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

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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.