Changing Behavior and Making it Stick: The Conceptualization and Management of Conservation Behavior

De Young, R. (1993). Changing behavior and making it stick: The conceptualization and management of conservation behavior. Environment and Behavior, 25, 4, 485-505.
Discusses categorization of conservation behavior change techniques (BCTs), the role techniques offer the individual whose behavior is being changed, and a means of evaluating the effectiveness of different techniques. BCTs are described as informational, positive motivational, and coercive motivational techniques, with the role of the people being emphasized in the initiation of behavior change. Based on a broad notion of behavioral effectiveness, reliability, speed of change, particularism, generality, and durability are proposed as evaluation dimensions. The usefulness of these dimensions is shown by applying them to the common BCTs of prompting, material incentives, social pressure and material disincentives, and commitment. Reasons are provided for why durable behavior change has been hard to achieve.
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