The Psychology of Sustainability

Beth Karlin Transformational Media Lab

University of California, Irvine

Mission: Our lab studies how technology and new media are (and can be) used to transform individuals, communities, and systems.

B. Karlin

Issue-based Film

Campaigns

Smart Grid and Energy

Efficiency

Transformational Media Lab

1.  Technology and new media are changing how people interact with our natural, built, and social worlds.

B. Karlin

Underlying Assumptions

1.  Technology and new media are changing how people interact with our natural, built, and social worlds.

2.  There are potential opportunities to leverage these changes for pro-social / pro-environmental benefit.

B. Karlin

Underlying Assumptions

1.  Technology and new media are changing how people interact with our natural, built, and social worlds.

2.  There are potential opportunities to leverage these changes for pro-social / pro-environmental benefit

3.  A psychological approach provides a theoretical base and empirical methodology to study this potential.

B. Karlin

Underlying Assumptions

The Big Picture

Increasing Consumption

Popular Options

Alternative Energy Cap and Trade Increased Efficiency

But what about people?

People are impacting the environment.

People are being impacted.

People have choices to make.

People can do something about it.

Psychology studies people n  Psychology: the scientific study of mental processes and behavior

(American Heritage Dictionary)

n  From the Greek “psyche” (mind, soul) and “logia” (study of)

n  Areas include: p  Clinical – relieving emotional/behavioral dysfunction

p  Cognitive –mental processes (learning, perception, memory)

p  Developmental - intellectual, as well as moral development of the mind

p  Social - reactions to social stimuli and their underlying mental processes

p  Neurological –behavior that springs from reactions within the nervous system

It’s not just …

… but all of this

Environmental Psychology p  The study of human behavior and well-being in relation to the

socio-physical environment (Stokols & Altman, 1987)

p  Concerned with providing a systematic account of the relationship between a person and the environment (Russel & Snodgrass, 1987)

p  Study of the interrelationship between behavior and experience and the built and natural environment (Bell, et al., 1990)

Sustainability Science

“emerging field of research dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability: meeting the needs of present and future generations while substantially reducing poverty and conserving the planet's life support systems” National Academies of Science, 2011

Psychology and Sustainability

1.  Behavioral Contributions to Climate Change

2.  People’s Understanding of Climate Change

3.  Coping with Perceived Threat

4.  Psychosocial Impacts of Climate Change

5.  Psychological Barriers to Action

6.  Intervening to Change Behavior

(APA Task Force on Psychology and Climate Change, 2009)

Psychology and Sustainability

1.   Behavioral Contributions to Climate Change

2.  People’s Understanding of Climate Change

3.  Coping with Perceived Threat

4.  Psychosocial Impacts of Climate Change

5.  Psychological Barriers to Action

6.  Intervening to Change Behavior

Types of Consumption Behavior

1.  Direct

2.  Indirect

Indirect Energy Use

Indirect Energy Use

Direct Energy Use

Example: Lighting

Behavioral Dimensions

Curtailment Efficiency

Suffer Spend

Karlin et al. (2012)

Different Behaviors …

Curtailment

Efficiency

Turn off lights Run full loads Turn off/unplug

Efficient Appliances Check toilet

for leaks

Check for thermal leaks

Change light bulb Insulate home

…Different Predictors

Karlin et al. (2012) Variables tested for differences between feedback users and non-users Significant differences based on independent samples t-tests

Variable Curtailment Efficiency

Gender .031 -.099*

Age -.012 .370***

Race -.086* .028

Married -.077 .272***

Education -.019 .107*

Income -.052 .172***

Home Type -.021 .284***

Homeowner .004 .425***

Home Size -.030 .281***

Karlin et al. (2012)

…Different Predictors Variable Curtailment Efficiency

Behavioral Beliefs .152*** .167***

Control Beliefs .162*** .028

Normative Beliefs .079 .026

Price Consciousness .134** .192***

Financial Motivation .038 .030

Env. Paradigm .165*** .056

Environmental Norm .232*** .101*

Environmental Motivation .196*** .074

= Different Behavior Models?

Is it the right thing to do?

Media & Education

Focus on values

Is it in my best interest?

Incentives

Focus on cost

Moral Model Rational Model

Karlin et al. (2012)

Questioning the Model

Curtailment

Efficiency

Turn off lights Run full loads Turn off/unplug

Efficient Appliances Check toilet

for leaks

Check for thermal leaks

Change light bulb Insulate home

Questioning the Model

Low Cost

High Cost

Infrequent

Frequent

Curtailment ???

Efficiency Maintenance

Karlin et al. (2012)

Questioning the Model Curtailment Efficiency Maintenance

Karlin et al. (2012)

Psychology and Sustainability

1.  Behavioral Contributions to Climate Change

2.   People’s Understanding of Climate Change

3.  Coping with Perceived Threat

4.  Psychosocial Impacts of Climate Change

5.  Psychological Barriers to Action

6.  Intervening to Change Behavior

The “Risk Thermostat” Threat response highest:

1.  Simple causality

2.  Historical precedent

3.  Visible/obvious

4.  Immediate consequences

5.  Caused by an “other”

6.  Direct impacts

Climate Change:

1.  Complex causality

2.  Unprecedented

3.  Invisible/imperceptible

4.  Impacts unclear

5.  Natural/collective cause

6.  Indirect impacts

Dual Processing Model

Cognitive Appraisal

www.cred.columbia.edu

Affective response

www.cred.columbia.edu

Is it going to ruin my day?

