Completed Research Project

Title / Titel
PDF
Contributions to sustainability in communities: Simulation-aided testing and diffusion of psychological forms of intervention.
Original title / Originaltitel
Beitraege zur Nachhaltigkeit in Gemeinden: Simulationsgestützte Erprobung und Diffusion psychologischer Interventionsformen
Summary / Zusammenfassung
Natural sciences have demonstrated that certain changes must be made in our environmental resource transactions, and it is now the task of social scientists to show how and by what means this can be achieved. We must understand and explain why it is that we effect the environment as we do and why we hold on to patterns of resource use now inappropriate. It is imperative that we gain an understanding of the social mechanisms that anchor these patterns and the systems of social interaction which reinforce them, so that novel forms of the social diffusion of environmentally-sustainable transaction patterns can be developed.
In the present project, innovative community campaign programs with an individual-centered approach are develo-ped with the aid of simulation methods and tested in terms of their practical application. The effectiveness of these programs as well as the specific ways in which they work are then examined and evaluated.
Thus a significant part of our efforts is directed to the task and challenge of developing in complete form a research instrument which can adequately simulate a social system in its relationship to the environment. The instrument must be validated as well as optimized.
Our simulation model has the purpose of allowing us to test various strategies of implementing and diffusing environmentally supporting behaviors before any such measures are put into effect in reality, an incomparably more expensive and consequential step. This will give persons, groups and communities a tool with which to evaluate and compare different options with regard to overcoming obstacles to effective implementation. New strategies and variants may be tried out, unexpected results discussed, and ways to safeguard against worst-case scenarios can be found. In short, our simulation aims to provide a conceptual and planning tool with which the efficiency and results of social intervention programs in populations can be refined and improved. At the same time, simulation will allow better estimation of the degree of feasibility and practical applicability of environmental measures, information essential to the planning of future environmental policy.
Two important objectives are elucidation of the specific ways in which tried and tested forms of intervention work (and/or fail to have an effect) and optimization of such intervention methods.
The project aims to expand tried and tested forms of intervention to include the aspect of the diffusion of new be-haviors in a larger social unit so that intervention methods may be applied at the level of populations. New and in-novative forms of intervention are developed with the aid of simulation and put to the test of practical applicability.
Forms of intervention must include elements promoting diffusion, as intervention is only effective when it permeates broad sections of a population and leads to widespread, collective change in behavior. The elements of a specific intervention strategy must be disseminated by the population itself to become, finally, accepted collectively. Interventions promoting lasting behaviors require (almost always) fundamental innovation in our thinking and actions. This requires that intervention planners also demonstrate a willingness to develop and put into effect novel and innovative forms and combinations of intervention.
Further, the project entails basic empirical research on the dynamics of social diffusion of attitudes and behavior through the use of specially developed instruments. The data yielded are used to design a simulation of a social system in its relationship to the environment. The method of simulation then developed is validated, optimized and subsequently tested with regard to its usefulness and value within the framework of practical, real-life consulting issues. The information and experience gained with the user-simulation interface will provide a valuable indicative guide for the design of future interventions. A major goal of the project is thus to provide, with the aid of our simulation approach, scientific consultation services to communities desiring to implement diffusion-oriented environmental action programs.
Publications / Publikationen
Mosler, H.-J., Ammann, F. & Gutscher, H. (1998). Simulation des Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) als Mittel zur Entwicklung und Analyse von Umweltinterventionen. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 29, 20-37.

Mosler, H.-J. & Gutscher, H. (1998). Umweltpsychologische Interventionsformen für die Praxis. Umweltpsychologie, 2, 64-79

Mosler, H.-J. & Gutscher, H. (1999). Wege zur Deblockierung kollektiven Umweltverhaltens. In: Linneweber, V. & Kals, E. (Hrsg.), Umweltgerechtes Handeln. Barrieren und Brücken. Berlin: Springer, 141-164.

Keywords / Suchbegriffe
environmental psychology, behavior change strategies, psychological intervention, community mangement, diffusion techniques, simulation
Project Leadership and Contacts /
Projektleitung und Kontakte
PD Dr H.-J. Mosler (Project Leader)mosler@sozpsy.uzh.ch
Prof. Dr. H Gutscher (Project Leader)gutscher@sozpsy.uzh.ch
Funding Source(s) /
Unterstützt durch
SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung)
 
Duration of Project / Projektdauer
Jan 1997 to Dec 1999

© Universität Zürich, 19. September 2006, Impressum