The Psychology of Sustainability Behavior - For Facilities Managers Doherty 11-21-13 IFMA Portland
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The Psychology of Sustainability Behavior: Implications for Facilities Managers Thomas Joseph Doherty Sustainable Self, LLC Lewis & Clark Graduate School
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The Psychology of Sustainability Behavior: Implications for Facilities Managers This talk will provide a framework to help you understand some different ways that people think about environmental sustainability and the use of natural resources in businesses and organizations. We will identify some best practices for communicating with and motivating different stakeholders and implementing behavior change programs. These include recognizing and honoring different beliefs, setting realistic goals, and utilizing appropriate incentives. In this model, differences of opinion about the role of sustainability in the workplace--what we will call “environmental diversity”--are seen as a source of innovation.
Transcript of The Psychology of Sustainability Behavior - For Facilities Managers Doherty 11-21-13 IFMA Portland
The Psychology of Sustainability Behavior: Implications for Facilities Managers
Thomas Joseph DohertySustainable Self, LLCLewis & Clark Graduate School
This talk will provide a framework to help you understand some different ways that people think about environmental sustainability and the use of natural resources in businesses and organizations.
We will identify some best practices for communicating with and motivating different stakeholders and implementing behavior change programs. These include recognizing and honoring different beliefs, setting realistic goals, and utilizing appropriate incentives.
In this model, differences of opinion about the role of sustainability in the workplace--what we will call “environmental diversity”--are seen as a source of innovation.
Some of my ground rules and assumptions when talking with people and groups about “nature,” “environmental issues” and “sustainability” ...
Ecological Topics = Hard to Stay on task
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
John Muir (1911/ 1988). My First Summer in the Sierra. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Sierra Club Books
Speaking as an “Ecopsychologist...”
Clients & Speaking
Environmental Psychology Background Training Current Activities
Thomas Doherty
& GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGEPSYCHOLOGYaddressing a multifaceted phenomenon and set of challenges
A Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology & Global Climate Change
The complex path to a “green behavior”
A Causal Model of Environmental Behavior
8 Social background and socialization
7 External conditions (incentives and constraints)
6 Basic values
5 Environmental worldview
4 Attitudes, beliefs and personal norms about environmental behaviors
3 Behavior-specific knowledge
2 Behavioral commitment
1 “Environmentally-relevant behavior”
Stern, P. C. (2000). Psychology and the science of human-environment interactions. American Psychologist, 55 523-530.
Achieving the behavior
Social background and socialization
External conditions (incentives and constraints)
Basic values
Environmental worldview
Attitudes, beliefs and personal norms about environmental behaviors
Behavior-specific knowledge
Behavioral commitment
Environmentally-relevant behavior
Hitting a barrier
Social background and socialization
External conditions (incentives and constraints)
Basic values
Environmental worldview
Attitudes, beliefs and personal norms about environmental behaviors
Behavior-specific knowledge?Behavioral commitment
Environmentally-relevant behavior
Points of Leverage?
8 Social background and socialization
7 External conditions (incentives and constraints)
6 Basic values
5 Environmental worldview
4 Personal norms about environmental behaviors
3 Behavior-specific knowledge
2 Behavioral commitment
1 Environmentally-relevant behavior
?
Points of Leverage?
8 Social background and socialization
7 External conditions (incentives and constraints)
6 Basic values
5 Environmental worldview
4 Personal norms about environmental behaviors
3 Behavior-specific knowledge
2 Behavioral commitment
1 Environmentally-relevant behavior
?
Basic Beliefs and Worldviews
Sources of “Environmental Identity”• Childhood & family
• Experience and skills in the Outdoors
• Love for places, animals and plants
• Social Group Influences
• Experience of environmental destruction or loss
• Competing influences and the current situation
Common Sources of Environmental Values
• Religious and Spiritual Values
• Stewardship, Self Transcendence
• Human-centered Values
• Descendants and Future Generations (Value and Ethics), Utilitarian Arguments, Aesthetic Arguments
• “Biospheric” Values
• Humanity is Part of Nature, Rights of Species to Continue, Intrinsic Rights of Nature
Universal Values about Nature & Wildlife
Kellert, Stephen (1997). Kinship to mastery: Biophilia in human evolution and development. Washington, DC, US: Island Press.
