Impacting Community Sustainability through Behavior Change: A Research Framework

Abstract

The need for "sustainability" has encouraged a variety of disciplines to consider ways to reduce the impact of a given community on the environment around it. Approaches can range from changing the behavior of a few people to completely restructuring the communities in which people live. Interventions in the larger system of a community provide potential for larger levels of change. How to do this has yet to be fully evaluated, especially from the perspective of people's behavior interacting within a community environment. The behavior analysis literature provides many individual level interventions, such as contingency management programs and empirically evaluated "kernels" (Embry & Biglan, 2008) across various populations and behaviors. The current paper argues that these provide a starting point for working with other sciences to change the environment, impact the cultural practices of people in the community, and promote sustainability. An overview of the current literature is provided along with various models for application of these interventions to larger communities.

Fostering the Sustainable use of Common-Pool Resources through Behavioral Interventions: an Experimental Approach

“…In general, such studies have evaluated the effects of antecedent and consequent variables on the pro-environmental behavior of interest, for example, the use of messages prompting people to turn off the lights when leaving a room (Winett, 1978), and information feedbacks to increase aluminum can recycling (Larson, Houlihan, & Goernert, 1995). Unfortunately, study results also point to poor long-term effects and the return to baseline levels when interventions are withdrawn (Lehman & Geller, 2004;Luke & Alavosius, 2012). This is an important limitation, given the sustainability goals attached to the use of common-pool resources.…”

“…Ostrom, 2002Ostrom, , 2009Ostrom, et al, 1994), which is not possible when the individuals cannot freely communicate with each other. It also contributes to the community of behavior analysts by proposing an important methodological tool for studying the long-term effects of behavioral interventions focused on natural resource preservation and the establishment of pro-environmental behavior by society (for a review see Lehman &Geller, 2004 andLuke &Alavosius, 2012).…”

“…The real-time displaying of the amount of available resources aimed to answer our question: "if people had some kind of parameter to guide their choices, would this lead to a consumption pattern considered sustainable?" Complementarily, the use of feedback messages was based on solid evidence of success of this type of intervention (at least in the short-term) presented in the literature (e.g., Lehman & Geller, 2004;Luke & Alavosius, 2012). In the final section of this paper, we discuss how appropriate the definitions of these variables were and how they resulted in our experiment getting closer to or further away from the conditions observed in the natural environment.…”

“…The choice of the kind of variables manipulated in this study lies originally in the dichotomy between antecedent and consequence-based interventions presented in the literature regarding proenvironmental behavior (e.g., Lehman & Geller, 2004;Luke & Alavosius, 2012). The real-time displaying of the amount of available resources aimed to answer our question: "if people had some kind of parameter to guide their choices, would this lead to a consumption pattern considered sustainable?"…”

“…establishment of pro-environmental behaviors, like recycling, reducing energy use and fuel conservation (cf., Lehman & Geller, 2004;Luke & Alavosius, 2012;Osbaldiston & Schott, 2012). In general, such studies have evaluated the effects of antecedent and consequent variables on the pro-environmental behavior of interest, for example, the use of messages prompting people to turn off the lights when leaving a room (Winett, 1978), and information feedbacks to increase aluminum can recycling (Larson, Houlihan, & Goernert, 1995).…”