Smidt, Lea (2022) To Fly or Not to Fly: Social Pressure and Informational Influence as Strategies to Reduce Ambivalence. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Despite growing global awareness of the factors influencing climate change, many people are still ambivalent when it comes to changing their environmental behavior. In this thesis, we look at how social pressure fares against informational influence as means to reduce ambivalence towards flying as a means of transportation. Social pressure is a relatively unexplored method when it comes to persuading ambivalent individuals. The study made use of a 1 x 3 experimental design, with a sample of n = 76 participants. Informational influence and social pressure were manipulated via blog articles that used informational versus a combination of normative and interpersonal cues, respectively. The results showed a significant effect for the social pressure to decrease objective ambivalence (p = .042, d = -.36) and a significant increase in ambivalence for informational influence (p = .035, d = .37). However, the results showed no overall difference between the two conditions and a control condition. Based on prior research, informational influence should have at least shown some ambivalence-reducing effects, therefore the discussion calls for a revision of aspects of the methodology in this paper. Future directions for studies expanding on the topic of ambivalence reduction and social pressure are discussed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Zomeren, M. van and Ton, G.M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Aug 2022 11:45 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Aug 2022 11:45 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1354 |
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