Environment and Social Norms 2025 - PDF

EXAMPLE OF CAREER: ENVIRONMENT https://ecampusontario.press CONSULTING FIRM books.pub/psychologycareers /chapter/environmental-psych ology/ Environment al Perception and evaluation of buildings Cognitive mapping, spatial cognition, and psychology wayf...

EXAMPLE OF CAREER: ENVIRONMENT https://ecampusontario.press CONSULTING FIRM books.pub/psychologycareers /chapter/environmental-psych ology/ Environment al Perception and evaluation of buildings Cognitive mapping, spatial cognition, and psychology wayfinding Ecological consequences of human actions Design of physical aspects of workplaces, schools, … Leisure behavior in relation to physical settings Psychological aspects of people and nature Theories of place, place attachment, and place identity Psychological aspects of resource management Environmental risks and hazards Stress-related to physical settings Greening organizations Social use of space: crowding, privacy, …  Environmental psychology Balance between: Promoting sustainable How issues within the behaviours (e.g., public environment shape the health messages) individual Enhancing effects of the How actions and cognitions natural environment on impact the environment people (e.g., uses of natural spaces) Wayfinding (e.g., Grown from social psychology designing spaces so and is interdisciplinary people can move (anthropology, architecture, efficiently) urban planning) Office/school design Understanding messages (e.g., enhancing that motivate people to experiences) adopt different behaviours. Policies and influences on behaviours (e.g.,  APA Task Force Interface Between Psychology and Climate Change Argued about the necessity for researchers from all areas related to psychology to address human contributions and reactions to climate change. Uncertainty – uncertainty over climate change reduces the frequency of “green” behavior. Denial – A substantial minority of people believe human activity has little to do with it. Undervaluing Risks –many people believe environmental conditions will worsen in 25 years... Lack of Control – People believe their actions would be too small to make a difference. Key areas of concern 1. How do people understand risks imposed by climate change? 2. Understand factors that drive human behaviours that contribute to climate change. 3. Psychosocial impacts of climate change. 4. How do people adapt/cope with climate change 5. What psychological barriers limit climate change action.  Conservation Psychology Psychology with a conservation agenda. The first conservation psychology textbook was published by Susan Clayton and Gene Myers in 2009 (Clayton & Myers, 2009).  Gifford reading: Dilemmas! RESOURCE DILEMMA is what indicates social norms use within environmental situations. A type of social dilemma that emerges when a resource may appear limitless but it is not, so that access to it depends-upon limited use by all members of a community (as opposed to acting in self-interest!) Three key factors predicting how people act in resource dilemmas: Nature of the resource, relationships between members of the community, characteristics of the community members  Getting people to cooperate in dilemmas (Shultz & Kaiser, 2012) Focus of Aim of Core Motive Description Intervention intervention Information Understanding The need to Reducing understand the environmental and physical and social social uncertainty environment Identity Belonging The need for positive Improving and social identity broadening one’s sense of community Institutions Trusting The need to build Increasing trusting relationships acceptance of commons rules and institutions Incentives Self-Enhancing The need to improve Punishing overuse oneself and increase and rewarding one’s resources responsible use  Conservation Psychology Intervention pathways Promoting Pro-Environmental Behavior via The Person Egoistic Approaches: Self-Interest: Prompts / Contingencies Social-Altruistic: Public Commitments / Social Norms / Social Dilemmas Jennifer Veitch Research concerning the effects of the physical environment (particularly lighting) on human behaviour and well-being and the factors influencing adoption of sustainable building practices. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ 1PEW_6nIBuCH1u6K-tGN_4Eza1jiDWgP8A wf7uUzjsrE/edit?gid=0#gid=0  Built Environments 1. They can establish the evidence base for the environmental conditions that are to be created in buildings and can demonstrate the value— to individuals and to organizations— of delivering those conditions with energy‐ efficient technologies. 2. They can improve our understanding of how decision‐makers choose to adopt, or not to adopt, new technologies. 