RAPID: A real-world opportunity to study responsibility, social identity, signaling, and collective mobilization

最近有关汽车制造商使用所谓的“失败装置”来规避美国和其他国家的柴油车排放标准的披露，揭示了对公众健康和环境的前所未有的威胁。据估计，这些车辆排放的污染物增加，仅在美国每年就造成超过1亿美元的可避免的医疗保健费用和多达40-100人的额外死亡。乍一看，解决这个问题的办法似乎很简单：修复目前在道路上行驶的大约50万辆汽车，从而解决环境和健康影响。挑战在于，这些车辆为私人所有，对他们来说，修复可能会产生重大的个人成本，包括增加拥有成本，降低转售价值，降低车辆性能和减少个人享受。因此，“失败装置”问题是一个集体行动问题，其中许多人必须独立行动，以解决对公共健康和环境的威胁。这个项目探讨了这些车主的行为和心理反应，以这种意想不到的集体行动的问题，努力回答三个关键问题。首先，影响个人采取行动解决由他人引起的问题的意愿的关键因素是什么？第二，对于那些受到挑战其个人和社会身份的事件影响的人来说，情感和行为的影响是什么？第三，如果人们有机会公开让别人知道他们正在采取行动，这是否会促进行为改变并影响他们的情绪健康？为了回答这些问题，研究小组将接触受影响车辆的车主，并在一年内进行两次调查。调查将调查车主对这一问题的反应和回应，包括他们是否以及何时修理车辆的决定。此外，该项目还探讨了如果一个行为是不可见的-无论是一个人的车已经修理或仍然污染-可以变得可见，通过提供一些“信号”给其他司机，如汽车贴纸，人们的意图可能会改变。 通过研究这些心理过程，该项目可能会产生有关人类决策的实际见解，可用于解决这个和未来的集体行动问题。这项纵向研究所获得的知识将揭示人们如何做出既要付出个人代价又要产生社会效益的决策，并可能导致制定更有效的战略，以帮助支持人们做出对自己和社会都有利的决策。

Recent revelations regarding car manufacturers' use of so-called "defeat devices" to skirt U.S. and other nations' diesel vehicle emissions standards have revealed a previously unanticipated threat to public health and the environment. By some estimates, the increased pollutants being emitted by these vehicles are causing in excess of $100 million in avoidable health care costs and as many as 40-100 extra deaths per year in the U.S. alone. The solution to the problem appears straightforward at first glance: fix the roughly 500,000 vehicles currently on the roads and thus address the environmental and health impacts. The challenge is that those vehicles are owned by private citizens for whom the fix will likely incur significant personal cost, including increased costs of ownership, reduced resale values, degraded vehicle performance and reduced personal enjoyment. Thus, the "defeat device" issue is a collective action problem in which many individuals must act independently to resolve the threat to public health and the environment. This project explores the behavioral and psychological responses of these vehicle owners to this unanticipated collective action problem in an effort to answer three key questions. First, what are the key factors that influence individuals' willingness to take action to confront a problem caused by someone else? Second, what are the emotional and behavioral implications for people who are personally affected by an event that challenges their personal and social identities? Third, if people are given an opportunity to publicly let others know that they are taking action, does that promote behavior change and affect their emotional well-being?To answer these questions, the research team will reach out to owners of the affected vehicles and conduct two surveys across a year. The surveys will examine owners' reactions and responses to the issue, including their decisions about whether and when to have their vehicles repaired. In addition, the project explores how people's intentions might change if a behavior that is otherwise invisible-- whether one's car has been repaired or still polluting--could become visible, by providing some "signal" to other drivers such as a car sticker. By examining these psychological processes this project may produce practical insights about human decision-making that could be used to address this and future collective action problems. Knowledge gained by this longitudinal study will shed light on how people make decisions that carry personal costs but also produce societal benefits, and possibly lead to the development of more effective strategies to help support people in making decisions that are beneficial both for themselves and for society.