More on feedbacks and behaviour change
March 27, 2008 at 3:20 pm (Green Strategy)
Nytimes writes about a new book called “Nudge” which uses behavioural science in understanding many decisions made by humans. Some experiments show that price feedbacks work. This takes it further.
“Getting the prices right will not create the right behavior if people do not associate their behavior with the relevant costs,” says Dr. Thaler, a professor of behavioral science and economics. “When I turn the thermostat down on my A-C, I only vaguely know how much that costs me. If the thermostat were programmed to tell you immediately how much you are spending, the effect would be much more powerful.”
It would be still more powerful, he and Mr. Sunstein suggest, if you knew how your energy consumption compared with the social norm. A study in California showed that when the monthly electric bill listed the average consumption in the neighborhood, the people in above-average households significantly decreased their consumption.
