Watching eyes on potential litter can reduce littering: evidence from two field experiments
Watching eyes on potential litter can reduce littering: evidence from two field experiments
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DOI：
10.7717/peerj.1443
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发表时间：
2015-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Nettle, Daniel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bateson, Melissa;Robinson, Rebecca;Nettle, Daniel
乱扔垃圾是一个重大的社会问题，任何减少其流行的简单干预措施都将是广泛有益的。在之前的研究中，我们发现，在环境中显示观看眼睛的图像会使人们不太可能乱扔垃圾。在这里，我们调查是否可以将观看的眼睛图像转移到潜在的项目的垃圾本身。在大学校园里的两个实地实验中，我们通过附上传单来创造一个乱扔垃圾的机会，这些传单要么有，要么没有一个注视停放自行车的眼睛的图像。在这两个实验中，观察的眼睛传单基本上不太可能比对照传单（优势比0.22-0.32）。我们还发现，当附近有其他人时，人们不太可能乱扔垃圾（比值比为0.04-0.25），在一个实验中，而不是另一个实验中，眼睛传单只会在附近没有其他人时减少乱扔垃圾。我们认为，设计线索的观察到包装可能是一个简单的，但富有成效的战略，减少乱扔垃圾。
Littering constitutes a major societal problem, and any simple intervention that reduces its prevalence would be widely beneficial. In previous research, we have found that displaying images of watching eyes in the environment makes people less likely to litter. Here, we investigate whether the watching eyes images can be transferred onto the potential items of litter themselves. In two field experiments on a university campus, we created an opportunity to litter by attaching leaflets that either did or did not feature an image of watching eyes to parked bicycles. In both experiments, the watching eyes leaflets were substantially less likely to be littered than control leaflets (odds ratios 0.22-0.32). We also found that people were less likely to litter when there other people in the immediate vicinity than when there were not (odds ratios 0.04-0.25) and, in one experiment but not the other, that eye leaflets only reduced littering when there no other people in the immediate vicinity. We suggest that designing cues of observation into packaging could be a simple but fruitful strategy for reducing littering.