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Luo, Yu

University of British Columbia

Public and private institutions have made significant progress in developing interventions that can influence people's behavior in predictable ways without restricting their freedom of choice or drastically altering the incentive structure. A nudge is designed to facilitate actions by minimizing friction, while a sludge is an intervention that inhibits actions by increasing friction, but the underlying cognitive mechanisms behind these interventions remain largely unknown. This research proposes a new cognitive framework in Chapter 1 that categorizes these interventions based on six cognitive processes: attention, perception, memory, effort, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation. In Chapter 2, a meta-analysis is conducted on field experiments that contain real behavioral measures (n=184 papers, k=184 observations, N=2,156,137 participants) from 2008 to 2021 to examine the effect size of these interventions targeting each cognitive process. Interventions changing effort are more effective than interventions changing intrinsic motivation. Chapter 3 examines whether drawing attention to motivational consistent climate information by highlighting strong climate evidence (attention nudge) influences subsequent hypothetical climate actions. Liberals were more likely to sign the petition or donate to an environmental organization when the motivationally consistent evidence was highlighted. Chapter 4 aims to reduce waste contamination in student residences by providing immediate feedback in a sorting game (perception nudge). In the feedback building, the weight of compost materials increased while the contamination rate decreased. Chapter 5 tests three behavioral interventions to reduce plastic waste in a high-rise office building: simplified recycling signage (attention nudge), signage with a marine animal trapped in plastic debris (perception sludge), and signage with a plastic reduction pledge (intrinsic motivation nudge). The most effective intervention, perception sludge, reduced plastic waste by 17%. Chapter 6 develops 12 behavioral interventions based on the six cognitive processes and tests their effectiveness in reducing single-use plastic produce bags in a simulated online shopping task. Each intervention reduced produce bag use by 9.2% to 48.7% against the control condition. Overall, this framework provides cognitive principles for organizing nudge and sludge and helps inform the development of future interventions based on cognitive insights gained from the meta-analysis, online experiments, and field experiments.

Text

2023-09-21

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85984

Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/