Validation, persuasion and recycling: capitalizing on the social ecology of newspaper use.

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Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Psychology
Creator White, Paul H.
Other Author Werner, C.M., Byerly, S., Kieffer, M.
Title Validation, persuasion and recycling: capitalizing on the social ecology of newspaper use.
Date 2004-09
Description Two experiments used clinical validation to increase scrutiny of messages posted in public settings. The first experiment used a 2 (validation: no/yes) × 2 (persuasion: none/"it is important") factorial design to develop messages about newspaper recycling. The prompt (no validation/no persuasion) had little impact on newspaper recycling, but the other 3 signs all resulted in increased recycling while the signs were in place. After signs were removed, recycling remained significantly higher than baseline (marginally significant for validation/persuasion). At the end of the study, number of cognitions favoring recycling was significantly higher in the validation-only condition and was lower in the validation/persuasion condition. Experiment 2 tested whether signs would have more impact if they were sensitive to the social ecology of newspaper recycling; that is, readers' tendency to leave newspapers behind so others may read them. Messages based on a 2 (message: validation-only/validation plus persuasion) × 2 (ecology: no social ecology/social ecology) factorial design supported social ecology's importance. Furthermore, because of the increased sharing in the social ecology conditions, total numbers of newspapers used was significantly lower in those buildings. Validation only yielded sustained behavior change in both Experiments 1 and 2, supporting additional research on the question of whether validation can, by itself, lead to cognitive elaboration and self-persuasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Type Text
Publisher Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Volume 26
Issue 03-Feb
First Page 183
Last Page 198
Subject Recycling; Social Ecology; Newspapers; Social psychology
Subject LCSH Recycling (Waste, etc.); Social marketing
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Werner, C.M., Byerly, S., White, P.H. & Kieffer, M. (2004). Validation, persuasion and recycling: Capitalizing on the social ecology of newspaper use. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 26(2/3), 183-98.
Rights Management (c) Laurence Erlbaum Associates (contact Laurence Earlbaum Associates for permission to use or reprint)
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 136,748 Bytes
Identifier ir-main,395
ARK ark:/87278/s6vt29g9
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ID 705016
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6vt29g9
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