Oakwood Middle School is participating in a citywide energy conservation challenge. The school principal wants to encourage students to reduce energy consumption. Two different posters are created to motivate students:
Poster A: “If we reduce our energy use by 20%, we’ll save $1000 on our energy bill this year!”
Poster B: “If we don’t reduce our energy use by 20%, we’ll waste $1000 on unnecessary energy costs this year!”
The school’s current annual energy bill is $5000. After a month, the principal surveys 200 students to see which poster they saw and whether they’ve taken actions to reduce energy use.
Survey Results:
Questions:
1. Calculate the percentage of students who took action for each poster.
2. If the trend continues, estimate how much money the school would save in a year if:
a) All 500 students had seen Poster A
b) All 500 students had seen Poster B
3. What is the difference in potential savings between the two poster strategies?
4. Explain how the framing effect might have influenced student behavior.
5. If you were the principal, which poster would you choose to display schoolwide and why?
1. Percentage of students who took action:
– Poster A: (65 ÷ 100) × 100 = 65%
– Poster B: (80 ÷ 100) × 100 = 80%
2. Estimating yearly savings:
a) If all 500 students saw Poster A:
– 65% of 500 = 325 students taking action
– (325 ÷ 500) × 20% reduction = 13% total reduction
– 13% of $5000 = $650 saved
b) If all 500 students saw Poster B:
– 80% of 500 = 400 students taking action
– (400 ÷ 500) × 20% reduction = 16% total reduction
– 16% of $5000 = $800 saved
3. Difference in potential savings:
$800 – $650 = $150
4. Framing effect influence:
The framing effect likely influenced student behavior by presenting the same information (potential $1000 savings) in two different ways. Poster B, which framed the issue as avoiding waste, seemed to motivate more students to take action. This suggests that the negative framing (avoiding loss) was more effective than the positive framing (gaining savings) in this case.
5. Choice of poster:
As the principal, I would choose Poster B to display schoolwide because:
– It resulted in a higher percentage of students taking action (80% vs 65%)
– It could potentially save the school more money ($800 vs $650)
– The negative framing seems to be more motivating for this particular audience
However, it’s important to consider potential negative effects of using loss-framed messages consistently, such as increased stress or anxiety among students.
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