Environmental Cues Shape Behavior Most People Spend

¶ … Environmental Cues Shape Behavior

Most people spend their daily lives completing tasks, which involve waiting or queuing on a line. With this situation of waiting like at ATMs, others avoid, postpone, or even abandon their endeavors. Other people endure the wait even though they feel frustrated or dissatisfied by the experience (Horowitz, 2007).

It is evident that irrelevant environmental cues like queue barriers used in airports, banks of ATMs serve as barriers that split people waiting in two categories. The first category comprises those who are within the system and the other category involves those outside the system. In-system people show increased persistence in task completion, action initiation and overall optimism (Ahmad & Prasad, 2012).

Situational cues have a substantial impact on behavior. For instance, wine shops that play French music have demonstrated an increase in the purchase of French wine. This suggests that cues not directly connected to a person's objectives could have a significant impact in a task setting: influencing cognition and the way in which the job is done (Cormier, Nurius & Osborn, 2009).

Individuals have a tendency of locating physical markers in their environments defining and creating boundaries. They can do this consciously and unconsciously. For instance, weather patterns and objects in a waiting setting create virtual borders, which divide those waiting in the system between out-system and in-system categories. After a sample crossed the virtual border, a hypothesis is created; a person will embrace an implemental mindset (Horowitz, 2007). This would be characterized by a minor optimistic perception of objective-relevant information and great action-conscious. From their findings, in-system customers in an ATM were more expected to remain on the queue and complete their transactions. This is unlike the out-system individuals, some of whom dropped out of the line.

These findings are among the growing literature focusing on the impacts of environmental cues on behavior and motivation. Additionally, besides its application to the daily tasks, using environmental cues in activating the implemental mindset could have wider implications if the choice to wait could have detrimental consequences. For instance, encouraging patients, who are waiting for a kidney transplant to remain optimistic, might have a beneficial impact on the well-being (Horowitz, 2007).

Behavior modification to support sustainability and limit negative impacts on the environment

One approach to support sustainability through modifying behavior is to create self-reliant communities founded on the principles of simple living. This maximizes self-efficiency, especially in the production of food. These principles, on a broader scale, support the concept of environmental protection (Ahmad & Prasad, 2012). Other strategies, intertwined around a better life are successful minimizing environmental impacts through altering the built environment in an effort to preserve and create a sustainable community, which supports a sustainable environment. These approaches require people to drive short distances in order to reduce environmental impacts.

The level of human progress towards environmental sustainability relies upon social movements that influence the environment and community choices. One such movement could be eco-municipalities. This social movement takes a systems approach focused on sustainable principles. The movement involves participation by community members in a bottom-up model. Currently, many towns and cities can adopt a common set of principles of sustainability and implement them systematically in the entire municipal operations (Cormier, Nurius & Osborn, 2009).

Many useful strategies exist for people intending to change their behavior to limit negative impacts on the environment. This can be accomplished by adopting easy and cheap achievable steps. However, the change required to minimize human consumption to sustainable levels entails large steps at different levels in the community. The UN acknowledges the core role of education in a sustainable environment (Horowitz, 2007). This means that we must adopt new practices and behaviors to secure the future. The UN proposes a sustainability strategy that extends beyond education in tackling the materialistic and individualistic societal values and strengthens peoples' relationships with the natural environment (Ahmad & Prasad, 2012).

How social norms influence behavior and beliefs about the environment

Social norms refer to the standards applied in making judgments about the appropriateness of our actions and behaviors. This approach is widely acknowledged that encouraging pro-environmental social norms visible is a vital part of promoting sustainable behavior and belief. In practical studies, providing individuals with proof of what other people around them are doing has demonstrated to have a remarkable impact on behavior and belief (Cormier, Nurius & Osborn, 2009). While appreciating the social norms including tested and tried methods of influencing behaviors, the effectiveness of this approach depends on the availability of positive norms in the first place. For most sustainable behaviors and beliefs, the challenge is not that positive social norms are not being highlighted, but that simply because these norms do not exist to promote a sustainable environment.

For instance, the use of car; it is unrealistic to imagine how a campaign geared to minimize the use of private car can harness the strength of social norms. This is in regards to how the vast majority of us constantly choose this mode of transport. Even when behaviors appealing to positive social norms are possible, they tend to be drowned by the persistent message torrent in support of unsustainable behaviors from the advertising sector.

Social norms are an integral infrastructure used to promote pro-environmental behavior and beliefs. However, deploying them has proven to be extremely complex than it may appear. Besides the struggle against the negative norms of sustainability favored in most advertising campaigns, hidden pitfalls are rampant that suggests the effect of social norm could backfire. Social norms are the best approach used to amplify the influence of existing beliefs and behaviors. However, they cannot generate good behaviors and beliefs on their own (Horowitz, 2007). Evidently, social norms strategies and direct engagement must be integrated for them to be effective. This process begins by creating the right norms. We can fully realize the power of social norms approaches (Ahmad & Prasad, 2012).