Thesis
The impact of affective norms on individual recycling behaviors
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
05/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/103352
Abstract
Both perceived behavioral and affective norms play a role in behavior. Whereas behavior change approaches using behavioral norms are common, a growing body of work addresses the potential additive and understudied role of affective norm approaches. The objective of this research was to investigate whether including affective normative feedback enhances the effectiveness of descriptive normative-feedback on intentions and behavior in a recycling context. A second objective was to investigate whether negative or positive affective norms will be more impactful. After descriptive and affective norms of recycling behavior among undergraduate students were established, a manipulation was tested in which participants were randomized to one of three normative feedback conditions: descriptive norm (DN), DN + Positive Affective Norm (PAN), or DN + Negative Affective Norm (NAN). It was hypothesized that individuals who received negative or positive affective norm information would report greater intentions to recycle and greater recycling behavior 3 days after receiving the feedback than those who received normative feedback alone. Given the exploratory nature of the affective component, no directional hypotheses were made between the PAN and NAN groups. Results indicated there were no main effects of condition on intentions, F (2,129) = 1.20, p = .30, or behavior, F (2,90) = .69, p = .50. However, exploratory analyses revealed that when individuals who were less likely to change were removed from the analyses (recycled 10% or less of the time), there was a main effect of condition on intentions, F (2,88) = 4.31, p = .01. Planned comparisons indicated the difference was between the DN and PAN conditions (p = .01). There were no group differences for follow up behavior. Findings extend the knowledge of the affective norm feedback approach as well as recycling interventions.
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Details
- Title
- The impact of affective norms on individual recycling behaviors
- Creators
- Jacquelyn Marie Schroeder
- Contributors
- Renee E. Magnan (Chair)Tahira Probst (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Psychology, Department ofPaul Kwon (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Number of pages
- 69
- Identifiers
- 99900525081801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis