•  
  •  
 

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Keywords

psychology, nudge, environmental protection, energy-saving and emission-reduction, climate change, public policy

Document Type

S & T and Society

Abstract

Environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and global warming are the major realities threatening all mankind today, urging all countries in the world to take immediate actions to protect the environment, save energy, reduce emissions, and curb global warming. In practice, it is difficult to completely solve these urgent problems by relying only on laws and regulations, administrative orders and other coercive means, as well as incentives such as monetary incentives. Hence, it is necessary to use the results of relevant research in psychology and behavioral sciences to facilitate environmental protection, energy conservation, and climate policy, and to play an important role in nudging the development of such policies. This paper reviews the research results of applying psychology and behavioral economics to policy making and practical guidance for environmental protection, energy conservation and emission reduction at home and abroad, with a view to improving the policy effectiveness of social governance and public management, as well as enhancing the public’s willingness to protect the environment, encouraging energy-saving behaviors in families and organizations, and nudging the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the whole society.

First page

2240

Last Page

2248

Language

Chinese

Publisher

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences

References

1. Thaler R H, Sunstein C R. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.

2. Convery F, McDonnell S, Ferreira S. The most popular tax in Europe? Lessons from the Irish plastic bags levy. Environmental and Resource Economics, 2007, 38(1): 1-11.

3. Kahneman D, Tversky A. Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 1979, 47(2): 263-291.

4. Goldstein N J, Cialdini R B, Vladas G. A room with a viewpoint: Using social norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels. Journal of Consumer Research, 2008, 35(3): 472-482.

5. Schultz P W. Changing behavior with normative feedback interventions: A field experiment on curbside recycling. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 1999, 21(1), 25-36.

6. 边江波, 王帅, 王珊, 等. 社会规范信息促进会展节水行为研究. 环境科学与管理, 2019, 44(12): 1-4. Bian J B, Wang S, Wang S, et al. Social normative information improves the water saving behavior during expositions. Environmental Science and Management, 2019, 44(12): 1-4. (in Chinese)

7. UNDP. Human Development Report 2020: The Next Frontier—Human Development and the Anthropocene. [2025-09-06]. https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/hdr2020.pdf.

8. Larrick R P, Soll J B. The MPG illusion. Science, 2008, 320, 1593-1594.

9. 辛自强. 社会治理心理学与社会心理服务. 北京: 北京师范大学出版社, 2020. Xin Z Q. Social Governance Psychology and Social Psychological Services. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2020. (in Chinese)

10. Schwartz D, Fischhoff B, Krishnamurti T, et al. The Hawthorne effect and energy awareness. PNAS, 2013, 110(38): 15242-15246.

11. Allcott H. Social norms and energy conservation. Journal of Public Economics, 2011, 95(9-10), 1082-1095.

12. Allcott H, Rogers T. The short-run and long-run effects of behavioral interventions: Experimental evidence from energy conservation. The American Economic Review, 2014, 104(10): 3003-3037.

13. Allcott H, Mullainathan S. Behavior and energy policy. Science, 2010, 327: 1204-1205.

14. Thøgersen J, Jørgensen A K, Sandager S. Consumer decision making regarding a “green” everyday product. Psychology & Marketing, 2012, 29(4): 187-197.

15. Heinzle S L, Wüstenhagen R. Dynamic adjustment of eco-labeling schemes and consumer choice—The revision of the EU energy label as a missed opportunity?. Business Strategy and the Environment, 2012, 21(1): 60-70.

16. SBST. Social and Behavioral Sciences Team Annual Report. Washington: Executive Office of the President National Science and Technology Council, 2015.

17. Kaiser M, Bernauer M, Sunstein C R, et al. The power of green defaults: The impact of regional variation of opt-out tariffs on green energy demand in Germany. Ecological Economics, 2020, 174: 106685.

18. Brown Z, Johnstone N, Haščič I, et al. Testing the effect of defaults on the thermostat settings of OECD employees. Energy Economics, 2013, 39: 128-134.

19. 陈兰芳, 吴刚, 张燕, 等. 垃圾分类回收行为研究现状及其关键问题. 生态经济, 2012, 28(2): 142-145. Chen L F, Wu G, Zhang Y, et al. The research status and critical problem of the waste classified recovery behavior. Ecological Economy, 2012, 28(2): 142-145. (in Chinese)

20. 辛自强. 垃圾分类的心理学问题探究. 人民论坛, 2019, (22): 65-67. Xin Z Q. Explore the psychology problem of garbage classification. The People’s Forum, 2019, (22): 65-67.(in Chinese)

21. 崔凯丽, 董瑞, 曾瑛, 等. 可回收垃圾宜用绿色而非蓝色标注. 应用心理学, 2022, (3): 225-236. Cui K L, Dong R, Zeng Y, et al. Recyclable waste should be marked green rather than blue. Chinese Journal of Applied Psychology, 2022, (3): 225-236. (in Chinese)

22. He G J, Pan Y H, Park A, et al. Reducing single-use cutlery with green nudges: Evidence from China’s food-delivery industry. Science, 2023, 381: eadd9884.

23. Biddlestone M, Azevedo F, van der Linden S. Climate of conspiracy: A meta-analysis of the consequences of belief in conspiracy theories about climate change. Current Opinion in Psychology, 2022, 46: 101390.

24. Marshall G. Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.

25. Nisa C F, Bélanger J J, Schumpe B M, et al. Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials testing behavioral interventions to promote household action on climate change. Nature Communications, 2019, 10(1): 1-13.

26. van Valkengoed A, Steg L. Meta-analyses of factors motivating climate change adaptation behaviour. Nature Climate Change, 2019, 9: 158-163.

27. van der Linden S L, Maibach E, Leiserowitz A. Improving public engagement with climate change. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2015,10: 758-763.

28. Steg L. Psychology of climate change. Annual Review of Psychology, 2023, 74: 391-421.

29. Halpern D. Inside the Nudge Unit. New York: Random House, 2015.

Download
Request a Copy

Share

COinS