Designing information provision to serve as a reminder of altruistic benefits: A case study of the risks of air pollution caused by industrialization

Abstract

A well-known phenomenon is that humans perceive risks to threaten future generations as more dangerous in many cases. However, this tendency could be changed depending on certain conditions and could potentially be explained by the evolution of altruism. Our multiagent simulation model, which was constructed to identify attributes contributing to subjective assessment of a risk source based on kin selection theory, showed that support from relatives can affect the agents' subjective risk assessment. We utilize this insight, which has never been explored in the context of nudge, to show that real-world messages reminding respondents that they are supported by their relatives can moderate the perception of a risk source as extremely dangerous. A randomized control trial based on an internet questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the intervention effect of such messages, using air pollution caused by industrialization as the risk source for the case study. Our analysis suggests that messages moderate extreme attitudes. Presentation of additional visual information can boost the sense of familial support and increase the effect of a message compared with a message comprising only textual information. The attributes and personality traits of the respondents who are responsive to the intervention message are also discussed.

Cross-cultural comparison of nudging effects for environmental protection: A case-study of risk-averse attitudes toward disposable plastics

“…The differences were especially small in T2 for Future Generations, which is our main target for interventions, and in T1 for Future Generations. The trend in the previous study for air pollution caused by industrialization was that younger respondents showed larger D than older respondents [27] (S2 Appendix in S1 File), which was the opposite of that in the present study.…”

“…In the previous study for air pollution caused by industrialization, the sex differences in D were not observed in Canada (S2 Appendix in S1 File), whereas the present study showed clear sex differences. Thus, our designed messages, at least for disposable plastics, had a stronger effect for increasing positive attitudes of women than men in all three countries, different from our previous nudging messages for air pollution caused by industrialization [27] (S2 Appendix in S1 File).…”

“…The present survey design followed our previous experimental frameworks [ 27 ] (S2 Appendix in S1 File ) as shown in Fig 2 . We performed a randomized controlled trial using online surveys to investigate the nudging message effects on moderating negative attitudes toward disposable plastics.…”

“…Because those over 50 years old were less likely to have living parents, we presented older people in the traditional clothing that their parents and grandparents wore. This illustrative framework was based on our previous survey of nudges for increasing positive attitudes toward air pollution caused by industrialization [ 27 ] (S2 Appendix in S1 File ).…”

“…To moderate such risk-averse attitudes, we constructed a framework for information provision. The intervention effects were identified in Japan [ 27 ] and another two countries on attitudes toward air pollution caused by industrialization (S2 Appendix in S1 File ). In these previous surveys, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of designed messages to remind individuals of support from older generations, compared with a basic message that described both the risks and the benefits of industrialization.…”