New faculty member Vladas Griskevicius applies social psychology to marketing

Most of us think of peer pressuer as a bad think, but when it comes to the environment, assistant professor Vladas Griskevicius thinks it might just be the key to unlocking beneficial behavior. In a recently published Journal of Consumer Research article, Griskevicius and his co-authors designed two simple experiments with hotel towel reuse programs to highlight this effect. Traditional placards outlining a hotel towel reuse program were already fairly effective with guests, but when the researchers rephrased the signage to appeal to social norms, the results were striking.

"By subtly and tastefully informing guests that the majority of other guests - and, in particular, 'guests in this room' - reused their towels at least once during their stay, we spurred a significant increase in towel reuse." Griskevicius, a social psychologist in the marketing department, notes that he simple hoped to examine the motivation of pro-social behavior in a real consumer setting, but, "considering that many hotel guests never even read the cards in their hotel rooms," he was amazed at the team's clear results. It made a big difference to emphasize just how common the "common good" was.

Highlighting the applicability of his findings, Griskevicius offers the example of carpool lanes. "Many people in the Twin Cities have considered carpooling to work, but our designated lanes are generally empty. This makes doubling-up seem like a less popular option, regardless of environmental or even time benefits." But, if officals were to publicize the yaerly increases in carpooling, they could target drivers' often unconscious desires to follow peer cues. "By using messages such as 'Three thousand residents carpooled last week alone' or 'Carpooling is the fastest growing mode of transportation,' the city might both reduce traffic and help the environment."

Building on this work, Griskevicius has turned his focus to situations when the opposite effect - going against social norms - might take place. In the forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research paper "Fear and Loving in Las Vegas: Evolution, Emotion, and Persuasion," he uses his evolutionary and consumer behavior expertise to demonstrate that arousal-inducing contexts such as watching a scary or romantic movie can cause people to react to product pitches in unexpected ways.

"In particular, I've found that people resist going along with the group or specifically go against the group when they are in a 'mating' mindset." For example, people in the studies disagreed with a majority opinion after they had been shown photos of attractive people. "All beings share an evolved tendency to follow the herd," Griskevicius explains, "but, like most other animals, people want to stand out from the crowd when a potential mate may be nearby." Companies should, he says, be aware that his findings show that the same ad may have drastically different implications when shown during sultry "Sex and the City" or gritty, fear provoking "CSI." It is important that marketers tailor their messages to fit the emotion elicited by the program.

While experiments considering towels, carpools, and flirtatious advances may seem to have little in common, Griskevicius's sly studies of human - and consumer - behavior are clearly helping inform marketing strategy in many fields. He observes, "Knowing your audience and the underlying reasons behind their actions is the first step in effective communication, whether you're trying to sell them on a new product or a better environment."