Psychosocial Dimensions of Recycling in Small Island: Psycho-Environmental Diagnostic and Evidence-Based Intervention in Martinique.

Recycling is socially responsible behavior. Moreover, it is also a complex behavior. It benefits society in the long term but involves a personal cost and does not benefit the individual directly. In the specific context of small island, we conducted a two-step research action to promote recycling among households located in the north of Martinique, a west indies French island. Based on the psychosocial engineering model, the first step was to identify the determinants of recycling in this specific island context. In a psycho-environmental diagnostic, we included variables already identified to predict waste sorting, such as the TPB variables, as well as other context-specific variables, such as group identification, environmental identity, place identity, sense of community, perceived efficacy of one's action, as predictors of the intention to recycle. Based on psychological distance and its temporal dimension, we also distinguished between the intention to recycle today (proximal intention) and the intention to recycle in 1 month (distal intention). The results show that the predictors of recycling differ according to the temporal distance. The proximal intention was predicted by personal variables whereas distal intention was predicted by social variables. The second step was to design and to implement an evidence-based intervention to increase the quality of recycling. At Time 1, the garbage cans of 193 households were collected and characterized. At Time 2, the households were visited at home by an officer, who used one of the four communication scripts built on the basis of the results of the psycho-environmental diagnostic. At Time 3, the garbage cans were collected and characterized again. We observe an improvement in sorting in the condition where the TBP dimensions are activated: attitude, social norm, and controllability. Our results highlight the importance of taking into account the temporality of change, especially when the behavior to be changed is complex. They also show an interest in relying on a psycho-environmental diagnosis, taking into account the context of insertion of the target behavior.

Vaccinating to Protect Others: The Role of Self-Persuasion and Empathy among Young Adults.

Direct persuasion is usually less effective than self-persuasion. As research shows that most young adults are unafraid of COVID-19, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of self-persuasion targeted at protecting the health of others to encourage young adults to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and examined the link between empathy and vaccination intention. We conducted two studies: Study 1 (n = 352) compared the effectiveness of self-persuasion targeted at others' health versus personal health and direct persuasion in encouraging COVID-19 vaccination intention; Study 2 (n = 375) investigated the applicability of self-persuasion through a poster framed as an open-ended question. The theory of planned behavior-based tools were used in both studies, and structural equation modeling was conducted. Study 1 found that self-persuasion targeted at others' health (compared to other forms of persuasion) indirectly affects vaccination intention through utility and social norm beliefs. Higher empathy, utility, social norms, and control beliefs are associated with a greater vaccination intention. Study 2 found that the poster with self-persuasion targeted at others' health enhanced vaccination intention compared with a direct persuasion poster. Our findings demonstrate that self-persuasion targeted at others' health can potentially increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake among young adults.

Three Decades of Research on Induced Hypocrisy: A Meta-Analysis.

Induced hypocrisy is a sequential, two-step, cognitive dissonance procedure that prompts individuals to adopt a proattitudinal behavior. The present meta-analysis of 29 published and nine unpublished induced-hypocrisy studies enabled us to test three key dissonance-related issues. First, is hypocrisy effective in promoting change in behavioral intention and behavior? Our analyses supported the idea that hypocrisy (vs. control) increased both behavioral intention and behavior. Second, does hypocrisy generate psychological discomfort? Results pertaining to this issue were inconclusive due to the small number of studies measuring psychological discomfort. Third, are both steps necessary to generate change? Effect sizes conform to the idea that the transgressions-only condition can increase both behavior and intention. Our meta-analysis raises a number of theoretical issues concerning the psychological processes underlying induced hypocrisy and highlights implications for practitioners.

Self-Consciousness or Misattribution Effect in the Induced Hypocrisy Paradigm? Mirror, Mirror on the Wall .

