Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design
© 2020 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). All rights reserved. Designing products to encourage sustainable behavior during their use can have significant influence on their total environmental impact. Cognitive interventions can be used to inform users of the importance of sustainable...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
ASME International
2022
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139759 |
| _version_ | 1826208982761472000 |
|---|---|
| author | Saadi, Jana I Yang, Maria C |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Saadi, Jana I Yang, Maria C |
| author_sort | Saadi, Jana I |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2020 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). All rights reserved. Designing products to encourage sustainable behavior during their use can have significant influence on their total environmental impact. Cognitive interventions can be used to inform users of the importance of sustainable behavior and make users aware of the resources they consume while evoking positive or negative emotions. The first part of this study investigated two methods of cognitive interventions, information (positively and negatively framed) and feedback, and their effectiveness in encouraging users to reduce their napkin consumption in cafés. The number of napkins per transaction illustrated a short-term behavior change for positive information, a longer-term behavior change for negative information, and no change for feedback. In the second phase of this study, a survey was conducted to understand environmental concerns around napkin consumption and emotions and perceived effectiveness of each intervention. Results from 295 valid survey responses showed that the positively framed informative design reminded users to use less napkins in order to save trees and was dominated by positive emotions such as feeling encouraged. The negative information message informed users to use fewer napkins due to the consequences on the environment and was related to negative emotions such as guilt and worry. The feedback intervention's message was more informative, reminding users that napkins come from trees and the emotions evoked from the intervention closely resembled that of the control. These findings suggest that information and feedback interventions that evoke emotions can be used to promote sustainable behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:15:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/139759 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:15:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | ASME International |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1397592023-02-10T20:30:41Z Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design Saadi, Jana I Yang, Maria C Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering © 2020 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). All rights reserved. Designing products to encourage sustainable behavior during their use can have significant influence on their total environmental impact. Cognitive interventions can be used to inform users of the importance of sustainable behavior and make users aware of the resources they consume while evoking positive or negative emotions. The first part of this study investigated two methods of cognitive interventions, information (positively and negatively framed) and feedback, and their effectiveness in encouraging users to reduce their napkin consumption in cafés. The number of napkins per transaction illustrated a short-term behavior change for positive information, a longer-term behavior change for negative information, and no change for feedback. In the second phase of this study, a survey was conducted to understand environmental concerns around napkin consumption and emotions and perceived effectiveness of each intervention. Results from 295 valid survey responses showed that the positively framed informative design reminded users to use less napkins in order to save trees and was dominated by positive emotions such as feeling encouraged. The negative information message informed users to use fewer napkins due to the consequences on the environment and was related to negative emotions such as guilt and worry. The feedback intervention's message was more informative, reminding users that napkins come from trees and the emotions evoked from the intervention closely resembled that of the control. These findings suggest that information and feedback interventions that evoke emotions can be used to promote sustainable behavior. 2022-01-26T19:43:39Z 2022-01-26T19:43:39Z 2020 2022-01-26T19:37:42Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139759 Saadi, Jana I and Yang, Maria C. 2020. "Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design." Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference, 8. en 10.1115/DETC2020-22464 Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf ASME International ASME |
| spellingShingle | Saadi, Jana I Yang, Maria C Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design |
| title | Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design |
| title_full | Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design |
| title_fullStr | Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design |
| title_full_unstemmed | Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design |
| title_short | Motivating Sustainable Behavior Using Cognitive Interventions in Product Design |
| title_sort | motivating sustainable behavior using cognitive interventions in product design |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139759 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saadijanai motivatingsustainablebehaviorusingcognitiveinterventionsinproductdesign AT yangmariac motivatingsustainablebehaviorusingcognitiveinterventionsinproductdesign |