Aldoh Alaa, Sparks Paul, Harris Peter R
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Bighton, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2024 Jun 26;11(6):240407. doi: 10.1098/rsos.240407. eCollection 2024 Jun.
While decreasing their meat consumption is one of the most impactful behaviours an individual may carry out to reduce their carbon emissions, it is still a minority behaviour in many parts of the world. Research suggests that communicating information about changing 'dynamic' norms may be a useful tool for changing attitudes and behaviours in the direction of those currently held by the minority. This study uses a 2 × 2 mixed design (norm type [dynamic/static] × visual cue [present/absent, and a no-task control), and a follow-up assessment after one week to investigate the effect of making dynamic norms salient on various meat consumption outcomes: attitudes towards meat consumption, interest in reducing one's own meat consumption, intentions to reduce one's own meat consumption and self-reported meat consumption. We used an online sample of British participants ( = 1294), ranging in age 18-77 ( = 39.97, s.d. = 13.71; 55.8% female). We hypothesized that: (i) dynamic norms will positively influence meat consumption outcomes; (ii) visual cues will accentuate the difference between norm conditions; (iii) using a visual cue will enhance the effect of dynamic norms; and (iv) any effects of dynamic norms will endure over a period of one week. We found no positive effect of dynamic norms (versus static norms) on any outcome at time 1, and no positive effect on changes in outcomes from time 1 to time 2. However, we found a positive interaction of norm type and visual cue at time 1 (although not from time 1 to time 2): the addition of a visual cue to dynamic norm messages enhanced the positive effect of the message at time 1 (but did not enhance the changes occurring from time 1 to time 2). Analyses for changes in self-reported meat consumption did not reach our evidential threshold. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of these findings.
虽然减少肉类消费是个人为减少碳排放所能采取的最具影响力的行为之一，但在世界许多地区，这仍然是少数人的行为。研究表明，传达有关改变“动态”规范的信息可能是一种有用的工具，有助于将态度和行为朝着少数人目前持有的方向转变。本研究采用2×2混合设计（规范类型[动态/静态]×视觉线索[存在/不存在，以及无任务控制组]），并在一周后进行随访评估，以调查突出动态规范对各种肉类消费结果的影响：对肉类消费的态度、减少自身肉类消费的兴趣、减少自身肉类消费的意图以及自我报告的肉类消费情况。我们使用了一个由英国参与者组成的在线样本（n = 1294），年龄在18 - 77岁之间（M = 39.97，标准差 = 13.71；55.8%为女性）。我们假设：（i）动态规范将对肉类消费结果产生积极影响；（ii）视觉线索将突出规范条件之间的差异；（iii）使用视觉线索将增强动态规范的效果；（iv）动态规范的任何影响将持续一周。我们发现，在时间1时，动态规范（与静态规范相比）对任何结果均无积极影响，从时间1到时间2对结果变化也无积极影响。然而，我们发现在时间1时规范类型和视觉线索存在积极交互作用（尽管从时间1到时间2不存在）：在动态规范信息中添加视觉线索增强了该信息在时间1时的积极效果（但未增强从时间1到时间2发生的变化）。自我报告的肉类消费变化分析未达到我们的证据阈值。我们讨论了这些发现的实际和理论意义。
