Sandpit: CHARM: Digital technology: shaping consumer behaviour by informing conceptions of 'normal' practice.

CHARM旨在开发、评估和理解数字技术可以通过告知和挑战“正常”实践来塑造个人行为的方式。人们所做的很多事情都是基于他们对共同惯例的看法，但这些看法往往是错误的。研究表明，我们可以通过告诉别人别人在做什么来影响别人的行为。该研究借鉴了社会学、行为经济学、社会心理学和社会营销学中有关社会影响的研究。这个为期三年的项目将在可持续发展的背景下探索、开发和评估这种方法，在三个案例研究中使用数字技术作为非侵入式界面：1)电力消耗，2)积极的生活方式和3)Facebook。人们并不直接消耗能源，而是在清洁、烹饪和旅行等方面使用能源。日常行为和习惯是建立在对“正常”行为想当然的假设基础上的，例如，人们应该每两周洗一次床上用品，让厨房电器插上电源并打开电源，开车送孩子上学等等。这种行为往往不是经过深思熟虑的选择，而是理所当然的，被视为现代生活的一个固有方面。这有助于解释为什么试图通过直接影响态度和意图来改变行为的传统方法往往被证明是无效的。然而，一些相关学科的研究表明，日常实践是可塑的，可以被微妙的社会影响形式推向社会期望的方向。特别是，研究表明，对个人表现水平的反馈（如电力消耗）可以改变他们的行为，而且，如果辅以对相关社会群体表现的反馈，这种效果会增强。该项目将评估这一过程，使用和开发数字技术，以非侵入性、成本效益和及时的方式促进个人和社会群体信息的捕获和反馈。拟议的研究是广泛而有力的，包括三个案例研究，因为它们的多样性，它们与当前社会问题的相关性，以及它们在内在动机和数字技术方面提出的挑战。在电力消耗案例研究中，连接在参与者的电力供应上的传感器将把使用水平传输到服务器，服务器将把个人和社会群体的反馈传递给参与者。在积极的生活方式案例研究中，一个专门开发的应用程序将监测参与者的日常活动水平，并在移动设备（例如手机）上显示个人和社会群体的反馈。Facebook案例研究将评估个人和社会群体反馈在社交网站环境下的效果。总体而言，CHARM项目将包括大约800名实验对象，并在8周的时间内每周提供反馈。此外，在实验结束时，所有受访者将被要求完成一份调查问卷。这种定量方法将得到广泛的定性研究的补充和阐明。实地试验中提供的反馈应提高答复者的认识，不仅要提高他们对总体表现水平的认识，而且要提高他们对构成这些行为模式的基本做法的认识，使他们更容易接受基于面谈的研究。这些做法将在大约100名受访者的纵向民族志研究中进行探讨，并在旨在刺激和引出规范话语的焦点小组中进行探讨。CHARM将提供对“正常”实践概念的详细理解，它们的可改变性，以及它们可以通过社会群体反馈形成的方式。

CHARM aims to develop, evaluate and understand the ways in which digital technology can be used to shape individual behaviour by informing and thereby challenging 'normal' practice. Much of what people do is based on their conceptions of shared conventions, but these conceptions are often misinformed. Research suggests that we can influence behaviour by telling people what other people do. The study draws upon research on social influence in sociology, behavioural economics, social psychology and social marketing. The three-year project will explore, develop and evaluate this approach in the context of sustainability, using digital technology as a non-invasive interface in three case studies: 1) electricity consumption, 2) active lifestyle and 3) Facebook.People do not consume energy directly but use it in practices such as cleanliness, cooking, and travel. Everyday practices and habits are grounded in taken-for-granted assumptions about 'normal' practices, e.g. that one should wash bedding every two weeks, leave kitchen appliances plugged in and switched on, drive children to school, etc. This sort of behaviour is often not a calculated choice, but taken-for-granted, as an inherent aspect of modern life. This helps to explain why traditional approaches that try to change behaviour by directly influencing attitudes and intentions often prove ineffective. However, studies in several related disciplines suggest that everyday practices are malleable, and can be nudged in a socially desirable direction by subtle forms of social influence. In particular, research indicates that feedback on an individual's level of performance (e.g. electricity consumption) can change their behaviour, and moreover, that this effect is enhanced if supplemented by feedback on the performance of a relevant social group. This project will evaluate this process, using and developing digital technology to facilitate the capture and feedback of individual and social group information in a non-invasive, cost effective and timely manner.The proposed research is extensive and robust, including three case studies chosen for their diversity, their relevance to current social concerns, and the challenges they present both in terms of intrinsic motivation and digital technology. In the electricity consumption case study, a sensor attached to the participant's electricity supply will transmit usage levels to a server, which will relay individual and social group feedback to the participant. In the active lifestyle case study, a specially developed application will monitor the participant's daily activity levels, displaying individual and social group feedback on a mobile device (e.g. mobile phone). The Facebook case study will evaluate the effect of individual and social group feedback in the context of a social network site. Overall the CHARM project will include approximately 800 experimental subjects, with feedback available on a weekly basis over an 8 week period. In addition, all respondents will be asked to complete a questionnaire at the end of the experiment. This quantitative approach will be complemented and illuminated by extensive qualitative research. The feedback provided in the field trials should heighten respondents' awareness, not only of overall performance levels, but also of the underlying practices that constitute these patterns of behaviour, making them more accessible to interview-based research. These practices will be explored in longitudinal ethnographic research with approximately 100 respondents, and in focus groups designed to stimulate and elicit normative discourse. CHARM will provide a detailed understanding of conceptions of 'normal' practices, of their amenability to change, and of the ways in which they can be shaped by social group feedback.