| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

Using Behavioural Theory to Promote Sustainable Living

7th June 2010

Oliver Payne, Founder, CEO, The Hunting Dynasty,

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

A sustainable future requires people to change their

behaviour

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

 change in purchase

behaviour

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of the two)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

Familiar to comms industry

• Mostly switching purchase habits

• AIDA standard model

• Not great for side/down-shifting

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

Less familiar to comms industry

• Asking people to break with habitual patterns of behaviour

• AIDA seems deficient (knowledge and awareness rarely enough to illicit action) *door knob

• Not necessarily aspirational (injunctions ‘Don’t/Please/After/Stop’)

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of both)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

There’s one thing we all have in common that spans

purchase & lifestyle behaviour

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of both)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour“…despite being generally capable

and smart, we are highly context dependent.”

Jack Fuller, Australian research group Per Capita Research

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of both)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

Meaning?

A. We are not purely rational beings

B. Neither are we irrational – context dependency is measureable

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of both)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

Meaning?

A. We are not purely rational beings

B. Neither are we irrational – context dependency is measureable

12. Irrational escalation: the tendency to make irrational decisions based upon rational decisions in the past, or to justify actions already taken. The dollar auction is a thought exercise demonstrating the concept.

13. Loss aversion: the tendency to fear losses more than to value gains of equal size.

14. Endowment effect: the tendency to demand much more to give up an object than you would be willing to pay to acquire it. The Duke University basketball ticket experiment (a combination of loss aversion and the endowment effect = Status quo bias)

15. Neglect of probability: the tendency to disregard probabilities for absolutes when making a decision under uncertainty.

16. ‘Not Invented Here’: the tendency to ignore an idea or solution because its source is seen as unfamiliar.

17. Planning fallacy: the tendency to underestimate the time it takes to complete tasks.

18. Post-purchase rationalisation: the tendency to rationalise your purchases as ‘good buys’ merely based on the fact that you purchased them – and the reason why a 110% money back guarantee works.

19. Pseudo-certainty effect/Gambler’s fallacy: the tendency, when seeking positive outcomes, to make only risk-averse choices; but to make risk-seeking choices to avoid negative outcomes.

20. Selective perception: the tendency for expectations to shape perceptions.

21. Wishful thinking: the formation of beliefs according to what is pleasant to imagine rather than based on evidence or rationality.

22. Zero-risk bias: the preference for reducing a small risk to zero over a greater reduction in a larger risk.

23. Self-serving bias (Illusory superiority/better-than-average effect) occurs when people attribute their successes to internal or personal factors but attribute their failures to situational factors beyond their control.

1. Aversion to extremes: the tendency to avoid extremes, to prefer a choice simply because it is the middle-ground option. Consumers Avoid Extremes In Soda Sizes

2. Bandwagoning or herd instinct: the tendency to do (or believe) things simply because other people do.

3. Choice-supportive bias: the tendency to remember your own choices as better than they actually were.

4. Conservatism bias: the tendency to ignore the consequences and implications of new evidence.

5. Contrast effect: the tendency to perceive measurements of an object differently when comparing them with a recently observed contrasting object.

6. Distinction bias: the tendency to view two options as more dissimilar when viewing them together than when viewing them separately.

7. Excessive temporal discounting/hyperbolic discounting: the tendency for people to have excessively stronger preferences for immediate gains relative to future gains.

8. Exposure effect: the tendency for people to like things simply because they are familiar with them.

9. Framing effects: the tendency to draw different conclusions based on how data are presented. a. Anchoringb. Mental accounting (current income, current wealth, future income –

different marginal propensity to consume, eg: extra 1, spend 0.65)

10. Scarcity value: When we perceive something to be scarce it has a greater value in our eyes. Conversely, when we perceive it to be plentiful its perceived value falls. When valuing things, circumstantial factors tend to crowd out factors that point towards absolute value.

11. Social norms: the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to follow the rules can result in severe punishments, including exclusion from the group.

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of both)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

How do you use these universal quirks to create sustainable behaviour?

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of both)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

How do you use these universal quirks to create sustainable behaviour?

In 19 ways…

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

1. Simply ask

2. Ask using the right words

3. Ask using the right images

4. Ask using the right authority

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

1. Simply ask

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

1. Simply ask

What can I get you sir?

Whilst queuing for food

40% of students took a serving of fruit

Yale University researcher Marlene Schwartz in a 2007 study

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

1. Simply ask

What can I get you sir?

