Habits to save our habitat: Using the psychology of habits to promote sustainability

Abstract

Public awareness and concern about climate and environmental issues have grown dramatically in the United States and around the world. Yet this shift in attitudes has not been accompanied by similar increases in eco-friendly behaviors. We propose that this attitude-behavior gap is partly driven by the difficulty of changing unsustainable habits. Governments and businesses can reduce this gap through interventions that draw on insights from research into the psychology of habits and behavioral economics. First, they can reduce or add friction, making it easier for people to engage in eco-friendly actions and making it harder to continue environmentally damaging practices. Second, they can set up action cues-prompts that trigger pro-environment actions-and deliver these cues where and when they will have the biggest impact. Finally, they can provide psychologically informed incentives and disincentives that steer people toward environmentally beneficial actions. We also describe how even initially unpopular policies can become accepted through habitual repetition. In these ways, habit psychology represents a promising addition to the policymaker's toolbox.

The i-frame and the s-frame: How focusing on individual-level solutions has led behavioral public policy astray

“…Consider emotional adaptation, discussed above, which crucially shapes reactions to beneficial s-frame policies, both before and after implementation. People systematically underestimate how much they will adapt (Mazar, Tomaino, Carmon, & Wood, 2021; Riis et al, 2005; Ubel, Loewenstein, & Jepson, 2005). This provides a powerful brake on the public appetite for systemic change, and a tendency to want to maintain the status quo (Samuelson & Zeckhauser, 1988; loss aversion exacerbates this problem, Tversky & Kahneman, 1991).…”

Stuck on Intergroup Attitudes: The Need to Shift Gears to Change Intergroup Behaviors

“…Sidelining bias capitalizes on situationism (i.e., the powerful influence of small environmental changes on behavior; Ross & Nisbett, 2011). My proposal also builds on efforts by researchers in other areas, such as vaccination promotion and climate change, who have advocated for an increased focus on the social and psychological factors that affect behavior and behavior change (Brewer et al, 2017; Mazar et al, 2021).…”

The i-Frame and the s-Frame: How Focusing on the Individual-Level Solutions Has Led Behavioral Public Policy Astray

“…Consider emotional adaptation, discussed above, which crucially shapes reactions to beneficial sframe policies, both before and after implementation. People systematically underestimate how much they will adapt (Mazar, Tomaino, Carmon & Wood, 2021;Riis et al, 2005;. This provides a powerful brake on the public appetite for systemic change, and a tendency to want to maintain the status quo (Samuelson & Zeckhauser, 1988; loss aversion exacerbates this problem, Tversky & Kahneman, 1991).…”