Creating Change in Individuals

Sustainability is about performing hope. It is entirely reliant on a method and practice for the future. To celebrate the possibility of such a future is demonstrated partly through an active engagement with whatever small steps/initiatives are possible and practical now. So, what reasons do people become engaged, and will engagement lead to a more sustainable behaviour change?

The greatest drive in behaviour is based on social influences as individuals learn from each other. There are two basic categories of social influence; information and peer pressure which is ultimately about conforming. Many of our actions are due to ignorance, as in we follow social practices without questioning why, and that our perceptions can be easily misinformed in comparison with reality. This means that socially beneficial behaviour can be encouraged through positive social influences.

Creative nudges to conform are more successful means in behaviour change. The concept is called priming, that is leading people towards certain types of behaviour by offering simple and apparently irrelevant cues; as small influences can facilitate or inhibit behaviour. It is then interesting that education becomes redundant in the presence of conformity as a cause of resistance to sustainable lifestyle choices. On one side of the coin we want change to happen intellectually but on the other side of the coin another part of us may be comfortable with the status quo and worry if we have what it takes to change.

To facilitate change, it may be better to first guide individuals by providing clear directions so that people start imaging how the change could work rather than getting distracted by over-analysis and intellectual debate about how change should happen – like the climate change debate. Then people need to be motivated to go down the sustainable path by helping them feel that change is not only desirable, but they are actually capable of making the change. This fosters a more changeable mindset so that challenges or failures are treated as opportunities for improving and acquiring skills; thus removing fixed perceptions that views sustainable issues as unchangeable problems. So positive, personal and participatory engagement methods will raise awareness and has the potential to create meaningful change in our attitudes and behaviour towards more sustainable lifestyles.