In a forced compliance situation, Scheier and Carver have shown that making high private self-consciousness salient through exposure to a mirror inhibits the arousal of dissonance and the subsequent attitude change. Based on these results, the aim of our study is to examine an alternate theoretical interpretation of the absence of attitude change. From our point of view, the mirror could have the status of a misattribution cue, thus maintaining the arousal. To test this hypothesis within the induced hypocrisy paradigm, participants first completed the private self-consciousness scale. Then they took part in one of the following conditions: (1) no mirror/no hypocrisy, (2) no mirror/hypocrisy, and (3) mirror/hypocrisy. Behavioral change and psychological discomfort were measured. Results indicated that participants in the mirror/hypocrisy condition were the most inclined to change and reported the greatest psychological discomfort. These results revealed that participants experienced dissonance when exposed to the mirror and support the hypothesis of misattribution.

Do I Know What I'm Doing? Cognitive Dissonance and Action Identification Theory.

Our main purpose was to explore hypotheses derived from the Identification of Action Theory in a particular situation that is, a dissonant situation. Thus, we varied the identification (low versus high-level) of a problematic behavior (to stop speaking for 24 hours) in the forced compliance paradigm. Two modes of dissonance reduction were presented: cognitive rationalization (classical attitude-change) and behavioral rationalization (target behavior: to stop speaking for 48 hours). As predicted, the results showed that high-level identity of action leads to cognitive rationalization whereas low-level identity leads to behavioural rationalization. Thus, participants identifying the problematic behavior at a low-level were more inclined to accept the target behavior, compared with participants identifying their problematic behavior at a higher-level. These results are of particular interest for understanding the extent to which the understanding of the discrepant act interferes with the cognitive processes of dissonance reduction.

Do I know what I’m doing? Cognitive dissonance and action identification theory

Our main purpose was to explore hypotheses derived from the Identification of Action Theory in a particular situation that is, a dissonant situation. Thus, we varied the identification (low versus high-level) of a problematic behavior (to stop speaking for 24 hours) in the forced compliance paradigm. Two modes of dissonance reduction were presented: cognitive rationalization (classical attitude-change) and behavioral rationalization (target behavior: to stop speaking for 48 hours). As predicted, the results showed that high-level identity of action leads to cognitive rationalization whereas low-level identity leads to behavioural rationalization. Thus, participants identifying the problematic behavior at a low-level were more inclined to accept the target behavior, compared with participants identifying their problematic behavior at a higher-level. These results are of particular interest for understanding the extent to which the understanding of the discrepant act interferes with the cognitive processes of dissonance reduction (AU)

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Appearance (ethnic origin) of requester affects the foot-in-the-door technique.

A study was designed to examine the effect of the appearance of the requester within one of the variants of the foot-in-the-door paradigm, that is, the foot-in-the-door with implicit demand described by Uranowitz in 1975. A confederate (Black vs. Blanc vs. Beur2) approached the participant in a park and presented a small request. Three steps further, the confederate "accidentally" dropped 30 sheets of paper. Whether or not the participant helped the confederate in retrieving the dropped pamphlets was recorded as the implicit dependent variable. The foot-in-the-door effect was observed solely when the requester was Blanc. This result shows that the foot-in-the-door effect is not as strong as the literature suggests and undermines the usual interpretations of the foot-in-the-door effect in terms of self-perception and commitment.

Effects of past transgressions in an induced hypocrisy paradigm.

Hypocrisy can be considered as a dissonance state expressed as a combination of two factors: commitment (advocating a pronormative position) and mindfulness (being aware of past transgressions). Such inconsistency between what people advocate and their past behaviors is usually reduced by modifying behaviors or behavioral intentions in line with normative advocacy. The aim of this study is to examine the conditions under which this set of behaviors (apparent hypocrisy) can occur. Specifically, the salience of the transgressions was manipulated: participants were led to recall 1 or 4 transgressions varying in severity (serious vs harmless). As expected, recalling 4 transgressions led to greater behavioral change than recalling only 1 transgression. Surprisingly, recalling 4 harmless transgressions induced greater behavioral change than recalling 4 serious transgressions.