When Peer Pressure Shows Positive Results

It turns out that peer pressure might not always be such a bad thing after all, particularly when it causes us to act in beneficial ways. With the economy already affecting consumer spending habits, companies are increasingly looking at the ways behavioral economics can be influenced by public transparency and participation.

We recently wrote about the UK’s attempts to encourage its residents into going green by pushing the savings aspect in combination with the less wholesome tactics like neighborly competition and envy, and now it appears a similar effort is underway in Sacramento. The city’s Municipal Utility District is in the midst of a trial program created by Positive Energy that includes additional information on its customers’ energy bills, comparing their individual usage against their neighbors and the district’s most efficient users. The initial findings have shown immediate results, with residents receiving the extra data dropping their consumption an average of 2 percent.

Within the realms of product design, where we’re seeing a push towards “smart” objects that interact with owners through technology like RFID, this behavioral component has a more direct relationship. Vitality Inc., a startup in the pharmaceutical industry, is applying this thinking to guide people to take their medicine. Its GlowCaps fit on top of prescription bottles, employing light and sound to remind patients at appropriate times of the day. And perhaps more importantly, the caps contain a radio transmitter that sends an email to doctors and relatives about how often it is opened.

And while these examples are having short term impacts on people’s lives, given our adaptability, it will be interesting to see if we simply develop new biases around these prompts allowing us to fall right back into our existing comfort zones.

[via Wall Street Journal]

[Image via Joe M500 on Flickr]