Negative messaging not effective for green movement, finds study
mongabay.com
September 26, 2006
New research suggests that negative messaging is not effective in convincing people to adopt green initiatives.
The study, published by the Economic and Social Research Council, shows that “positive, informative strategies” are far more more effective in encouraging behaviour change than “negatives strategies which employ messages of fear, guilt or regret.”
The research project, led by Professor Paschal Sheeran of Sheffield University, identified strategies for changing intentions and behavior across more than 100 published studies and found that “the most effective strategies were to prompt practice, set specific goals, generate self-talk, agree a behavioural contract and prompt review of behavioural goals”, while the two least effective strategies “involved arousing fear and causing people to regret if they acted in a particular fashion.”
This article is based on a news release from the Economic & Social Research Council.
