首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
How Psychology Can Help the Planet Stay Cool [A]"I’m not convinced it’s as bad as the experts make out... It’s everyone else’s f
How Psychology Can Help the Planet Stay Cool [A]"I’m not convinced it’s as bad as the experts make out... It’s everyone else’s f
admin
2018-04-07
37
问题
How Psychology Can Help the Planet Stay Cool
[A]"I’m not convinced it’s as bad as the experts make out... It’s everyone else’s fault.. Even if I turn off my air conditioner, it will make no difference." The list of reasons for not acting to combat global warming goes on and on. This month, American Psychological Association(APA)released a report highlighting these and other psychological barriers standing in the way of action. But don’t despair. The report also points to strategies that could be used to convince us to play our part. Sourced from psychological experiments, we review tricks that could be used by companies or organisations to encourage climate-friendly behaviour. In addition, psychologist Mark van Vugt of the Free University of Amsterdam describes the elements of human nature that push us to act unselfishly.
[B]As advertisers of consumer products well know, different groups of people may have quite distinct interests and motivations, and messages that seek to change behaviour need to be tailored to take these into account. "You have to target the marketing to a particular sector of the population," says Robert Gifford of the University of Victoria, another of the report’s authors. The wealthy young, for instance, tend to be diet conscious, and this could be used to steer them away from foods like cheeseburgers—one of the most climate-unfriendly meals around because of the energy it takes to raise cattle. So when trying to convince them to give up that carbon-intensive beef pie, better to stress health benefits than the global climate.
[C]Though conservative authorities have been known to attack such efforts, characterising them as mind control, experiments indicate that people are willing to be persuaded. "From participants in our experiments, we’ve never heard a negative feedback," says Wesley Schultz of California State University. In fact, according to John Petersen of Oberlin College, we are used to far worse. "Compared to the overwhelming number of advertising, it seems milder than anything I experience in my daily life," he says.
[D]Deep down, most of us want to fit in with the crowd, and psychologists are exploiting this urge to encourage environmentally friendly behaviour. Researchers led by Wesley Schultz at California State University and Jessica Nolan, now at the University of Scranton, have found that people will cut their electricity usage if told that their neighbours use less than they do. In one experiment, the researchers left information with households in San Marcos asking them to use fans rather than air conditioners at night, turn off lights and take shorter showers. Some messages simply stressed energy conservation, some talked about future generations, while others emphasised the financial savings. But it was the flyers(传单)that asked residents to join with their neighbours in saving energy that were most effective in cutting electricity consumption.
[E]In another study, the researchers told households what others in their neighbourhood used on average. High users cut their consumption in response, but low users increased theirs. The problem disappeared if the messages were reinforced with sad or smiling faces. The smiles received by the residents who were already saving energy provided sufficient encouragement for them to keep doing so.
[F]Most people seem to conserve energy if provided with real-time feedback on how much they are using. But feedback can be too immediate. For instance, Janet Swim has a General Motors car that shows her mileage(里程)per gallon each time she accelerates. It’s just not very useful, she argues, because it’s hard to place that momentary piece of feedback in the context of her overall driving behaviour and fuel efficiency. In contrast, the Toyota Prius display shows mileage per gallon over 5-minute intervals for the previous half-hour. With that contextual information, people can experiment with different driving styles to see how they affect mileage, and even compete with themselves to improve over time. The 2010 Honda Insight goes one better, flashing up an image of a prize to reward economical driving. The benefits of feedback are not restricted to car gadgets(小装置). Studies show that devices that display domestic energy usage produce savings of between 5 and 12 per cent.
[G]People have to be persuaded to act on climate change even though the benefit won’t be felt for decades. Research by David Hardisty and Elke Weber of Columbia University suggests ways to achieve this. Hardisty and Weber have found that people respond in exactly the same way to decisions involving future environmental gains and losses as they do when making financial decisions. This allows psychologists’ knowledge of how to control financial decision-making to be brought into play. For instance, schemes that give people a cash payment in advance for insulating(使隔热)their home will work better than those promising long-term savings, even if the people receiving cash end up paying a little more in the long run.
