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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Measuring Light-Switching Behavior Using an Occupancy and Light Data Logger
Published on: January 16, 2020
Prompting a consumer behavior for pollution control
E S Geller1, J C Farris, D S Post
1Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Abstract:
A field application of behavior modification studied the relative effectiveness of different prompting procedures for increasing the probability that customers entering a grocery store would select their soft drinks in returnable rather than nonreturnable containers. Six different 2-hr experimental conditions during which bottle purchases were recorded were (1) No Prompt (i.e., control), (2) one student gave incoming customers a handbill urging the purchase of soft drinks in returnable bottles, (3) distribution of the handbill by one student and public charting of each customer's bottle purchases by another student, (4) handbill distribution and charting by a five-member group, (5) handbills distributed and purchases charted by three females. The variant prompting techniques were equally effective, and in general increased the percentage of returnable-bottle customers by an average of 25%.
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