Whilst queuing for food

40% of students took a serving of fruit

When asked if they would ‘like fruit or fruit juice’

70% of students took a serving of fruit

Yale University researcher Marlene Schwartz in a 2007 study

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

1. Simply ask

What can I get you sir?

Whilst queuing for food

40% of students took a serving of fruit

When asked if they would ‘like fruit or fruit juice’

70% of students took a serving of fruit

Yale University researcher Marlene Schwartz in a 2007 study

Exposure effect

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

2. Ask using the right words

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

2. Ask using the right words

Petrified ThievesPeople steal bits of wood from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.

 Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the Park, changing

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

Please don’t remove the petrified wood from the Park,

in order to preserve

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

[nothing]

The signs above were tested to stop the theft: Some were more successful than others…

Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion | Goldstein, Martin, Cialdini | 2007 | pp20

¼

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

2. Ask using the right words

Petrified ThievesPeople steal bits of wood from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.

 Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the Park, changing

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

Please don’t remove the petrified wood from the Park,

in order to preserve

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

8% theft

[nothing]

Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion | Goldstein, Martin, Cialdini | 2007 | pp20

¼

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

2. Ask using the right words

Petrified ThievesPeople steal bits of wood from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.

 Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the Park, changing

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

Please don’t remove the petrified wood from the Park,

in order to preserve

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

8% theft

[nothing]

3% theft

Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion | Goldstein, Martin, Cialdini | 2007 | pp20

¼

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

2. Ask using the right words

Petrified ThievesPeople steal bits of wood from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.

 Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the Park, changing

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

Please don’t remove the petrified wood from the Park,

in order to preserve

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

8% theft 1.7% theft

[nothing]

3% theft

Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion | Goldstein, Martin, Cialdini | 2007 | pp20

¼

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

2. Ask using the right words

Petrified ThievesPeople steal bits of wood from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.

 Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the Park, changing

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

Please don’t remove the petrified wood from the Park,

in order to preserve

the natural state of the Petrified Forest

8% theft 1.7% theft

[nothing]

3% theft

“…a message that focuses recipients on the injunctive norm will be superior to messages that focus recipients on the descriptive norm.” (Cialdini et

al., 2003)Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion | Goldstein, Martin, Cialdini | 2007 | pp20

Social norms

Framing effect

¼

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

3. Ask using the right images

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

3. Ask using the right images

Chief Iron Eyes Cody

"People Start Pollution. People can stop it."  YouTube

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

3. Ask using the right images

Chief Iron Eyes Cody

Considered successful:

- 16th best television commercial of all time by

TV Guide magazine (“The Fifty Greatest,” 1999)

- Top 100 advertising campaigns of the 20th Century by Ad Age Magazine

- 2 Clio awards

Crafting Normative Messages to Protect the Environment Robert B. Cialdini, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

3. Ask using the right images

Chief Iron Eyes Cody

“…small but conceptually meaningful modification of… changing the perceived descriptive norm regarding littering.”

Crafting Normative Messages to Protect the Environment Robert B. Cialdini, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University

Social norms

However - reinforcing damaging message that many people do litter

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

4. Ask using the right authority

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

4. Ask using the right authority

Insulating expectation 

Sutton council worked with B&Q to made 6,000 rolls of loft insulation available at massively reduced prices

“[A] very simple step to make their homes more carbon efficient and to save on their bills”

Daniel Ratchford -Strategic Director, Environment & Leisure, Sutton Council

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

4. Ask using the right authority

Insulating expectation 

Sutton council worked with B&Q to made 6,000 rolls of loft insulation available at massively reduced prices

“[A] very simple step to make their homes more carbon efficient and to save on their bills”

Daniel Ratchford -Strategic Director, Environment & Leisure, Sutton Council

Socialnorms

Authority effect

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

1. Simply ask

2. Ask using the right words

3. Ask using the right images

4. Ask using the right authority

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

5. Ask using the right fake authority

6. Ask in the right order

7. Ask at the right time

8. Ask with the right incentive

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

5. Ask using the right fake authority

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

5. Ask using the right fake authority

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior | Grist.org

b. Expend very little energyCan these fake approval and disapproval emoticons change behaviour?

