Based on the field study by Shultz and his colleagues (2007) in which several households in a neighborhood received weekly feedback about their level of energy consumption relative to their neighbors, if you wanted to encourage people to use less electricity, what would you do?
A) Tell them the average level of energy consumption
B) Teach them ways to conserve energy
C) Give them smiley or sad faces depending on how well they conserved energy
D) Reduce their bill for efforts at efficiency

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shultz and his colleagues found that households who received weekly feedback in the form of smiley or sad faces based on their energy consumption relative to their neighbors significantly reduced their energy use compared to households who received no feedback or were given information about energy-saving tips. This suggests that social comparison and competition can be effective motivators for energy conservation. Providing information alone (choice A) or teaching conservation techniques (choice B) did not have a significant effect in this study. While reducing bills for efficient efforts (choice D) may also be effective, this was not tested in this particular study.

Based on the Field Study by Shultz and His Colleagues