P. WESLEY SCHULTZ

P R O F E S S O R O F P S Y C H O L O G Y

C A L I F O R N I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

A P R I L 2 0 1 2

The Role of Social Norms in Conservation Behavior

Conservation Behavior

Human behavior is having adverse consequences on the environment

Overconsumption, nonsustainable use of resources, pollution

Changing behavior is central to a sustainable future 1. Technology (efficiency)

2. Policy and law

3. Structural investments

4. Encourage voluntary actions

Voluntary Actions

Education

Awareness

Fear appeals

Values-based messaging (e.g., future generation)

Themes: most people are doing the wrong thing, but you should be different

Video example

Social by Nature

Social Norms

Normative Social Influence

Social norms--an individual’s beliefs about the common and accepted behavior in a specific situation.

1. Formed through social interaction

2. Powerful influence on behavior

3. Most powerful in novel situations

4. Types of norms (injunctive and descriptive)

Normative Social Influence --Curbside recycling

Applying the Theory

Curbside recycling

Mandated by most cities in order to meet 50% diversion requirements set by State.

Field experiment with 600 households for 8 weeks

Information, no treatment control, descriptive normative feedback

Baseline (4 weeks), intervention (4 weeks), follow-up (4 weeks)

Normative-based Messages

Normative Feedback

Information Only

No Treatment (control)

Change from baseline to follow-up for the normative feedback condition is significant (p<.05), and corresponds to a 19% increase in recycling rates!

Source: Schultz, P. W. (1999). Changing behavior with normative feedback interventions: A field experiment of curbside recycling. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 25-36.

Normative Social Influence -- Study 1: Household energy conservation

Note: These findings are based on a thesis by Jessica Nolan, with assistance from a team of CSUSM students, including: Matt Dorlaque, Dulce Contreras, Veronica Bresiño, Monica Tinajera, Nigel Hartfield, Leezel Nazareno, Ron Tilos and Christina Wade.

Normative Social Influence -- Household energy conservation

Funded by the Hewlett Foundation following the 2000 “energy crisis.”

Survey of Californians showed self-interest, environmental, social responsibility main reasons identified for conservation

Sample: 1207 households in San Marcos

Experimental conditions: descriptive norms, information, environmental, financial, social responsibility

Delivered on doorhangers to households for 4 consecutive weeks.

Door-to-door interviews with household residents, meter readings of electricity consumption

Results based on an ANCOVA using baseline consumption as a covariate. Pairwise comparisons show descriptive norms to be significantly lower than all other conditions. Nolan, J., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Griskevicius, V., & Goldstein, N. (2008). Normative social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 913-923.

Results:

Average daily household energy consumption during the intervention

Results based on oneway ANOVA. Pairwise comparisons show descriptive norms to be significantly lower than environmental and social responsibility. Nolan, J., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Griskevicius, V., & Goldstein, N. (2008). Normative social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 913-923.

Results:

Q: “How much did the information on these doorhangers motivate you to

conserve energy?” 1 (not at all) to 4 (extremely)

Field Implementation at a local Beach Resort

Note: My appreciation to the team of CSUSM students who worked on this experiment: Azar Khazian, Michelle Hynan, Joy Francisco, Christine Jarvis,

and Jenny Tabanico.

Old Message:

Different Rooms

Hotel Study -- New Message

Social Norm Messages

Hotel Intervention

• Study focused on 132 condo units (separate studies of hotel)

• Randomly assigned rooms to experimental (N=102) or control (N=30)

• Total of 794 guest “stays” were analyzed (each stay = 1 week)

• Number of towels taken from the room (continuous up to 4)

Results Number of towels taken out of the room on the first towel replacement day.

F(1,792)=13.40; p<.001). A 25% reduction in the number of towels used!

Note: Data also tested in HLM with participant “nested” within room. ICC=.07; At level 2, treatment effect ( γ01=-.57, t(142.14)=-3.25, p<.001)

Schultz, P. W., Khazian, A., & Zaleski, A. (2008). Using normative social influence to promote conservation among hotel guests. Social Influence, 3, 4-23.

Normative Social Influence

Our Results: Can cause behavior

Not perceived as motivational

Apply to both private and public behavior

Problems in Application Can serve as an anchor for folks already doing

the behavior

Implemented incorrectly (awareness campaigns)

Normative Social Influence -Study 3: Buoys and Anchors

Participants: 290 households with visible utility meters

Distributed individual feedback and normative feedback to households for two consecutive weeks

Conditions: Usage level (above or below

neighborhood average)

Emoticon

(positive or negative )

Normative Social Influence - Results

High Consumers

Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.

Normative Social Influence - Results

High Consumers

Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.

Normative Social Influence - Results

Low Consumers

Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.

Normative Social Influence - Results

Low Consumers

Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.

More to the story

Normative beliefs serve as a guide to behavior

Same message can lead to an increase or decrease (anchors and buoys)

Personal norm--an individual’s belief about what s/he should do.

I believe strongly, but no one does it.

Göckeritz et al. (2010)

More to the Story - Personal Norms and Water Conservation

More to the Story - Personal Norms and Water Conservation

More to the Story - Indignation

Participants: 301 single-family households that responded to initial mail survey and provided consent

Conditions: Control, information, descriptive, aligned norms (descriptive + injunctive)

Delivered via web or postal mail.

Comparison group (info and control) used more water than descriptive norms and aligned norm.

More interesting: Treatment moderated by household personal norms.

More to the Story - Righteous Indignation

Scaling Up

Basic principles of normative social influence are well-established.

Can the approach be scaled?

www.opower.com

Incorporating principles of normative influence into a conservation product marketed to utilities across the country.

Home Energy Reports (postal mail, billing inserts, web access)

Working with 60 utilities nationwide, with distribution to ~3,000,000 homes in 2011.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility Pilot

Launched in 2008

35,000 households received normative feedback (opower, postal mail)

Randomized control with 50,000 households

Meter data

Six months: 2.5% reduction in consumption

Particularly effective for households that previously set a personal conservation goal (8%)

OPOWER RESULTS

Concluding Thoughts

Social norms can play a powerful role in residential energy consumption

More than just feedback (SmartMeters)

Can be scaled

Promising alternative to traditional information-based messages

References

Keizer, K., & Schultz, P. W. (in press). The role of social norms in understanding and changing

pro-environmental behaviour. In L. Steg, A. van den Berg, & J. de Groot (Eds.), Environmental

psychology. Wiley-Blackwell.

Göckeritz, S., Rendón, T., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2010).

Normative social influence: The moderating roles of personal involvement and injunctive

normative beliefs. European Journal of Social Psychology.

Schultz, P. W. (2010). Making energy conservation the norm. In K. Ehrhardt-Martinez (Ed.),

Behavior, energy, and climate change. Washington, DC: American Council for an Energy-Efficient

Economy (ACEEE). Available online.

Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive,

destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18, 429-434.

Schultz, P. W., Khazian, A., & Zaleski, A. (2008). Using normative social influence to promote

conservation among hotel guests. Social Influence, 3, 4-23.

Nolan, J., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Griskevicius, V., & Goldstein, N. (2008). Normative

social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 913-923.

Schultz, P. W., Tabanico, J., & Rendón, T. (2008). Normative beliefs as agents of influence: Basic

processes and real-world applications. In R. Prislin & W. Crano (Eds.), Attitudes and attitude

change (pp. 385-409). New York: Psychology Press.

Schultz, P. W. (1999). Changing behavior with normative feedback interventions: A field

experiment of curbside recycling. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 25-36.