Cleaning up our acts: Psychological interventions to reduce engine idling and improve air quality

Abrams, Dominic, Lalot, Fanny, Hopthrow, Tim, Templeton, Anne, Steeden, Ben, Ozceceki, Hilal, Imada, Hirotaka, Warbis, Sarah, Sandiford, Dominic, Meleady, Rose ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4671-4960, Fell, Emily, Abrams, Zoe, Abrams, Alice, Qing Ngan, Xue, Celina, Stephanie, Tanyeri, Alice, Gammon, Molly, Abrams, Benjamin, Fischer, Liliann, Drysdale, Sophie, Dewi, Riska, Leite, Ana, Mills, Ashley and Peckham, Stephen (2021) Cleaning up our acts: Psychological interventions to reduce engine idling and improve air quality. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 74. ISSN 0272-4944

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Abstract

A large-scale field experiment tested psychological interventions to reduce engine idling at long-wait stops. Messages based on theories of normative influence, outcome efficacy, and self-regulation were displayed approaching railway crossing on street poles. Observers coded whether drivers (N = 6049) turned off their engine while waiting at the railway crossings (only 27.2% did so at baseline). Automatic air quality monitors recorded levels of pollutants during barrier down times. To different degrees, the social norm and outcome efficacy messages successfully increased the proportion of drivers who turned off their engines (by 42% and 25%, respectively) and significantly reduced concentrations of atmospheric particulate matter (PM 2.5) 2 m above ground level. Thus, the environment was improved through behavior change. Moreover, of both practical and theoretical significance, there was an ‘accelerator effect’, in line with theories of normative influence whereby the social norm message was increasingly effective as the volume of traffic increased.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: proenvironmental behaviour,field experiment,social norm,outcome efficacy,self-regulation,air quality,social norm,pro-environmental behavior,air quality,outcome efficacy,field experiment,self-regulation,social psychology,applied psychology ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3207
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 17 Mar 2021 00:42
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2023 01:38
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/79478
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101587

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