Utilitarian Primary interest in the practical value of animals, or in the subordination of animals for the practical benefit of people.
Scientistic Primary' interest in the physical attributes and biological functioning of animals.
Ecologistic Primary concern for the environment as a system, for interrelationships between wildlife species and natural habitats.
Naturalistic Primary focus on an interest and affection for wildlife and the outdoors.
Aesthetic Primary interest in the physical attractiveness and symbolic appeal of animals.
Moralistic Primary concern for the right and wrong treatment of animals, with strong opposition to presumed overexploitation and/or cruelty towards animals.
Humanistic Primary interest and strong affection for individual animals such as pets or large wild animals with strong anthropomorphic associations.
Domination Primary interest in the mastery and control of animals.
Negativistic Primary orientation on avoidance of animals due to indifference, dislike, or fear.
Broad Environmental Stories
• Survivalists (Back to the land)
• Prometheans (Unlimited Growth)
• Administrators (Leave it to the experts)
• Democratic Pragmatists ( Leave it to the people)
• Economic Rationalists (Leave it to the market)
• Sustainable Development (“Green Business” & CSR Folks)
• Ecological Technology (“Tech People”)
• Green Romantics (Inner Consciousness)
• Green Radicals (Changing the Whole System)
From Dryzek: The Politics of the Earth
• Awareness (Salience)
• Empowerment (Seeing oneself as an actor)
• Practical Experience (Increasing Knowledge & Resources)
Pathways to Environmental Advocacy
Awareness
Empowerment
Practical ExperienceKempton, W., & Holland (2003) Identity and Sustained Environmental Practice. In S. Clayton & S. Opotow, Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature (317-341). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
You have your own values.
Your Task...
Balancing your Vision...
The Real World
And...
Behavior Patterns in The Real World
Salience
People see what’s in their face
Automaticity
n Auto-pilotn Workflow and routine
Distraction + Time Pressure
Reactance n Push Back
Relationships & Obligations
The Exasperation Factor
June 13, 2009
STATUS QUO
NEW IDEAS
Happy Earth Day ...
What works: Meet people “where they are at...”
Individuals (and Organizations) Pass Through Stages When Adopting New Behaviors
Common Stages of Behavior Change
n Disinterest – “ I won’t change.”
n Deliberation – “I might change.”
n Design – “I will change (I am making a plan)”
n Doing – “I am doing the new behavior”
n Defending – “I’m keeping it going.”
Doppelt, Bob (2008). The power of sustainable thinking. London: Earthscan.
Behavior “Norms”
What are Social Norms?
•Norms are perceptions or beliefs about how others typically behave in a given context, that in turn guide our behavior.
•These are often unspoken, picked up by non verbal cues, or based on people’s perceptions.
•“When in Rome...”
•Key Point: People do what (they believe) most people do, and importantly, what they believe people like them do
Misusing Norms
Focusing on the undesired behavior or highlighting the wrong statistics can actually increase the undesired behavior.
(If this is what most people are doing, then why aren’t I doing it too?)
Petrified Forest National Park Study
n Tested two versions of a sign imploring people not to take pieces of petrified wood:
n “Large amounts of petrified wood taken away on an annual basis- Please don’t.”
n “Please do not remove petrified wood.”
Results
nMessage one tripled the theft ratio (as it showed stealing petrified wood as something commonplace)
nMessage two resulted in slightly less theft
Using norms in your favor
Hotel Water Conservation
n Effective vs. Ineffective Messages
Effective
n A sign in the bathroom said that many prior guests chose to be environmentally friendly by recycling their towels.
Most Effective
n When the message mentioned that the “majority of the guests in this specific room” reused their towels
n Towel recycling jumped 33%
Incentives?
Incentive
noun
1. a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something.
