've had in a long time. I really appreciate having this information so I can start to make some changes.” Likewise, one SMUD customer remarked, "it's like you've turned the lights on for me. I finally understand where I stand and what I can do to save." One SMUD customer has even blogged about how the Reports have inspired his family’s New Year’s resolution to make meaningful changes to their home energy usage: http://postscriptsonlife.blogspot.com/2009/01/resolutions.html
To learn more or get in touch, please visit us at http://www.positiveenergyusa.com
Warm wishes for a Happy New Year,
Alex Laskey
President & co-Founder, Positive Energy
From Fort Collins, CO, 01/07/2009
I NEVER reuse towels if I find one of those "each day millions of tons of detergent" cards in my hotel room, because the hotel are lying about caring for the environment. This is just about money.
I'd would prefer to reuse my towels—I do it at home & care very much about the environment—however, this kind of lie just cannot be rewarded.
Eric
From Cincinnati, OH, 01/07/2009
I think the central theme of this story is revealing ... if people perceive that the expectation is a certain standard, then they tend to conform. (A central gravity is migrated toward)
Wouldn't it be in everyone's best interest to apply this principle to our economic mess? Set a standard for behavior that protects everyone involved and even allows them (us) to thrive!
The same self-interest behavior (culture) that improves the greater society could permeate health decisions, education standards, etc. as well. (Clearly, by the way, all related to the economy)
The converse is true ... set low standards and people comply. (broken window theory)
From Chicago, IL, 01/06/2009
I have heard that these kinds of fluorescent bulbs can be damaging to your eyes. Is this true? See below. Especially true in home offices, where the glare can cause trouble when used with a computer??? Marketplace should do a follow up story on this topic. Is this a healthy light bulb?? http://www.aoa.org/x5380.xml
01/06/2009
I experienced this peer pressure environmentalism approach when I lobbied my undergrad university to use 30% post-consumer content recycled paper instead of virgin. My pleas fell on deaf ears until I mentioned to the administrative wing of the university that a long-time football rival already used 30% and was in the process of switching to 100% recycled paper. Within a month, I had a letter from the VP of administrative affairs declaring that all offices under her wing would switch to 30% recycled paper.
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