Changing Public Behavior  

Educator Self-Study Module

Step 5. Assess potential for adoption of single behaviors and the environmental practice.

In Step 5, you and your team try to figure out which of the potential behavior(s) you identified in Step 3 are likely to be adopted by the target audience that you studied in Step 4. (A Quick Review of Steps 3 and 4)

You will:

Rate the preferred behavior

  1. Rate each preferred behavior according to the six criteria on the worksheet (Table 1). Using the audience information you collected in Step 4, decide if it is it likely that the user will adopt the behavior for the reason stated. [yes, maybe, don’t know, no]

    • For example, if you want to reduce fertilizer runoff into a lake, you might have proposed a number of different options for property owners to consider, such as: build a rain garden, landscape the riparian area with native plants, calibrate your fertilizer application, etc. Rate each choice according to the six criteria.

    • If you’ve discovered that you don’t have the information you need to make this decision, go back to Step 4 and arrange to collect more detailed information.

    • Take the trouble to answer the questions carefully, because you will use your rating to select the behavior(s) that will become the focus of your outreach activities.

  2. If you are able to narrow the choices to one or two potentially acceptable behaviors, you may want to study the likelihood of adoption of those behaviors in more detail.

    • For example, if you found that your audience is most likely to change its behavior for carefully calibrating and timing fertilizer applications to reduce impact on the lake, you may want to interview your audience, or observe your audience applying this practice to learn more about their skills, and about any barriers to implementation. [Background: Table I. Recommended Tools and Descriptions]

    • Through this process you may discover a relatively simple solution to changing behavior. You may find one or two barriers or skill deficits, for example, that can be easily rectified through neighborhood demonstrations and tips from garden store employees.

Rating the potential for a behavior to be adopted by the target audience can be an arduous process. But taking the trouble to review each preferred behavior in detail may save you the trouble of proposing a behavior that is unacceptable to your target audience or may save you from focusing on a big change when a small adjustment will solve the problem. Of course, you can modify this process in any way that is reasonable for your situation.

Table 1. Questions for rating the potential for change related to a specific behavior (#5 from Track Your Progress Worksheet)

5. Rate potential for behavior change
Is it likely that the user will adopt the behavior?
[yes, maybe, don’t know, no]

Does it meet an audience need or address an interest?

Does it have an impact on the problem?

Does it provide users with an observable consequence?

Is it similar to what the user does already?

Is it simple for the user to do?

Is it low cost in $, time and energy for the user?

Predict behavior change

There are many theories about why people change their behavior and others that indicate how to predict a change in behavior. While these theories express the potential for change in different ways, there is wide agreement on significant components. These may help you narrow your behavior recommendations. [Background: Theories of behavior change; Background: Potential environmentally significant behaviors]

Individual qualities or skills that have potential to significantly affect environmental behavior include: (Stern, 2000):

  • Interest, knowledge, skills, and/or environmental sensitivity
  • Private sphere behavior (individual locus of control; personal responsibility)
  • Behavior affecting group decisions
  • Public sphere behavior (empowerment)
  • Environmental activism

If you have expert assistance, you may apply one or more theories of behavior change as part of the audience assessment process in Step 4. For example, a Wisconsin project applied the theory of planned behavior in the development of a survey. The question in Table 2 tests the property owner’s intention of making the prescribed change. Given the results, how would you analyze the likelihood that property owners would implement a rain garden project? [Background: Theories of behavior change]

Considering the six questions in Step 5 (Table 1), what other questions could you ask to help identify barriers to the likelihood of building a rain garden? Could you ask the same question about other options to help you figure out what behavior is most likely to be adopted?

Table 2. Lake Ripley survey question about property owner’s intention related to the preferred behavior (Fogarty et al., 2007)

Likelihood of building a rain garden

1=Very unlikely; 6=Very likely

I would help my neighbors build a rain garden in the next two years if they asked for my help as part of a larger community event.

3.89

I (or somebody in my household) will build a rain garden on my property in the next two years if I received cost-sharing assistance.

3.51

I (or somebody in my household) will build a rain garden on my property in the next two years if I am given detailed instructions how to do so. 

3.10

I (or somebody in my household) will build a rain garden on my property in the next two years if some of my friends and neighbors also build one.

2.92

I (or somebody in my household) will build a rain garden on my property in the next two years if some of my friends and neighbors helped me.

2.90

I (or somebody in my household) will build a rain garden on my property in the next two years.

2.57

I (or somebody in my household) will hire someone to build a rain garden on my property in the next two years.

1.57

Select the most acceptable behavior

Obviously, there is no simple recipe for selecting one or more behaviors that your target audience is likely to adopt. But by asking the questions suggested in Step 5 (Table 1), you will know a lot more about the audience potential for adopting the preferred behavior. You will be more prepared to select an alternative behavior, if appropriate, or to provide an outreach initiative that specifically addresses one or more barriers you identified in the process of analyzing acceptability.

Gardner and Stern (1996) recommend eight principles to keep in mind when intervening to make change (Table 3). These principles serve as a reminder of the complexity of the process of changing public behavior.

Table 3. Principles to consider when trying to change behavior

Principles to consider when trying to change behavior
  • Use multiple intervention types to address factors limiting behavior because limiting factors:
    • Are numerous (technology, attitudes, knowledge, money, convenience, trust)
    • Vary with actor and situation, and over time
    • Affect each other (interactive principle)
  • Understand the situation from the actor’s perspective
  • When limiting factors are psychological, apply understanding of human choice processes
  • Address conditions beyond the individual that constrain pro-environmental choice
  • Set realistic expectations about outcomes
  • Continually monitor responses and adjust programs accordingly
  • Stay within the bounds of the actors’ tolerance for intervention
  • Use participatory methods of decision making

 

References

Aizen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl & J. Beckman (Eds.), Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11- 39). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.

Booth, E. M. (1996). Starting with behavior: A participatory process for selecting target behaviors in environmental programs. Washington, DC: GreenCOM, Academy for Educational Development.

De Young, R. (1993). Changing behavior and making it stick: The conceptualization and management of conservation behavior. Environment and Behavior, 25(4), 485-505.

Gardner, G. T., & Stern, P. C. (1996). Environmental problems and human behavior (p. 159). Boston: Allyn and Bacon..

McKenzie-Mohr, D. (1995). Promoting a sustainable future: An introduction to community-based social marketing. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

Fogarty, E., Huston, J., Maskin, R., Van Belleghem,  B., & Vang, S. (2007). Phosphorus free for Lake Ripley. Community-based social marketing program to use phosphorus-free lawn fertilizer. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, Urban and Regional Planning.

 

Choosing Effective Outreach Techniques

STEPS

Introduction

1. Describe the environmental concern or opportunity.

2. Identify preliminary target audience(s).

3. Determine specific actions citizens need to take to accomplish your management goal.

4. Collect audience information relevant to the environmental practices and specific behaviors

5. Assess potential for adoption of single behaviors and the environmental practice.

6. Select single behaviors for intervention focus.

7. Select intervention technique(s).
 

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