Portland Airport “Sort It and Win” Program
Food Waste Diversion at Portland International Airport (PDX):
A team member conducted random, weekly visits to each restaurant kitchen in the terminal. When employees were spotted sorting food waste correctly, they were immediately handed a $5 gift card. The Port handed out approximately 275 rewards cards to employees over a three month period. Feedback: Restaurant employees were excited, positive relationships formed, trust was built, and food waste ended up in the correct bin. Food waste collection increased 59 percent over the same three-‐month period in the previous year, and the numbers remained relatively high the rest of the year.
Nativ, M. (2013, April) FOOD WASTE DIVERSION AT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BioCycle
Gold Standard (CBSM)
Community-based Social Marketing
1. Do your homework1. Research what works2. Observation, surveys and focus groups
n Use effective strategiesn Commitment, Prompts, Norms, Effective Communications,
Incentives, Removing Barriers
n Pilot and refine your programn Roll it out and evaluate impactn Demonstrate results and gain support
McKenzie-Mohr & Smith (1999). Fostering sustainable behavior. New Society Publishers.
Organizational Strategies
strat·e·gy (noun) : a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time
“Staying Alive” as a Conservation Leader
How hard to push?
In terms of problems, how far “up stream” you want to go
How much of the system to take on?
What is your role?
Adaptive Leadership
Technological Leadership (applies “solutions” to clearly identified problems)
Adaptive Leadership (leads group through a process of change and growth)
Mobilizing people to evolve new strategies and capabilities to thrive under challenging or complex circumstances.
Heiftez, R. (1998). Leadership without easy answers. Harvard University Press
Sources of Leadership in Organizations
What direction(s) is leadership coming from?
Organization
Formal Authority
Outside Influences
Change Agents Within
How to use the forces of change?
How to “stay alive” while leading?
Advanced Organizational Strategies
• Power Map (Understand and use the forces of leadership in the system)
• Laser Focus on Zone of Proximal Development (Keep pressure on the growing edge, keep taking in the slack)
• Island Hopping (Pick your battles; bypass and wait out the hold outs)
• Planting Seeds (Create long term programs that will bear fruit after you are gone.)
• Navel Gazing (Consistently direct the focus on values, mission, the higher good -- what feels right in peoples’ gut and draw links to policy actions)
Link with your Expertise
Examples:
Your Project Management Training
Your Technical Specialty
Your Social Capital
A. Use multiple intervention types to address the factors limiting behavior change1. Limiting factors are numerous (e.g., technology, attitudes, knowledge, money, convenience, trust)2. Limiting factors vary with actor and situation, and over time3. Limiting factors affect each other
B. Understand the situation from the actor’s perspective
C. When limiting factors are psychological, apply understanding of human choice processes1. Get the actors’ attention; make limited cognitive demands2. Apply principles of community management (credibility, commitment, face-to-face communication, etc.)
D. Address conditions beyond the individual that constrain proenvironmental choice
E. Set realistic expectations about outcomes
F. Continually monitor responses and adjust programs accordingly
G. Stay within the bounds of actors’ tolerance for intervention
H. Use participatory methods of decision making
Research: Principles for Intervening to Change Environmentally Destructive Behavior
G.T. Gardner and P.C. Stern, 1996 Environmental Problems and Human Behavior (p.159). Boston: Allyn and Bacon
Research Take-Aways
1. Multiple tactics for multiple barriers2. Understand from persons perspective3. Get attention / Make limited demands4. Set realistic expectations5. Work within tolerance level6. Use participatory methods
Some additional take-away points
• Worldview does matter: Green’s double down when criticized, Non-Greens tend to give up...
• “Incentives to facilitate not to motivate.”
• “Go for the flow.” Use an assimilation strategy in behavioral programs when possible (i.e., create options that are seamless, automatic or low effort).
• Adopt an “Island Hopping Strategy” – Don’t fight for every beachhead against defenders willing to hold out to the last.
• Sustainability is a long term investment in relationships.
• Take Care of Yourself: “Despair is fatigue in disguise.”
Real World Case Studies?
Discussion of attendees’ projects, successes and challenges. What Best Practices can we apply?
Good Luck!
Thomas Joseph Doherty
503-288-1213
www.selfsustain.com
Extras
Mohr, Lee, Schultz & Kotler (2011) Social Marketing to Protect the Environment
A good reference from some colleagues with examples of successful behavior change programs.