3. They can become directly involved in the process of knowledge mobilization to ensure that codes, standards, and guidance documents correctly incorporate psychological knowledge and insights.  Built Environments (Veitch, 2021) We have often focused on individual proenvironmental behaviours using individual-level models like the theory of normative behaviour – and they emphasize additional considerations (to the right) Also emphasized decision-makers: Fit with strategic goals Leveraging certification systems to influence behaviours when building and when operating structures! Engaging in knowledge translation, advocacy, and other actions Applying social norms Dilemmas: individuals cooperate after others who are harvesting from the pool first cooperate.  Normative Social Influence Social norms: “rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, and that guide or constrain social behaviors without the force of law” (Cialdini and Trost, 1998, p. 152), Subjective norms Formed through social interaction Powerful influence on behavior, particularly in certain situations Injunctive norms: perceptions of what behaviors are approved/disapprove Descriptive norms: perceptions of how people actually behave  Informational social influence influence of other people that leads us to conform because we see them as a source of information to guide our behavior. Normative social influence. People conform to a group’s social norms, the implicit or explicit rules a group has for the acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs of its members Norm misperceptions also pervade: False consensus: Individual falsely believes that most members of their group shares their beliefs Pluralistic ignorance: Most members of a group have an inaccurate perception of the group norm “Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time.” Experiment (Cialdini and colleagues) - / Injunctive Norm Condition Please don’t remove petrified wood from the Park, in order to preserve the natural state of the Petrified Forest. - / Descriptive Norm Condition: Many past visitors have removed petrified wood from the Park, changing the natural state of the Petrified Forest. Goldstein, Cialdini, & Griskevicius (2008, J of Consumer Research) Residents received information about energy use in their home in the previous week and information about how energy Adding the use by typical household in their neighborhood. happy/sad face Some residents also reduced the received a happy face if Change in daily energy use, boomerang they were using less energy than average or a comparing: (a) above/below average initial use, and (b) effect! injunctive message or not. sad face if they were using more. (injunctive norms) Schultz, Nolan, Cialdini, Goldstein, and Griskevicius (2007)  ++ Contexts for normative message interventions: When are 1. When most are making healthy choices but believe that peers are making normative unhealthy choices 2. Populations ‘tuned’ to peer behavior (i.e., intervention adolescents) 3. Group that we identify with: Same school, s indicated? program, ethnicity, Small group that individuals identify with (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, Perkins 1990)(2003): 8,860 middle/high and Craig school Actual alcohol use in middle school was 7%, Perceived use was 23% Actual use in high school was 29%, perceived use was 60% Perkins and Craig (2006), 578 middle school 63% did NOT tease others, 83% believed peers DID 74% did NOT push or hit others, 83% believed that peers DID  Social norms approach 1. Focuses on positives 2. It does not use scare tactics or stigmatize 3. Avoids moral messages from authorities 4. Integrates Three typical ‘forms’ input from the community 1. Social norms marketing campaign (e.g., print/socialmedia) 2. Personalized normative feedback (e.g., survey) 3. Small group normative feedback (e.g., Revisit: Designing a messaging campaign for social norms 1. Get to know your population and norms. 2. Craft and test messages. 3. Disseminate messages and deliver any additional activities (i.e., rewards for being able to recall the normative message). 4. Analyze results. 2) Personalized normative feedback - Lezparlay (Boyle and Labrie, 2021) Intervention to redefine alcohol use norms for sexual minority women: Web-based gamified intervention: LBQ women taking part in LezParlay were able to create social media-like personal profiles Then, participants were prompted to indicate their own attitudes and guess at beliefs of others using the app. 3) Small group normative feedback Design a survey and have the group complete items that involve asking about their own thoughts/behaviors, and those of others Present survey results Facilitate discussion about norms, involving why misperceptions occur