Shifting to Sustainable Modes of Transportation in Boulder Colorado Using Incentives, Norms, Communication and Feedback

Cases
In order to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, the Boulder City Council began to promote sustainable methods of transportation. Through public meetings, barriers to usin…

Psychological resistance against attempts to reduce private car use

Articles
Tertoolen G., van Kreveld D. & Verstraten B. (1998). Psychological resistance against attempts to reduce private car use. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 32 (3), 171-181.
The aim of the research was to investigate the effects of information, feedback and commitment on car use and attitudes related to car use. In a field experiment (N = 350) users o…

Influencing User Behaviour With Energy Information Display Systems for Intelligent Homes

Articles
Wood G., & Newborough M. (2007). Influencing User Behaviour with Energy Information Display Systems for Intelligent Homes. Int. J. Energy Res., 31, 56-78.
This paper considers the design of energy consumption displays from a theoretical standpoint in relation to user-appliance interactions in the home. It presents the main options f…

The Effect of Tailored Information, Goal Setting, and Tailored Feedback on Household Energy Use, Energy-Related Behaviors, and Behavioral Antecedents

Articles
Abrahamse, W., Steg, L., Vlek, C., & Rothengatter, T. (2007). The effect of tailored information, goal setting, and tailored feedback on household energy use, energy-related behaviors, and behavioral antecedents. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27(4), 265-276.
In this multidisciplinary study, an Internet-based tool was used to encourage households (N = 189) to reduce their direct (gas, electricity and fuel) and indirect energy use (embe…

A Behavioral Analysis of Peaking in Residential Electrical-Energy Consumers

Articles
Kohlenberg, R., Phillips, T., & Proctor, W. (1976). A behavioral analysis of peaking in residential electrical-energy consumers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9(1), 13-18.
Investigated the peaking phenomenon, the tendency for electrical energy users to consume at high rates for brief periods during the day, by analyzing the electrical energy consumi…

A Review of Intervention Studies Aimed at Household Energy Conservation

Articles
Abrahamse, W., Steg, L., Vlek, C., & Rothengatter, T. (2005). A review of intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25(3), 273-291.
This article reviews and evaluates the effectiveness of interventions aiming to encourage households to reduce energy consumption. Thirty-eight studies performed within the field …

Successfully Changing Individual Travel Behavior: Applying Community-Based Social Marketing to Travel Choice

Articles
Cooper, C. (2007). Successfully changing individual travel behavior: Applying community-based social marketing to travel choice. Transportation Research Record, (2021), pp. 88-99.
This paper demonstrates that community-based social marketing techniques can be successfully used to affect people's transportation awareness and behavior, as deployed in Washingt…

The Environmentalist who Cried Drought: Reactions to Repeated Warnings about Depleting Resources Under Conditions of Uncertainty

Articles
Joireman, J., Posey, D., Truelove, H., & Parks, C. (2009). The environmentalist who cried drought: Reactions to repeated warnings about depleting resources under conditions of uncertainty. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29(2), 181-192.
Three studies examined the impact of warnings about depleting resources. In Study 1, participants played 16 trials of a 5-person resource dilemma game with complete resource uncer…

Crafting Normative Messages to Protect the Environment

Articles
Cialdini, R. (2003). Crafting normative messages to protect the environment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(4), 105-109. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.01242.
It is widely recognized that communications that activate social norms can be effective in producing societally beneficial conduct. Not so well recognized are the circumstances un…

Social Norms Approaches Using Descriptive Drinking Norms Education: A Review of the Research on Personalized Normative Feedback

Articles
Lewis, M., & Neighbors, C. (2006). Social norms approaches using descriptive drinking norms education: A review of the research on personalized normative feedback. Journal of American College Health, 54(4), 213-218. doi:10.3200/JACH.54.4.213-218.
College students have been shown to consistently overestimate the drinking of their peers. As a result, social norms approaches are effective in correcting these misperceived norm…

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