Psychology 101. How do you convince more people to do green deeds? Make them follow the crowd.

WSJ covers Most Popular Lists and how they affect what people do. They followed up in October 2010 with another article on the The Secret to Turning Consumers Green.

“Other recent studies have quantified the popularity of popularity in other settings. Signs telling guests at a hotel in the Phoenix area that towel reuse was the No. 1 choice among their peers increased the rate of this practice by 34%, compared with other signs with messages stressing the impact on the environment. Arizona State University psychology Prof. Robert Cialdini and colleagues found that rates went even higher when the signs specified that most prior guests in the same room reused towels.”

“To the extent you can convince that, not just a lot of people are doing this, but a lot of people like [them] are doing this,” you’ll get greater buy-in, Prof. Cialdini says.”

Want to help other go green? Make them feel like they need to follow the majority.  To change behavior it is seems more important to get into consumers’ heads than their wallet.  This psychology seems in tune with religious dogma but it works.

Peer pressure is most effective with relatively low impact behaviors that do not require a big sacrifice.  Financial incentives and saturation marketing are need to force more significant change, like the Federal Energy Tax Credit, Cash for Clunkers, or Cash for Appliances.

We would go one step farther and say that legislation is often needed to enforce more difficult goals like outlawing incandescent bulbs or gas guzzling cars. California’s Title 9 code requires timers on certain light switches, fluorescent light bulbs, among other energy saving items.

Want to help the green cause?  You are now armed with tools to help convince your neighbors and co-workers.