New Tools for Environmental Protection Education, Information, and Voluntary Measures (2002) / Chapter Skim
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4. Knowledge, Information, and Household Recycling: Examining the Knoweldge-Deficit Model of Behavior Change
4. Knowledge, Information, and Household Recycling: Examining the Knoweldge-Deficit Model of Behavior Change
Pages 67-82
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From page 67... ...
, the basic principles discussed are believed to generalize to a range of environmentally related activities. Finally, an alternative educational approach focusing on social norms is presented, and some recommendations for implementing normative education programs are provided.
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From page 68... ...
. At the city and county levels, when people talk about recycling it is often in the context of technical issues like the implementation of a new program, changing to an automated collection system, the distribution of recycling bins, zoning or siting landfills or transfer stations, and different types of recycling programs (e.g., commingled, pay-to-throw, or source separated)
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From page 69... ...
Second, distributing educational materials containing information about recycling will lead to an increase in knowledge about recycling. Third, an increase in knowledge about recycling will lead to an increase in recycling behavior.
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Does Knowledge Predict Recycling Behavior? The short answer to this question is "Yes." The research addressing this issue has focused almost exclusively on procedural knowledge.
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With these considerations in mind, researchers have been successful at creating information materials that increase knowledge about recycling (Littlejohn, 1997; Werner et al., 1997~. Does Changing Knowledge About Recycling Lead to a Change in Recycling Behavior?
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(1998) identified four motivational factors associated with the level of recycling behavior: The benefits of recycling (e.g., satisfaction of saving natural resources, decreasing landfill use, saving energy)
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NORMATIVE EDUCATION: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH The bulk of the research on knowledge about recycling and educational interventions to promote recycling has focused on increasing procedural knowledge. Given the limited effectiveness of education aimed at increasing procedural knowledge, it is useful to examine the research on normative knowledge an understanding of the behaviors of others.
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found that descriptive normative beliefs were strong predictors of recycling behavior, and that normative beliefs about people closer
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For example, beliefs about the frequency of recycling by neighbors correlated r=.44 with recycling behavior; beliefs about recycling by "people in your neighborhood" correlated r=.31 with recycling behavior; and beliefs about recycling rates across the city correlated r=.17 with behavior. The research just summarized clearly indicates that normative beliefs, both descriptive and injunctive, are predictive of a variety of behaviors.
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Study participants were community residents in a large metropolitan suburb. Approximately 120 houses were systematically assigned to each of five experimental conditions: individual normative feedback (targeting injunctive social norms)
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That is, the disseminated normative information must be higher than the overall normative belief among residents. Publishing a statistic that "50 percent of residents in San Marcos recycle regularly" will only lead to an increase in recycling if the existing normative belief among residents is that fewer than 50 percent recycle regularly.
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Variables like perceived similarity with others in the community, status of people who are engaging in the behavior, prior commitment to act in a particular manner, size of the group, and cohesion of the group are all variables that can affect the effectiveness of a normative intervention. Overall, social psychological research on conformity suggests that normative social influence works best with behaviors that are publicly observablelike curbside recycling.
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Burn, S 1991 Social psychology and the stimulation of recycling behaviors: The block leader approach.
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Gamba, R., and S Oskamp 1994 Factors influencing community residents' participation in commingled curbside recycling programs.
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Strathman 1997 Predictors of recycling behavior: An application of a modified health belief model. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 27:1799-1823.
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From page 82... ...
Journal of Applied Social Psychology 18:66-79. Thuen, F., and J
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