Overcoming inaction: An agent-based modelling study of social interventions that promote systematic pro-environmental change

Overcoming inaction: An agent-based modelling study of social interventions that promote systematic pro-environmental change. Hoffmann, T., Ye, M., Zino, L., Cao, M., Rauws, W., & Bolderdijk, J. W. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2024. Publisher: Academic Press Type: Article

Paper doi abstract bibtex

Even though many people have pro-environmental convictions, oftentimes they do not actually engage in pro-environmental behaviour. We hypothesise that behavioural change is hampered by a social feedback loop that reinforces the status quo: People routinely underestimate others’ pro-environmental convictions, and when they expect that others care less, they are unlikely to show more pro-environmental behaviour themselves, which reinforces the general impression that people do not care. This leads to the question of how to effectively elicit a push from the current state to a state in which pro-environmental behaviour becomes more widespread. We examine this question with an agent-based model (ABM) which was parameterised using individual-level survey data collected in several Dutch neighbourhoods. We explore whether interventions that make people talk more about their convictions versus interventions that enhance the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour can trigger individuals to update their expectations and consequently tip the system into a more environmentally-friendly state. Our simulations suggest that enhancing the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour with an intervention may be most effective to motivate durable pro-environmental change. Motivating more talk on the topic only generates temporary effects in our simulations. These results can provide valuable guidance for empirical research on norm-based interventions and it may eventually inform the development of evidence-based policies that effectively encourage pro-environmental change. © 2024 The Authors

@article{hoffmann_overcoming_2024,
	title = {Overcoming inaction: {An} agent-based modelling study of social interventions that promote systematic pro-environmental change},
	volume = {94},
	issn = {02724944},
	url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182382058&doi=10.1016%2fj.jenvp.2023.102221&partnerID=40&md5=127a801e06a6ea8152d63e6ba9641bb7},
	doi = {10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102221},
	abstract = {Even though many people have pro-environmental convictions, oftentimes they do not actually engage in pro-environmental behaviour. We hypothesise that behavioural change is hampered by a social feedback loop that reinforces the status quo: People routinely underestimate others’ pro-environmental convictions, and when they expect that others care less, they are unlikely to show more pro-environmental behaviour themselves, which reinforces the general impression that people do not care. This leads to the question of how to effectively elicit a push from the current state to a state in which pro-environmental behaviour becomes more widespread. We examine this question with an agent-based model (ABM) which was parameterised using individual-level survey data collected in several Dutch neighbourhoods. We explore whether interventions that make people talk more about their convictions versus interventions that enhance the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour can trigger individuals to update their expectations and consequently tip the system into a more environmentally-friendly state. Our simulations suggest that enhancing the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour with an intervention may be most effective to motivate durable pro-environmental change. Motivating more talk on the topic only generates temporary effects in our simulations. These results can provide valuable guidance for empirical research on norm-based interventions and it may eventually inform the development of evidence-based policies that effectively encourage pro-environmental change. © 2024 The Authors},
	language = {English},
	journal = {Journal of Environmental Psychology},
	author = {Hoffmann, Tabea and Ye, Mengbin and Zino, Lorenzo and Cao, Ming and Rauws, Ward and Bolderdijk, Jan Willem},
	year = {2024},
	note = {Publisher: Academic Press
Type: Article},
}

Downloads: 0

{"_id":"yEuryPWdEXEjwG6QF","bibbaseid":"hoffmann-ye-zino-cao-rauws-bolderdijk-overcominginactionanagentbasedmodellingstudyofsocialinterventionsthatpromotesystematicproenvironmentalchange-2024","author_short":["Hoffmann, T.","Ye, M.","Zino, L.","Cao, M.","Rauws, W.","Bolderdijk, J. W."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","title":"Overcoming inaction: An agent-based modelling study of social interventions that promote systematic pro-environmental change","volume":"94","issn":"02724944","url":"https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182382058&doi=10.1016%2fj.jenvp.2023.102221&partnerID=40&md5=127a801e06a6ea8152d63e6ba9641bb7","doi":"10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102221","abstract":"Even though many people have pro-environmental convictions, oftentimes they do not actually engage in pro-environmental behaviour. We hypothesise that behavioural change is hampered by a social feedback loop that reinforces the status quo: People routinely underestimate others’ pro-environmental convictions, and when they expect that others care less, they are unlikely to show more pro-environmental behaviour themselves, which reinforces the general impression that people do not care. This leads to the question of how to effectively elicit a push from the current state to a state in which pro-environmental behaviour becomes more widespread. We examine this question with an agent-based model (ABM) which was parameterised using individual-level survey data collected in several Dutch neighbourhoods. We explore whether interventions that make people talk more about their convictions versus interventions that enhance the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour can trigger individuals to update their expectations and consequently tip the system into a more environmentally-friendly state. Our simulations suggest that enhancing the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour with an intervention may be most effective to motivate durable pro-environmental change. Motivating more talk on the topic only generates temporary effects in our simulations. These results can provide valuable guidance for empirical research on norm-based interventions and it may eventually inform the development of evidence-based policies that effectively encourage pro-environmental change. © 2024 The Authors","language":"English","journal":"Journal of Environmental Psychology","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Hoffmann"],"firstnames":["Tabea"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Ye"],"firstnames":["Mengbin"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Zino"],"firstnames":["Lorenzo"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Cao"],"firstnames":["Ming"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Rauws"],"firstnames":["Ward"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Bolderdijk"],"firstnames":["Jan","Willem"],"suffixes":[]}],"year":"2024","note":"Publisher: Academic Press Type: Article","bibtex":"@article{hoffmann_overcoming_2024,\n\ttitle = {Overcoming inaction: {An} agent-based modelling study of social interventions that promote systematic pro-environmental change},\n\tvolume = {94},\n\tissn = {02724944},\n\turl = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182382058&doi=10.1016%2fj.jenvp.2023.102221&partnerID=40&md5=127a801e06a6ea8152d63e6ba9641bb7},\n\tdoi = {10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102221},\n\tabstract = {Even though many people have pro-environmental convictions, oftentimes they do not actually engage in pro-environmental behaviour. We hypothesise that behavioural change is hampered by a social feedback loop that reinforces the status quo: People routinely underestimate others’ pro-environmental convictions, and when they expect that others care less, they are unlikely to show more pro-environmental behaviour themselves, which reinforces the general impression that people do not care. This leads to the question of how to effectively elicit a push from the current state to a state in which pro-environmental behaviour becomes more widespread. We examine this question with an agent-based model (ABM) which was parameterised using individual-level survey data collected in several Dutch neighbourhoods. We explore whether interventions that make people talk more about their convictions versus interventions that enhance the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour can trigger individuals to update their expectations and consequently tip the system into a more environmentally-friendly state. Our simulations suggest that enhancing the visibility of pro-environmental behaviour with an intervention may be most effective to motivate durable pro-environmental change. Motivating more talk on the topic only generates temporary effects in our simulations. These results can provide valuable guidance for empirical research on norm-based interventions and it may eventually inform the development of evidence-based policies that effectively encourage pro-environmental change. © 2024 The Authors},\n\tlanguage = {English},\n\tjournal = {Journal of Environmental Psychology},\n\tauthor = {Hoffmann, Tabea and Ye, Mengbin and Zino, Lorenzo and Cao, Ming and Rauws, Ward and Bolderdijk, Jan Willem},\n\tyear = {2024},\n\tnote = {Publisher: Academic Press\nType: Article},\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","author_short":["Hoffmann, T.","Ye, M.","Zino, L.","Cao, M.","Rauws, W.","Bolderdijk, J. W."],"key":"hoffmann_overcoming_2024","id":"hoffmann_overcoming_2024","bibbaseid":"hoffmann-ye-zino-cao-rauws-bolderdijk-overcominginactionanagentbasedmodellingstudyofsocialinterventionsthatpromotesystematicproenvironmentalchange-2024","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85182382058&doi=10.1016%2fj.jenvp.2023.102221&partnerID=40&md5=127a801e06a6ea8152d63e6ba9641bb7"},"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}}},"bibtype":"article","biburl":"http://bibbase.org/zotero-group/science_et_ignorance/1340424","dataSources":["zX4acseCDM6D58AW7"],"keywords":[],"search_terms":["overcoming","inaction","agent","based","modelling","study","social","interventions","promote","systematic","pro","environmental","change","hoffmann","ye","zino","cao","rauws","bolderdijk"],"title":"Overcoming inaction: An agent-based modelling study of social interventions that promote systematic pro-environmental change","year":2024}