Nanne Kukkonen
Personal opportunity costs influence decisions to act environmentally
Why don't even the most environmentally conscious of us act pro-environmentally every time they have the chance? Our research shows that more convenient and self-serving options often out-compete these actions and dominate our decision making.
Role: Lead Researcher
Methods: Computerized online experiment, online questionnaire administration, A/B Testing
Tools: PsychoPy (Python), university participant pool, R
Background
Prior research on pro-environmental effort and neuroeconomic decision making guided the experimental design.
Data Collection
Coded a computerized effort decision making experiment in PsychoPy, which was piloted and run on a university research platform (N = 115 & N = 255).
Data Analysis & Synthesis
Cleaned up decision-making and questionnaire data and ran logistic mixed-effects regression models in R.
Insights & Recommendations
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Pro-environmental decisions are more likely when self-benefiting alternative is less appealing (low opportunity cost)
- People who self-report higher pro-environmental propensity are less influenced by high behavioral costs of pro-environmental behavior
- By decreasing the appeal of alternative behaviors, pro-environmental behavior can be increased via reduction of opportunity costs
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