Light Nudges Aren’t Enough to Save the Earth
We all love to contribute to solving big problems, especially when we are doing something easy and enjoyable. But nudges can backfire, leading us to believe that our little actions were mostly good enough when they weren’t.
Recent research has shown that complex solutions such as a carbon tax (considered one of the most potentially effective ways to reduce carbon emissions) seem to compete in our minds with the incentives for green energy. In one part of the study, people had a choice between a policy whereby residents would default to a green energy company (nudge), a carbon tax policy, or both. Fewer people supported a carbon tax in this scenario than when people were presented with an easier choice: a carbon tax or no carbon tax.
This is consistent with previous research that people tend to relax after taking light action. For example, reminding people that they have cut down on their water consumption makes them less likely to reduce their energy use .
Fortunately, research has also found a way to get people to support the easy and the important. As social psychologist Alexander Maki writes in a commentary on the study, “revelation about the incomplete but complementary nature of a political approach can help people understand why supporting multiple policies is so important.”
So if you want people to join you in small activities like using less plastic or more organic food , be sure to also share the more complex and complex solutions to the problems you hope to solve.