Encouraging Environmentally Friendly Shopping using Prompts, Commitment and Norms

Cases
Customers at a Zehr's supermarket in Kitchener, Ontario were encouraged to purchase environmentally friendly products. 168 products were identified that either had least-waste pac…

Motivating Community Recycling: New Zealand Curbside Trial

Cases
Randomly selected residents of New Zealand were asked to participate in a curbside recycling trial. Two weeks before the first collection they received a letter from the mayor tha…

Using Commitment to Reduce Energy Consumption in Iowa City

Cases
Pallak, M.S., D.A. Cook and J.J. Sullivan (1980). Commitment and Energy Conservation. In L. Bickman (ed.), Applied Social Psychology Annual 235-253, Beverley Hills, Ca: Sage.
First, a literature review identified public commitment as an effective tool for behavior change. In order to further investigate the effectiveness of commitment, this tool was in…

Communication and Commitment Improve Participation in Curbside Recycling in Claremont California

Cases
Burn, S. M., & Oskamp, S. (1986). Increasing community recycling with persuasive communication and public commitment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 1, 29-41.
Claremont California provides city residents with a curbside recycling program. In order to improve participation, a pilot program was designed. Based on a literature review, pers…

Reducing Lunchtime Garbage Produced by New Brunswick Students Using Prompts and Commitment

Cases
A literature review revealed that prompts and commitment were effective tools in reducing the amount of garbage produced at lunchtime. These behavior change tools were then integr…

Using Group Commitment to Increase Paper Recycling in a Nursing Home in Portand, Oregon

Cases
Wang, T. H. & Katzev, R. D. (1990). Group commitment and resource conservation: Two field experiments on promoting recycling. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 4, Part 1, 265-275.
After conducting a literature review, a pilot program was designed to increase paper recycling in a nursing home in Portland, Oregon. First, residents received and information app…

Promoting Public Transit in Urban Areas with Incentives and Commitment

Cases
Bachman, W. , & Katzev, R. (1982). The effects of non-contingent free bus tickets and personal commitment on urban bus ridership. Transportation Research, 16A, 2, 103-108.
In order to decrease dependence on single occupant vehicles and to improve fossil fuel conservation, a pilot program was designed to increase ridership on mass transit. A literatu…

Improving Energy Conservation With Effective Home Audit Programs in California Using Communication and Commitment

Cases
Aronson, E. (1990). Applying social psychology to desegregation and energy conservation. Special Issue: Illustrating the value of basic research. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 1, 118-132.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in California provided a home audit program as a method to improve energy conservation. This initiative gave homeowners a free home ins…

Food For Thought (And Action!) Program

Cases
The Food For Thought (And Action!) program started in the 1st Unitarian Church in Portland, Oregon in March 2002. The intent was to bring to light the connections between dietary …

McDonald's Waste Reduction Task Force

Cases
On August 1, 1990, the McDonald's Corporation and Environmental Defense joined forces in a unique collaborative project. They worked together to develop ways to reduce McDonald's …

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