Abstract
Suboptimal efficiency in activities involving the consumption of fossil fuels, such as driving, contributes to a miscellany of negative environmental, political, economic, and social externalities. Demonstrations of the effectiveness of feedback interventions can be found in countless settings, as can demonstrations of individual differences in sensitivity to feedback interventions. Mechanisms providing feedback to drivers about fuel economy are becoming standard equipment in new vehicles but vary considerably in their constitution. A keystone of the philosophy of radical behaviorism and its related scientific discipline, behavior analysis, is the acknowledgment that verbal behavior plays a role in mediating individual responses to delayed contingencies. In the current feasibility study, samples of individuals’ verbal behavior (rules about how to drive efficiently) were collected in the context of two eco-driving feedback interventions—one with commercial fleet drivers and one with civilian drivers. Analysis revealed that the rate at which drivers generated novel verbal rules (per week) accounted for a substantial proportion of the variability in relative efficiency gains across participants. Findings support the utility of behavior-analytic conceptual tools in this field of research, such as the basic distinction between contingency-shaped and rule-governed behaviors and the elaboration of direct-acting and indirect-acting contingencies.
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Appendix
Appendix
The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–II Prompt, Response Scale, and Items
Below you will find a list of statements. Please rate how true each statement is for you by circling a number next to it. Use the scale below to make your choice.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Never true | Very seldom true | Seldom true | Sometimes true | Frequently true | Almost always true | Always true | |||||
It’s OK if I remember something unpleasant. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
My painful experiences and memories make it difficult for me to live a life that I would value. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
I’m afraid of my feelings. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
I worry about not being able to control my worries and feelings. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
My painful memories prevent me from having a fulfilling life. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
I am in control of my life. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
Emotions cause problems in my life. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
It seems like most people are handling their lives better than I am. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
Worries get in the way of my success. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
My thoughts and feelings do not get in the way of how I want to live my life. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
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Newsome, D., Sanguinetti, A. & Alavosius, M.P. Bringing Behavior-Analytic Theory to Eco-driving Research: Verbal Rules Mediate the Effectiveness of Feedback for Professional and Civilian Drivers. Behav. Soc. Iss. 30, 612–631 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-020-00045-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-020-00045-9