Making the switch takes time and needs incentives

Anyone wanting to achieve a rethink and behavioural changes in the area of sustainability cannot rely on information alone. Someone who has made a point in this regard is Download William McGuire. He was professor of psychology at Yale University from 1971 to 1999. In 1968 he published an information-processing model, which explains "why it is often difficult to achieve a change in behaviour only through information campaigns." For a message to reach its intended purpose, the receiver has to go through five steps: attention, understanding, accepting, maintaining and new behaviour.

For a message to reach its receiver, the latter must first give his (full) attention and process the information mentally. Only then does he understand its contents. The acceptance step is very important. No one will change their behaviour because of a statement with which they do not agree. The newly found acceptance must be maintained over a certain period of time to be finally transferred into new behaviour.

It is more likely, however, that this processing chain, based on the McGuire model, is interrupted at a certain point.

Gamification and incentives

More recent theories of information processing suggest that, in addition to cognitive processes, there are further elements that also play a role. Motivation for example: people only change their behaviour if they are motivated and able to do so. The emotional level also needs to be addressed in order to create a personal connection to a topic.

Here, the so-called gamification approach comes into play. Gamification refers to the application of game elements and game mechanics in a non-game context to engage users. The use of playful elements, such as points awarded for past experiences, bars showing the progress in learning or rankings comparing yourself to others, is meant to increase motivation. In this way, successful behavioural change is more likely rather than having to meet monotone challenges or excessively complex tasks (see video).

From theory to practice

The Team Competition, part of the Energy Efficiency Challenge, which begins in May at ETH, is based on this gamification approach. On the external page EE Challenge platform, game elements are used to promote energy-conscious behaviour among employees and students. The participants are rewarded with points for performing energy-friendly actions in their everyday lives. Thanks to the points and rankings, the participants can compare themselves directly with other teams and colleagues. Whether this brings about the desired behavioural change among participants will be revealed in the second module of the EE Challenge, which is called Our Commitment.