Framing Virtual Experiences

Abstract

In virtual environments (VEs), users experience visceral simulations that feel like the real world. Virtual experiences are proposed as a novel operationalization of gain and loss framed environmental messages. A 2 (gain vs. loss frame) × 2 (high vs. low interactivity) × 3 (pretest, posttest, delayed posttest) experiment was conducted. Immediately following exposure, virtual experiences promoted environmental behavior by reducing paper consumption by 25% compared to a control group. In addition, the gain framed experience of growing a virtual tree promoted behavioral intentions more effectively than the loss framed experience of cutting down a tree. Response efficacy mediated the relationship between framing and environmental behavioral intentions. One week after exposure, response efficacy heightened as a result of the gain frame. Participants in the high interactivity conditions also reported higher levels of environmental behavior than those in the low interactivity conditions one week following exposure.

Experiencing Nature: Embodying Animals in Immersive Virtual Environments Increases Inclusion of Nature in Self and Involvement With Nature

“…Experiments 2 and 3 expanded the parallel mediation model to demonstrate the power of accelerating the progression of time during an embodied experience in IVEs. Echoing earlier results (Ahn, 2015;Ahn et al, 2015), the acceleration of time in IVEs rendered the causal relationship concrete by depicting present behavior and future consequences. As a result, individuals were more likely to perceive the environmental risk to be imminent.…”

Influence of LEED branding on building occupants' pro-environmental behavior

“…Despite the differences between virtual interactions and physical interactions, researches successfully use IVEs to answer questions that cannot be easily addressed just using traditional surveys [46], which are the tools that are used most frequently in the research for gathering data on behavior. Research has shown that users act in similar ways within IVEs as they do in physical environments and have similar feelings of presence within such environments [43,[47][48][49]. IVEs allow the users to feel immersed within the virtual space as if they were in a physical space.…”

The Impact of Vivid Messages on Reducing Energy Consumption Related to Hot Water Use

“…A study on energy use by Midden and Ham (2014) found that participants used less energy after receiving negative feedback compared with positive feedback. As opposed to negative appeals, other research suggests that interventions that illustrate the positive consequences of an individual’s behavior may also catalyze proenvironmental behavior (Ahn, Fox, Dale, & Avant, 2014). An alternative intervention could show the positive effects of certain showering behaviors.…”