Development of Emotional Intervention Strategy Framework Focused on the Socio-pleasure for Pro-environmental Behaviors

Abstract

Researches on Eco-Design which includes all these attempts have had two approaches in the aspects of production and consumption; Development of Eco-friendly products which focus on the production-aspect; and Research on design for cognitive change and sustainable behavior which focus on consumption-aspect. Although several attempts have been made in both sides, limitations and problems of current approach still remain. A previous research, conducted by the author, the term ‘Pro-environmental Design Intervention’ was adopted and suggested the refined concept and range. And then, from the literature reviews and case studies, we emphasized the importance of ‘Emotional Design Intervention’ focused on ‘pleasure’ and suggested the framework in order to help designers understand how to apply the emotional design intervention strategies. Based on the prior research, this study aimed to suggest a framework of emotional intervention strategy focused on socio-pleasure according to a degree of difficulty and convenience. Prior to develop a framework, we investigated the types of socio-pleasure and each case study through literature review and then, classified into four types with a hierarchy: (1) communication & collaboration, (2) competition, (3) recognition, (4) social reward & commendation. We could confirm the effectiveness of the recognition, social reward and commendation through several cases - ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, eco bag and green credit card (in Korea) -. This paper demonstrates the opportunity for removing the barriers and improving effectiveness of pro-environmental behavior change and further in the aspects of socio-pleasure. In future research, empirical studies should be conducted to verify its effectiveness with user surveys and experiments how each socio-pleasure strategy to both low-cost and high-cost behaviors.