New Publication: Can improving climate change perception lead to more environmentally friendly choices? Evidence from an immersive virtual environment experiment

Read about Can improving climate change perception lead to more environmentally friendly choices? Evidence from an immersive virtual environment experiment, published in Ecological Economics by Tommaso Luzzati , Stefano Baraldi, Sara Ermini, Claudia Faita, Valeria Faralla, Pietro Guarnieri, Luca Lusuardi, Vincenzo Santalucia, Sara Scipioni, Matteo Sirizzotti and Alessandro Innocenti.

Abstract:

Rational decision theory assumes that individuals have perfect knowledge of the consequences of their choices and actions. However, this assumption often fails to align with reality, particularly in the context of environmental degradation, where the impacts of actions can be distant in both time and space. Will an enhanced perception of those impacts encourage pro-environmental choices? To explore this question, we designed and conducted an experiment in an immersive virtual reality environment (IVE). After an initial training phase, participants were asked to choose between using a tumble dryer or a clothesline to dry their laundry. Participants in the treatment group received exaggerated feedback during the training phase, experiencing a simulated sudden outbreak of a thunderstorm when they used the dryer. In contrast, participants in the control group did not receive any feedback. The experiment was conducted at two Italian universities, Siena and Pisa, with a total of 270 subjects. The methodological finding is that even less elaborated IVEs can still be effective as experimental tools. The substantive finding is that exposure to exaggerated feedback in an IVE significantly increased the likelihood of choosing a more environmentally friendly action, such as using a clothesline, which involves lower energy consumption.