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

5. Ask using the right fake authority

Expend very little energyTwo groups given information about their neighbourhood energy use

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior | Grist.org

Group A

10 mpg

Group B

25 mpg

Straight info about energy use Straight info and smiley/sad face

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

5. Ask using the right fake authority

Expend very little energyTwo groups given information about their neighbourhood energy use

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior | Grist.org

Group A

10 mpg

Group B

25 mpg

High users reduced consumptionLow users increased consumption

High users reduced consumptionLow users consistent consumption

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

5. Ask using the right fake authority

Expend very little energyTwo groups given information about their neighbourhood energy use

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior | Grist.org

Group A

10 mpg

Group B

25 mpg

40% more energy saved

High users reduced consumptionLow users increased consumption

High users reduced consumptionLow users consistent consumption

Social norms

Loss aversion

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

Smart measuring techTake a fee for collating and presenting supply data

to existing utility companies’ customers

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior | Grist.org

Opower

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior | Grist.org

Finalist for Discovery Channel's 2010 Edison Awards

CEO's live interview on Fox Business

Featured in USA Today

In Washington Post as "best example of climate psychology in action"

Popular interest

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior | Grist.org

Cameron, highlights OPOWER at TED2010President Obama speaks at OPOWER, Arlington

“I want companies like OPOWER… all across America. It’s good for consumers. It’s good for our economy. It’s good for our environment.”

“…BE can transform people's behaviour in a way that all the bullying and badgering from a Government cannot possibly achieve.”

Powerful interest

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

6. Ask in the right order

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

6. Ask in the right order

The mpg illusion Which trade-in saves the most fuel?

The MPG Illusion | Professors Richard Larrick, Jack Soll | Duke University

Trade-in A

10 mpg

12.5 mpg

Trade-in B

25 mpg

50 mpg

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

6. Ask in the right order

The mpg illusionNow let’s show Miles-per-gallon as Gallons-per-(hundred)mile. Same answer?

The MPG Illusion | Professors Richard Larrick, Jack Soll | Duke University

10 mpg = 10 GPhM

12.5 mpg = 8 GPhM

25 mpg = 4 GPhM

50 mpg = 2 GPhM

Trade-in A Trade-in B

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

6. Ask in the right order

The mpg illusionNow let’s show Miles-per-gallon as Gallons-per-(hundred)mile. Same answer?

The MPG Illusion | Professors Richard Larrick, Jack Soll | Duke University

10 mpg = 10 GPhM

12.5 mpg = 8 GPhM

25 mpg = 4 GPhM

50 mpg = 2 GPhM

Trade-in A Trade-in B

MPG makes you

undervalueimprovements

ininefficient cars

MPG makes you

overvalueimprovements

inefficient cars

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

6. Ask in the right order

The mpg illusion

The MPG Illusion | Professors Richard Larrick, Jack Soll | Duke University

“The New York Senate Environmental Conservation Committee has passed a new fuel efficiency bill… vehicle manufacturers [must] list "gallons per 1,000 miles….”

Rick Larrick, The MPG Illusion, Feb 2010

Framingeffect

10 mpg = 10 GPhM11 mpg = 9 GPhM12.5 mpg = 8 GPhM14 mpg = 7 GPhM16.5 mpg = 6 GPhM20 mpg = 5 GPhM25 mpg = 4 GPhM33 mpg = 3 GPhM50 mpg = 2 GPhM100 mpg = 1 GPhM

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

5. Ask using the right fake authority

6. Ask in the right order

7. Ask at the right time

8. Ask with the right incentive

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

9. Add options 10. Take away options

11. Ask (but have a default option)

12. Ask a different question

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

11. Ask (but have a default option)

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

11. Ask, but have a default option

Catering for a conferenceA conference experimented with their default menu options: one year

they offered meat as default, the next year vegetarian

When Behavioral Economics Meets Climate Change, Guess What's Coming for Dinner? | Marc Gunther | climatebiz.com

VegetarianMeat

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

11. Ask, but have a default option

Catering for a conferenceA conference experimented with their default menu options: one year

they offered meat as default, the next year vegetarian

When Behavioral Economics Meets Climate Change, Guess What's Coming for Dinner? | Marc Gunther | climatebiz.com

83% 17%

Vegetarian = option

Meat = default

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

11. Ask, but have a default option

Catering for a conferenceA conference experimented with their default menu options: one year

they offered meat as default, the next year vegetarian

When Behavioral Economics Meets Climate Change, Guess What's Coming for Dinner? | Marc Gunther | climatebiz.com

20% 80%

Vegetarian = default Meat = option

Framing effect

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

12. Ask a different question

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

12. Ask a completely different question

Few people use stairs when there’s an escalator on offer.

How do you create the desire to use the stairs?

Funtheory.com | Piano Staircase

?

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

12. Ask a completely different question

Few people use stairs when there’s an escalator on offer.

Piano stairs increased stair use by 66%

Funtheory.com | Piano Staircase

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

12. Ask a completely different question

Do you want to take the stairs lose weight?

These stairs in the Goodnight

Hostel in Lisbon appeal to the

calorie conscious.

FREAK Shots: Nudging the Calorie Counters | Freakonomics Blog | New York Times

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

12. Ask a completely different question

Framing effectDo you want to…

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

9. Add options 10. Take away options

11. Ask (but have a default option)

12. Ask a different question

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

13. Let the feedback ask the question

14. Don’t ask. (Tell.)

15. Ask nothing, except measurement

16. Ask nothing – other than to go public

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

13. Let the feedback ask the question

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

13. Let the feedback ask the question

A ball of energy

Attempts by Southern California Edison to notify people of their energy use with e-mails and text messages did no good.

 

Chicago Tribune | A gentle prod to go green

¾

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

13. Let the feedback ask the question

A ball of energy

They tried an Ambient Orb – a

personal energy meter in the

shape of a little ball:

- It glows red when people are using lots of energy

- It glows green when their use is modest.

Chicago Tribune | A gentle prod to go green

¾

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

13. Let the feedback ask the question

A ball of energy

They tried an Ambient Orb – a

personal energy meter in the

shape of a little ball:

Within weeks users of the orb

reduced their energy consumption

during peak times by 40%

Chicago Tribune | A gentle prod to go green

Loss aversion

Social norms

¾

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

14. Don’t ask. (Tell.)

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

14. Don’t ask. (Tell.)

Tax doesn’t have to be taxing (no, really)

In Australia, tax-payers were informed that that normal practice was honesty in tax returns

HEADS, YOU DIE: Bad decisions, choice architecture, and how to mitigate predictable irrationality | Jack Fuller | Per Capita research

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

14. Don’t ask. (Tell.)

Tax doesn’t have to be taxing (no, really)

In Australia, tax-payers were informed that that normal practice was honesty in tax returns

Deductions plunged by 47%(over $800 million Aus$ extra revenue)

HEADS, YOU DIE: Bad decisions, choice architecture, and how to mitigate predictable irrationality | Jack Fuller | Per Capita research

Social norms

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

13. Let the feedback ask the question

14. Don’t ask. (Tell.)

15. Ask nothing, except measurement

16. Ask nothing – other than to go public

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

17. Ask for a commitment – in the future

18. Ask kinetically

19. Make the question irrelevant

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

18. Ask kinetically

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

18. Ask kinetically

Lights. Out.

Communicating ‘turn off the lights’ in a hotel is tricky – the guest derives no personal benefit

What do you do?

A gentle prod to go green: Turning wishes into actions a matter of showing people the way | Chicago Tribune | Thaler, Sunstein | 2008

?

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

18. Ask kinetically

Lights. Out.

Link to an action that is in the interests of the guest:

“When they leave the room and take their key [from the slot], the lights and AC are automatically turned off.”

Chicago Tribune

A gentle prod to go green: Turning wishes into actions a matter of showing people the way | Chicago Tribune | Thaler, Sunstein | 2008

Framingeffect

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

19. Make the question irrelevant

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

19. Make the question irrelevant

As clear as day

How do you create energy efficiency in private homes?

 

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

19. Make the question irrelevant

As clear as day

How do you create energy efficiency in private homes?

 

Daylight savings time | Nudge pp 51

In 1916 Germany was the first European nation to move the clocks forwards and backwards as a way to conserve coal during WWI

We all followed suit

Social norms

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

3 most common non-rational behaviours

1. Framing Drawing different conclusions based on how data

are presented(Petrified thieves, Add options, Take away, MPG

illusion, Stairs)

2. Loss Aversion The pain of loss twice as bad as the pleasure of gain(Ambient orb, Neighbourhood electricity, Prius)

3. Social norms No one wants to be the weirdo(Opower, Ambient orb, B&Q, Iron Eyes Cody, LA food)

Overt or Covert

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of both)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour“…despite being generally capable

and smart, we are highly context dependent.”

Jack Fuller, Australian research group Per Capita Research

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

(or a combination of the two)

 change in purchase

behaviour

change in lifestyle behaviour

Create:

| How do you create sustainable behaviour?

Thank you