Choosing to Encourage or Discourage: Perceived Effectiveness of Prescriptive versus Proscriptive Messages

Articles
Winter, P.L., Sagarin, B.J., Rhoads, K., Barrett, D.W., Cialdini, R.B. (2000). Choosing to encourage or discourage: Perceived effectiveness of prescriptive and proscriptive messages. Environmental Management, 2(6): 588-594.
The estimated cost of repairing damage caused to recreational sites annually is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These depreciative activities also reduce the quality of vi…

The Short List: The Most Effective Actions U.S. Households Can Take to Curb Climate Change

Articles
Gardner, G.T. & Stern, P.C. (2008, September/October). The Short List: The Most Effective Actions U.S. Households Can Take to Curb Climate Change
Individual and household actions now directly cause approximately 38% of total national carbon dioxide emissions, and that percentage has increased in recent years.  These emissio…

Applying Social Psychology to Desegregation and Energy Conservation. Special Issue: Illustrating the Value of Basic Research

Articles
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.
Presents 2 examples of social psychology in action in dealing with an immediate crisis and a gradual problem. The immediate crisis occurred when a school system was desegregated, …

Social Psychology and the Stimulation of Recycling Behaviors: The Block Leader Approach

Articles
Burn, S. M. (1991). Social psychology and the stimulation of recycling behaviors: The block leader approach. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 8, 611-629.
Evaluated 2 treatments designed to increase participation in a city-sponsored curbside recycling program. In the block leader (BL) condition, in which 41 homes took part, citize…

Increasing Community Recycling with Persuasive Communication and Public Commitment

Articles
Burn, S. M., & Oskamp, S. (1986). Increasing community recycling with persuasive communication and public commitment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 1, 29-41.
201 households that did not recycle during a 6-wk baseline period heard an oral informational statement delivered by 10 trained Boy Scouts (aged 13-17 yrs), and then 1 of 3 were…

How Influential is the Auditor? Determinants of Sales Effectiveness in Energy Conservation Programs

Articles
Brown, M. A., Berry, L. G., White, D. L. & Trumble, D. (1988). How influential is the auditor? Determinants of sales effectiveness in energy conservation programs. Energy Systems and Policy, 12, 135-149.
This paper examines the determinants of auditor effectiveness in selling energy conservation to homeowners and reports the results of an analysis of the effectiveness of the energ…

The Effect of Imagining an Event on Expectations for the Event: An Interpretation in Terms of the Availability Heuristic.

Articles
Carroll, J. S. (1978). The effect of imagining an event on expectations for the event: An interpretation in terms of the availability heuristic.. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 14, 1, 88-96.
Previous studies have indicated that explaining a hypothetical event makes the event seem more likely through the creation of causal connections. However, such effects could ari…

Energy Conservation Behavior: The Difficult Path from Information to Action

Articles
Costanzo, M., Archer, D., Aronson, E., & Pettigrew, T. (1986). Energy conservation behavior: The difficult path from information to action. American Psychologist, 41, 5, 521-528.
Presents a social-psychological model of energy-use behavior that draws on behavioral and social research to explain influence processes and behavioral change related to energy co…

Assessing Communication Effects on Energy Conservation

Articles
Craig, C. S. & McCann, J. M. (1978). Assessing communication effects on energy conservation. Journal of Consumer Research, 5, 82-88.
This article presents the results of a field experiment on alternative ways of prompting energy conservation behavior. The source of the communication was found to influence the …

Development and Analysis of a Community-Based Resource Recovery Program

Articles
Jacobs, H. E., Bailey, J. S., & Crews, J. I. (1984). Development and analysis of a community-based resource recovery program. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 17, 2, 127-145.
Five studies were conducted over a 10-mo period to determine the effectiveness of specific procedures in encouraging recycling among residential neighborhoods. Ss were selected fr…

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