Why don’t Americans conserve energy and adopt energy-efficient technologies?

Don’t know how much I will save On why people do not act Information deficit model Motivation deficit model Don’t know how much I will save Don’t know what to do Don’t know how … Cost Time Effort Social norms …

Behaviors deemed “most effective” by participants Curtailment State what colors mean, state some behaviors are wacky. Efficiency is defined as switching to a technology without sacrificing desired services, curtailment is defined as cutting back on normal or desired activities--- the whole presentation of curtailment is verbal, need a reference for who stated efficiency is better than curtailment?? State CURTAILMENT and EFFICIENCY Efficiency

Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale? To remove 1000 and 10,000 --- highlight differences more laptop? dishwasher

Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale? To remove 1000 and 10,000 --- highlight differences more laptop? dishwasher (Attari et al., 2010)

Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale? To remove 1000 and 10,000 --- highlight differences more laptop? dishwasher (Attari et al., 2010)

Laptops overestimated 2x (Attari et al., 2010) Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale? To remoce 1000 and 10,000 --- highlight differences more laptop? dishwasher (Attari et al., 2010)

Dishwashers underestimated 800x Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale? To remoce 1000 and 10,000 --- highlight differences more laptop? dishwasher Dishwashers underestimated 800x (Attari et al., 2010)

Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale Have pop outs come, can you compress the scale? To remove 1000 and 10,000 --- highlight differences more laptop? dishwasher (Attari et al., 2010)

Findings: “In your opinion, what is the most effective thing that you could do to conserve energy in your life?” - Participants state: 55% “curtailment” 12% “efficiency” Gardener and Stern (2008): “efficiency saves more energy than curtailment” Large overarching misperception

Findings: Major misperceptions in energy consumption People have small overestimates for low-energy behaviors and large underestimates for high-energy behaviors  many implications for technology, education, and policy

What you want to do vs. What others should do

Research questions Would there be any systematic differences in how people answer the following two questions? “In your opinion, what is the single most effective thing that you could do to use less energy in your life?” “In your opinion, what is the most single most effective thing that Americans could do to use less energy in their lives?”

Predictions If information deficits: If motivated cognition: Distribution of responses should be similar for both questions If motivated cognition: Systematic differences in responses between questions (e.g., listing an easy non-effective behavior for self and a harder effective behavior for others)

Most effective behavior: Self vs. others

Most effective behavior: Self vs. others

Most effective action for self and other Americans Cut thru the chase, BUILD UP and REMOVE OTHER, MAKE A 2x2 Turn off (appliances and lights) Drive less (drive less, carpool, use public transportation, bike, and walk)

I’ll do the easy thing, you do the hard thing Individuals who choose the easier option for themselves are likely to ask others to do the harder thing. McNemar chi-square statistic for asymmetry 26.1, p < 0.0001

Findings: I’ll do the easy thing, you do the hard thing People are motivated to list easier non-effective behaviors for themselves (e.g., turning off the light) and harder more effective behaviors for others (e.g., carpooling, driving less).

Part II : Communicating climate change

Description-based decision Experience-based decision Decide on taking a drug based on drug package insert information Invest in a mutual fund based on the information in its prospectus Decision to back up computer’s hard drive Invest in a system to irrigate crops based on personal memory When small-probability (rare) events are involved, people choose as if they over-weigh the probability of the rare event (Kahnemann and Tversky, 1979) People choose as if they under-weigh the probability of the rare event … unless the statistically rare event occurred in the very recent past (recency effect) (Hertwig, Baron, Weber, Erev, 2004, 2006) In description-based decisions: When small-probability (rare) events are involved, people choose as if they over-weigh the probability of the rare event Mostly the case when rare event has emotional impact, e.g. side effect of vaccine on own child. Physician vs. parent

Likelihood predictions based on availability and ease of recall

In your opinion, which is a more likely cause of death in the US: Falling airplane parts Sharks In your opinion which, is the cause of death that is more common in the US: Car accidents Stomach cancer In your opinion, which is the cause of death that is more common in the US: Tornado Lightning Correct answer circled in red

Conclusions: How to Approach the Motivation Deficit Risk communication CAN be improved Keep multiple goals in mind, look for co-benefits No “one-size-fits-all” approach Combinations of affective/experience-based and analytic information Participatory processes to tailor information Group decision context primes collective interests Awareness of need for individual actions also builds awareness of need for collective action