Abstract
Over the past few decades environmental awareness and education have increased without a corresponding increase in pro-environmental behavior. Recent research on public service announcements and social marketing theory indicate that positive injunctive with positive descriptive norms are most effective in increasing proenvironmental behavior. The current study focused on the impact of different types of environmental messages on promoting recycling behavior in college students. Over 250 recycling actions were measured in the experiment. It was hypothesized that the positive injunctive with positive descriptive statement would be most effective in causing more university students to recycle. The findings, although not statistically significant, suggest that an educational based statement may be more effective on behavior than an emotional statement. One strength of this study is the ability to measure behavior directly and compare it to students’ behavioral intentions.
Recommended Citation
Yoshimura-Rank, Miki
(2013)
"The Effects of Messages on Environmental Behavior,"
DePaul Discoveries: Volume 2, Article 9.
Available at:
https://via.library.depaul.edu/depaul-disc/vol2/iss1/9
Included in
Life Sciences Commons, Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons