Suchergebnisse

Gathering time-series data of behaviors and psychological variables is important to understand, guide, and evaluate behavior-change campaigns and other change processes. However, repeated measurement can affect the phenomena investigated, particularly frequent face-to-face interviews, which are often the only option in developing countries. This article presents three intervention control studies to investigate this issue. Daily diaries in Cuba did not affect behavior or attitudes for persons with intervention but reduced attitudes for persons without intervention. Reactivity of face-to-face interviews in Bolivia was negligible if applied weekly, but strong if applied twice per week. The article concludes with recommendations for gathering time-series data in developing countries.

This article introduces an approach to tailoring behavior-change campaigns to target populations using the example of solid waste reduction in Santiago de Cuba. Tailoring is performed in the following steps: (1) Psychological constructs are selected to detect problems in performing the target behavior, and data are gathered on these constructs. (2) Cluster analyses are performed on these data to identify different psychological types and their distribution in the population. (3) Intervention techniques are assigned according to the spatial and quantitative distribution and the characteristics of these types. Results of the cluster analyses are presented for three different behaviors that can reduce the amount of deposited solid waste (recycling, composting, reuse) on the basis of the four psychological constructs of instrumental and affective attitude, difficulty, and social pressure. The tailoring of interventions could be used to design environmental campaigns more efficiently.

How people subjectively perceive climate change strongly influences how they respond to its challenges. To date, relatively little is known about such perceptions in the Global South. This research examines public perceptions of climate change in the Peruvian Andes, a semi-arid high-mountain region that is highly exposed and vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change. Based on questionnaire data collected through face-to-face interviews (N = 1316), we found that respondents identify various climate-related issues as the most important challenges for their country. Many of these issues are related to water. Respondents also noticed more subtle changes and expected them to continue (e.g., extreme temperatures, food shortages). Climate impacts were clearly seen as negative, which was also reflected in the presence of emotions. When compared to previous research, more respondents had personally experienced extreme weather events (80%) and they were more certain that the climate is already changing, is caused by human activity, and is affecting distant and close places similarly. A comparison of the perceptions along different socioeconomic characteristics suggests that more vulnerable groups (e.g., rural, low income and education levels) tended to perceive climate change as more consequential, closer, and as a more natural (vs. anthropogenic) phenomenon than those from less vulnerable groups. The salience of water-related problems and personal experiences of climate-related events, as well as differences between various subgroups, could be used to improve measures to adapt to the consequences of climate change by correcting misconceptions of the population and of decisionmakers

Abstract: We test a general theory of norm changes based on evidence that people will punish less hygienic others more strongly than more hygienic others. The theory concludes that such asymmetric punishment would result in hygiene norms becoming ever stricter. We argue that, because complaints about one's behavior might lead to protest, norms might not always change because of such complaints. We conducted an online experiment ( N = 1,023 Swiss adults) using handwashing as the target behavior. We replicated the asymmetry in punishment intensities and found that the intensity of protests against complaints about one's too unhygienic behavior approached the intensity of these complaints. We conclude that, while asymmetric punishment may drive norm change, protests may lead to norm stability.