[H]And because we are generally more worried about future losses than we are impressed by future gains, messages are more effective if framed to warn people that they will lose $500 over 10 years if they don’t follow a particular course of action to limit climate change than if they are told they’ll be $500 better off if they do take action.
[I]As social animals, we like to interact with others and take inspiration from their actions. Psychologists are working out how to exploit this to spread behaviours that will help limit climate change. "My sense is that social networks are going to be important," says Swim. Allowing people to document successes in saving energy on their Facebook pages could drive change among their friends, and the Oberlin team is considering integrating this into its urban residence experiment. Tawanna Dillahunt and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, think such opportunities presented by Facebook can be combined with our liking for animals. Inspired by the attachment that people can develop towards Tamagotchi virtual pets, the team is testing the compelling power of a "virtual polar bear" standing on a sheet of floating ice that grows bigger as people adopt environmentally friendly behaviours such as taking shorter showers. Initial results suggest the polar bear has pull.
According to Tawanna Dillahunt and colleagues, successes in saving energy by Facebook and our liking for animals can be combined.
选项
答案
I
解析
根据人名Tawanna Dillahunt, Facebook及animals等信息定位至I段。该段第5句中的such opportunities指的是第4句提到的在Facebook网站上允许做的事,这包括题干中提到的“节能的成功”,由此可知本题概括了第4、5句的内容,确定I段为本题出处。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/SZa7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
中国书法(Chinesecalligraphy)是一门古老的汉字书写艺术,它是中国最高的艺术形式。书法是在洁白的纸上,靠毛笔(brush)的运动留下水墨印迹。它不仅表现了线条和结构的美,也能传达书写者的观念、思维和精神。汉字与中国书法紧密相连,是中国书法
HowPsychologyCanHelpthePlanetStayCool[A]"I’mnotconvincedit’sasbadastheexpertsmakeout...It’severyoneelse’sf
中国国旗(FlagofChina)又被称为“五星红旗”。旗面为红色,象征革命。旗面左上方有五颗黄色五角星,黄色较白色明亮美丽,表示中华民族为黄色人种。五颗五角星中一颗相对较大,代表中国共产党(CommunistPartyofChina)的领导。另
A、Seniorpeoplearelesslikelytogainweight.B、Seniorpeoplearemorelikelytogainweight.C、Oncepeoplegetfat,theywill
A、Peopleshouldfeelsorryforwhattheycan’thave.B、Peoplewillfeelhappyiftheydobetterthanwhattheyexpected.C、Peopl
Britishairisfarcleanerthanitwasafewdecadesago.Fewerpeopleusecoal-burningstoves:oldindustrialplantshavebeen
石狮(stonelion)是中国传统建筑中常见的装饰,于汉朝(theHanDynasty)传入中国。在中国文化中,狮子被当成神兽。所以人们喜欢在户院大门前摆放石狮来驱邪,并且摆放的位置是相对固定的。根据传统,门前摆放的石狮应为一对,雄狮在左而雌狮在右
FederalExpressisacompanythatspecializesinrapidovernightdeliveryofhigh-prioritypackages.Thefirstcompanyofitsty
A、Reasonsforthedropinofficegossip.B、Thesignificanceofofficegossip.C、Therelationshipbetweenofficegossipandecono
随机试题
深度知觉的产生有哪些线索?
以下可主寒证的脉象有
急性牙髓炎的应急处理最好是
子宫收缩乏力可导致()。
沈某向住建委申请公开一企业向该委提交的某危改项目纳入危改范围的意见和申报材料。该委以信息中有企业联系人联系电话和地址等个人隐私为由拒绝公开,沈某起诉,法院受理。下列哪些说法是正确的?
旧沥青路面再生采用现场热再生工艺的优点有()。
法治的核心是:制约国家权力的滥用、保障公民的自由权利。()
《御园敕令》
Whatimpactcanmobilephoneshaveontheirusers’health?Manyindividualsareconcernedaboutthesupposedilleffectscaused
Anthropologistsusuallystudysimple,unindustrializedsocietiesbecausethenumberof______islimited.
最新回复
(
0
)