MSGID: 1:317/3 63e1d3fd   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    A chat may help convert a peer to a pro-sustainability stance    
    Study examines conversation as a vehicle for social influence    
      
     Date:   
         February 6, 2023   
     Source:   
         Ohio State University   
     Summary:   
         Changing the mind of someone who is dismissive of efforts to protect   
         the planet could be accomplished by sharing a pro-sustainability   
         point of view during a conversation, new research suggests.   
      
      
         Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email   
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Changing the mind of someone who is dismissive of efforts to protect   
   the planet could be accomplished by sharing a pro-sustainability point   
   of view during a conversation, new research suggests.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   In three experiments, researchers found that exposure to a   
   pro-sustainability opinion in a conversation or written exchange helped   
   coax people who held anti- sustainability views toward support for an   
   environmentally friendly initiative.   
      
   Results also showed that people with a pro-sustainability viewpoint were   
   not persuaded to change their commitment by talking to someone with an   
   opposing point of view.   
      
   The researchers noted that many sustainable behaviors -- lowering the   
   thermostat, recycling or buying fewer disposable products -- are household   
   or community endeavors that follow discussion and consideration. And so it   
   follows, they say, that persuading others to adopt sustainable practices   
   could be achieved through a common social activity: talking about it.   
      
   "There has been research showing that when it comes to divisive issues,   
   people can get entrenched in their views, but we find that this is not   
   always the case, at least in the context of sustainability," said senior   
   author Nicole Sintov, associate professor of behavior, decision making and   
   sustainability at The Ohio State University. "If I am anti-sustainability   
   and I'm talking to another anti-sustainability person, then I'm not going   
   to take more action to protect the environment. But if I talk to somebody   
   who is pro-sustainability, I'm going to move to match what their values   
   are, essentially.   
      
   "I think that is a particularly juicy finding, especially in today's   
   political climate."  Sintov completed the study with first author Kristin   
   Hurst, a former Ohio State postdoctoral researcher now at Southern   
   Illinois University, and Grant Donnelly, assistant professor of marketing   
   at Ohio State. The research was published online recently in the Journal   
   of Environmental Psychology.   
      
   In the first study, the team set out to determine whether having   
   a conversation about a sustainability topic could influence actual   
   sustainability behavior - - on top of making a commitment to engage in   
   the behavior.   
      
   A total of 568 college student participants read a statement about a   
   university policy to expand plant-based food options in campus dining   
   halls. Pairs of participants were randomized to either share their   
   stances, thoughts and feelings about the plant-based foods policy or,   
   as a control, to try to guess the name of a famous person described in   
   a biography they were given to read.   
      
   For the last 30 seconds of the interaction, researchers gauging   
   participants' commitment to the planet-friendly cause told students in   
   two of three groups - - one discussing the policy and one the famous   
   person -- to decide how much effort they would put into performing a   
   task that would generate financial support for the plant-based foods   
   policy. The task involved clicking a computer mouse; reaching a specific   
   number of clicks in a set amount of time would trigger a donation toward   
   the university's investment in the plant-based food policy.   
      
   Results showed that having a sustainability conversation before committing   
   to take action in support of the issue increased sustainable behavior --   
   the clicking -- above and beyond the conversation or commitment alone. The   
   conversation's effect on behavior could be traced in part to inducing a   
   sense of psychological safety by having the students show vulnerability   
   when disclosing how they felt about the plant-based food policy.   
      
   "Having this conversation where you self-disclose and take more   
   interpersonal risks elevates your sense of psychological safety, which   
   increases the strength of your commitment to click with your partner,"   
   said Sintov, a faculty member in Ohio State's School of Environment and   
   Natural Resources. "Among the people who had the sustainability policy   
   conversation versus the actor conversation, the commitment was stronger   
   -- the students were more engaged and came up with more ideas about how   
   to maximize the clicks."  In the second study, 302 students were told   
   about the policy and rated on a 7- part scale how supportive they were   
   of providing more plant-based foods in campus dining halls. They were   
   then paired with trained research assistants - - acting as student   
   participants -- who verbally expressed a scripted opinion either in   
   support of or opposing the policy. A third study involving 545 students   
   had an identical structure, except that the interactions were in writing.   
      
   In both studies, individuals initially unsupportive of the policy who   
   interacted with someone supportive of the initiative were more likely to   
   engage in behavior supporting the policy -- again, by clicking a mouse   
   to generate a financial donation.   
      
   "If you were paired with a pro-sustainability person, you're going   
   to click no matter what, compared to if you were paired with a con   
   person. What is most interesting, I think, is that this held for people   
   who were initially unsupportive," Sintov said.   
      
   Pro-sustainability participants, on the other hand, could not be swayed   
   to lower their commitment by a conversation or written exchange with   
   someone expressing the counterpoint.   
      
   Organized efforts to talk about behaving sustainably could have real-world   
   applications in college roommate selections, the workplace and other   
   sectors, Sintov said, and ideally would spark stronger commitments than   
   those that people tend to make to ambitions set by a third party --   
   think taking 10,000 steps a day or saving 5% on an energy bill.   
      
   "Some goals come out of the ether and we'll say, yeah, OK, I guess I'll   
   do that," she said. "Rarely do we think to ourselves or, even rarer,   
   start a conversation by asking: 'What are our energy goals?' Just by   
   having a few prompts, we might see some movement."   
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Earth_&_Climate   
                   # Sustainability # Environmental_Policy #   
                   Environmental_Awareness # Ecology   
             o Science_&_Society   
                   # Educational_Policy # STEM_Education # Political_Science   
                   # Ocean_Policy   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o NASA o European_Southern_Observatory o Privacy o Extinction   
             o Air_pollution o Vehicle_propulsion o Axial_tilt o Tide   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by Ohio_State_University. Original   
   written by Emily Caldwell. Note: Content may be edited for style and   
   length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Kristin F. Hurst, Nicole D. Sintov, Grant E. Donnelly. Increasing   
         sustainable behavior through conversation. Journal of Environmental   
         Psychology, 2023; 86: 101948 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101948   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230206104141.htm   
      
   --- up 49 weeks, 10 hours, 50 minutes   
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 226/30 227/114 229/110   
   SEEN-BY: 229/111 112 113 114 307 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 292/854   
   SEEN-BY: 298/25 305/3 317/3 320/219 396/45   
   PATH: 317/3 229/426