By leaving their engines idling for long periods, drivers contribute unnecessarily to air pollution, waste fuel, and produce noise and fumes that harm the environment. Railway level crossings are sites where many cars idle, many times a day. In this research, testing two psychological theories of influence, we examine the potential to encourage drivers to switch off their ignition while waiting at rail crossings. Two field studies presented different signs at a busy rail crossing site with a 2-min average wait. Inducing public self-focus (via a “Watching Eyes” stimulus) was not effective, even when accompanied by a written behavioral instruction. Instead, cueing a private-self focus (“think of yourself”) was more effective, doubling the level of behavioral compliance. These findings confirm the need to engage the self when trying to instigate self-regulatory action, but that cues evoking self-surveillance may sometimes be more effective than cues that imply external surveillance.

中文翻译：

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监视还是自我监视？行为提示可以增加司机在长时间等待时的环保行为率

通过让发动机长时间空转，驾驶员会不必要地造成空气污染、浪费燃料，并产生有害环境的噪音和烟雾。铁路平交道口是许多车辆每天多次闲置的场所。在这项研究中，我们测试了两种心理影响理论，研究了鼓励司机在铁路交叉口等待时关掉点火开关的可能性。两项实地研究在一个繁忙的铁路交叉点出现了不同的迹象，平均等待时间为 2 分钟。诱导公众自我关注（通过“注视”刺激）是无效的，即使伴随着书面行为指导也是如此。相反，提示关注个人自我（“想想你自己”）更有效，行为合规水平加倍。