Using a Normative Appeal to Control Litter at a Public Swimming Pool

Cases
Reich, J. W., & Robertson, J. L. (1979). Reactance and norm appeal in anti-littering messages. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 9, 1, 91-101.
A literature review revealed that a statement that puts an extreme demand on a person is likely to elicit the undesirable behavior. On the other hand, a statement that creates a n…

The Effects of an Ambiguous, Negative Sign Prompt and a Clearly-Stated Positive Sign Prompt on Intentions to Litter

Cases
Horsley, A. D. (1988). The unintended effects of a posted sign on littering attitudes and stated intentions. Journal of Environmental Education, 19, 3, 10-14.
A literature review revealed that sign prompts can be effective in reducing the amount of litter. In order to further investigate the effects of prompts, a questionnaire was given…

Effective Dissemination of Energy-Related Information: Applying Social Psychology and Evaluation Research

Articles
Dennis, M., Soderstrom, E.J., Koncinski, W.S., Cavanaugh, B. (1990). Effective Dissemination of Energy-Related Information: Applying Social Psychology and Evaluation Research. American Psychologist, 45(10), 1109.
Discusses the limitations of previous energy conservation programs in affecting the behavior of individual consumers. Suggests that the rational-economic model upon which they wer…

Clinical Validation and Cognitive Elaboration: Signs That Encourage Sustained Recycling

Articles
Werner, Carol M.; Stoll, Robert; Birch, Paul; White, Paul H. (2002). Clinical Validation and Cognitive Elaboration: Signs That Encourage Sustained Recycling. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 24, 3, 185 – 203.
Three field experiments coupled the clinical psychology concept of validation with Elaboration Likelihood Model-Heuristic-Systematic Model theorizing to increase the influence of …

Littering as a Function of Prior Litter and the Presence or Absence of Prohibitive Signs

Articles
Reiter, S. M. & Samuel, W. (1980). Littering as a function of prior litter and the presence or absence of prohibitive signs . Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 10, 1, 45-55.
The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect on littering behavior of (1) two ways of antilitter signs and (2) the condition of the environment (littered vs. unlit…

Designing Effective Instructional Signs with Schema Theory: Case Studies of Polystyrene Recycling

Articles
Werner, C. M., Rhodes, M.U. & Partain, K. K. (1998). Designing effective instructional signs with schema theory: Case studies of polystyrene recycling. Environment and Behavior, 30, 5, 709-735.
Two studies supported the hypothesis that signs designed to create a new polystyrene schema would be more effective than signs that did not address patrons' existing schemata. Sch…

The Unintended Effects of a Posted Sign on Littering Attitudes and Stated Intentions

Articles
Horsley, A. D. (1988). The unintended effects of a posted sign on littering attitudes and stated intentions. Journal of Environmental Education, 19, 3, 10-14.
The effects of an anti-littering sign that read "We treat litterbugs like all insects" were compared with those for a sign that read "Please save our landscape; don't litter." Ss …

Several Antecedent Strategies in Reduction of an Environmentally Destructive Behavior

Articles
Smith, J. M., & Bennett, R. (1992). Several antecedent strategies in reduction of an environmentally destructive behavior. Psychological Reports, 70, 1, 241-242.
Investigated the effects of response-specific prompts, prompts identifying long- and short-term consequences, and response-specific prompts on the reduction of environmentally des…

Reactance and Norm Appeal in Anti-Littering Messages

Articles
Reich, J. W., & Robertson, J. L. (1979). Reactance and norm appeal in anti-littering messages. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 9, 1, 91-101.
Conducted 3 experiments with a total of 390 children (over age 10 yrs) patronizing public swimming pool concessions to test a model of how anti-littering messages vary in the kind…

Validation, Persuasion and Recycling: Capitalizing on the Social Ecology of Newspaper Use

Articles
Werner, Carol M.; Byerly, Sari; White, Paul H.; Kieffer, Matthew (2004). Validation, Persuasion and Recycling: Capitalizing on the Social Ecology of Newspaper Use. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 26, 2, 183-198.
Two experiments used clinical validation to increase scrutiny of messages posted in public settings. The first experiment used a 2 (validation: no/yes) × 2 (persuasion: none/"it i…

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