Is it going to ruin my day?

Does it have a face?

Psychology and Sustainability

1.  Behavioral Contributions to Climate Change

2.  People’s Understanding of Climate Change

3.   Coping with Perceived Threat

4.  Psychosocial Impacts of Climate Change

5.  Psychological Barriers to Action

6.  Intervening to Change Behavior

Response to Threat?

Perceive Appraise Respond

• Threat appraisal • Coping appraisal

Protection Motivation Theory

p  Threat Appraisal

n  Threat Severity (How bad is it?)

n  Threat Vulnerability (Can it happen to me?)

p  Coping Appraisal

n  Behavioral Efficacy (Can I do something?)

n  Response Efficacy (Will it matter?)

Protection Motivation Theory

High Coping Low Coping

High Threat Response Anxiety

Low Threat Apathy Indifference

Psychology and Sustainability

1.  Behavioral Contributions to Climate Change

2.  People’s Understanding of Climate Change

3.  Coping with Perceived Threat

4.   Psychosocial Impacts of Climate Change

5.  Psychological Barriers to Action

6.  Intervening to Change Behavior

Physical Impacts (IPCC) p  Elevated temperatures

n  melting of polar ice n  damage to and loss of coastal land

p  Weather extremes n  more rainfall during shorter periods n  Increased risk of fire

p  Ecosystem disruption n  stress and death of vegetation n  migration and extinction of animals

p  Human Health n  heat stress n  migration of disease vectors

Psychosocial Impacts p Emotional Reactions

n Fear n Apathy n Numbing

p  Mental Health n PTSD n Depression n Anxiety

p Social / Cultural n Heat-related issues n Intergroup violence n Displacement &

relocation

Positive Psychosocial Impacts

p  Collective efficacy p  Increased well being p  Positive coping

Psychology and Sustainability

1.  Behavioral Contributions to Climate Change

2.  People’s Understanding of Climate Change

3.  Coping with Perceived Threat

4.  Psychosocial Impacts of Climate Change

5.   Psychological Barriers to Action

6.  Intervening to Change Behavior

We’re not always “rational”

The “rational actor” is… But data shows…

Constantly calculating costs and benefits to make decisions

We often rely on instinct and emotion to make decisions

Knowledgeable and/or information-seeking

We often make decisions without seeking additional information

An individual decision-maker Decisions are made socially

Willing to change behavior if benefits exceed costs

We often maintain costly behaviors due to habit and/or emotion

Willing to change behavior given sufficient information

Mass information is not very effective in changing behavior

Likely to make the same decisions as others in similar situation

Consumption is highly varied (3x variability in identical houses)

Anchoring

Ariely, D. (2009)

16%

0%

84%

Anchoring

Ariely, D. (2009)

16%

0%

84%

68%

32%

Endowment Effect

How much are you willing to pay for a mug?

What happened?

a)  The students with mugs priced them higher. b)  The students with no mugs priced them higher. c)  Both sets of students priced them about the same

For how much money would you sell your mug?

Students in every other seat were given university mugs.

Endowment Effect Students with the mugs were willing to sell them for

$4.50 Students with no mugs were willing to buy them for

$2.25

Kahneman, Knetsch, & Thaler (1990)

Psychology and Sustainability

1.  Behavioral Contributions to Climate Change

2.  People’s Understanding of Climate Change

3.  Coping with Perceived Threat

4.  Psychosocial Impacts of Climate Change

5.  Psychological Barriers to Action

6.   Intervening to Change Behavior

Intervention Strategies p  Framing

p  Defaults

p  Social Norms

p  Feedback

p  Film Campaigns

Framing Presentation of information in a way that encourages certain interpretations & discourages others.

“There is no value neutral way of presenting people with information.” - Elke Weber, APA 2012

Framing

www.cred.columbia.edu

p  Make it tangible

p  Give examples

p  Use high-impact words

p  Frame in terms of losses, rather than gains

Defaults

Defaults

Social Norms

Social Norms

B. Karlin, 2012

“Information about the result of a process or action that can be used in modification or control of a process or system”

Oxford English Dictionary

Feedback

Kempton and Layne, 1994

Feedback

Many Films on Sustainability

B. Karlin

Food Films

- Food Inc

- Fresh

- Food Fight

- Ingredients

- Food Matters

- Supersize Me

- The Future of Food

- The Garden

- King Corn

- What's on your plate?

- Deconstructing supper

Water Films - Flow - Blue Gold - Tapped - Thirst - Blue Legacy - Story of Bottled Water - Last Call at the Oasis

Climate Films - Everything's Cool - An Inconvenient Truth - 11th hour - No Impact Man - Collapse - Radically Simple - Blind Spot

Transportation Films - Who Killed the Electric Car? - Revenge of the Electric Car - Fuel - Crude

Film Campaigns

Documentaries Today

"specific social action campaigns for each film and documentary designed to give a voice to issues that resonate in the films” (Participant Media, 2010) B. Karlin

Film Campaigns

Film Campaigns

B. Karlin Britdoc, 2007

B. Karlin

Film Campaigns

Storytelling - Show and Tell

Engagement -Target and Reach

Activism - Involve and Activate

Change -  Measure and Assess

Film Campaigns

Closing Thoughts

Thank you! Beth Karlin (bkarlin@uci.edu)

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.

Gandhi

You hold in your hands the future of the world. Raymond Poincare, 1919