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Don't Rush to Flush.Pdf Journal of Environmental Psychology 43 (2015) 105e111 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jep Don't rush to flush * Michelle L. Lute a, , Shahzeen Z. Attari a, Steven J. Sherman b a School of Public & Environmental Affairs, 1315 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA b Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA article info abstract Article history: Encouraging sustainable water use is a critical endeavor in addressing issues associated with short- and Received 25 March 2015 long-term droughts. Toilets account for up to 26.7% of indoor household water use. Therefore substantial Received in revised form opportunity exists to conserve water via reduced flushing after urination at home. Here, we use an online 26 May 2015 survey (N ¼ 1008) to identify barriers to reduced flushing. The majority of participants reported they Accepted 2 June 2015 always flush (63%) and believed that others should always flush. Social norms surrounding cleanliness Available online 4 June 2015 are the most prevalent reasons for flushing. Results suggest four main barriers to reducing flushing: disgust sensitivity, habitual nature of flushing, norms regarding cleanliness, and lack of pro- Keywords: fl fi Toilet flushing behavior environmental motivations. Participants who always ush are less likely to sacri ce for the environ- fl Decision making ment than occasional ushers. Participants tended to underestimate average American water use and Disgust their own water use. Targeted interventions to decrease urine-related disgust and increase pro- Household water use environmental motivations may help achieve water conservation goals. Water conservation © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction et al., 1999). Inskeep and Attari (2013) estimate that decreasing the number of flushes per household per day has the potential to Sustainable water use is an important and critical component in decrease 7% of total indoor water use. Thus, with individuals addressing contemporary and interconnected problems of global averaging about 5 flushes per day (by their estimate), substantial climate change, drought, and human welfare. Climate change opportunity exists to conserve water via reduced flushing after models indicate that water availability may significantly decrease urination at home. in arid regions already challenged by water shortages (Brusca et al., Here we explore self-reported flushing behaviors and identify 2013; Cook, Ault, & Smerdon, 2015). Issues of water inequality can barriers to water conservation via reduced flushing. To our cause significant conflict between upstream users and the water knowledge, only two studies directly address the question of have-nots downstream. These conflicts may be localized tensions flushing frequency (Gilg & Barr, 2006; Randolph & Troy, 2008). between neighbors or much broader conflict between countries Both studies found evidence of people's willingness to reduce water (Rozin, Haddad, Nemeroff, & Slovic, 2015). In either case, excessive consumption through several actions, including using the half flush and unsustainable water use by some at the expense of basic water on a dual flush toilet, but few participants were willing to flush less needs of others is a problem that could be avoided. Therefore, frequently. To our knowledge, no studies have quantified motiva- understanding barriers to reducing water use is an important tions for such strong opposition to reducing the number of flushes research need. at home. An individual's bare minimum water requirement is approxi- Potential barriers to changing flushing behavior include the mately 13.2 gallons per day (Gleick, 1996), yet the average Amer- habitual nature of flushing, urine-related disgust sensitivity, and ican uses about 98 gallons of water per day (Kenny et al., 2009). social norms regarding toilet cleanliness (Stern, 2000). Given that Although outdoor water use varies significantly across regions, Americans average five flushes per day and flushing requires little daily per capita indoor water use averages about 69.3 gallons, and effort or thought, flushing is most likely a highly habitual behavior. toilets account for 26.7% of this indoor household water use (Mayer Although dual process models suggest that explicit attitudes would not influence habits, which are automatic as opposed to conscious (Smith & DeCoster, 2000), breaking a habit may require making the behavior effortful or salient to other values and norms. Thus, * Corresponding author. fl E-mail address: [email protected] (M.L. Lute). reversing habitual ushing behaviors may require increasing http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.06.003 0272-4944/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 106 M.L. Lute et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 43 (2015) 105e111 motivation to conserve water through personal or social pro- com on completion. Participants were screened by location (U.S.) environmental norms (Dahlstrand & Biel, 1997; Stern, 2000). and age (18 years or older). Median age was 33 years (compared Disgust and related fear of contamination also may be a barrier to with 37.2 years in the U.S.; Census 2010), median level of education reducing flushing (Haidt, McCauley, & Rozin, 1994; Tybur, was some college or a college degree (35.4% have an associate's Lieberman, & Griskevicius, 2009). Urine usually does not have a degree or more in the U.S.), and median family income was $40,000 high concentration of pathogens (WHO, 2006), but disgust eliciting ($50,054 in the U.S.; Census 2010). Fifty-seven percent of partici- factors may include the smell and sight of urine (Ilemobade, pants were male (49.2% in the U.S.; Census 2010), and 53% self- Olanrewaju, & Griffioen, 2012; Lundblad & Hellstrom,€ 2005; identified as liberals, 25% as moderates, and 22% as conservatives. Olatunji, Haidt, McKay, & David, 2008). Feelings of disgust func- These trends may indicate some selection or response bias; like tion to protect the individual from disease and, like habit, are most many online surveys, participants tended to be younger and male likely unconscious reactions. Given that individuals vary in their compared to U.S. Census data (Ansolabehere & Schaffner, 2014; disgust sensitivity, measuring how commonly urine elicits disease Bell, Huber, & Viscusi, 2011). avoidance behaviors (i.e., disgust-motivated flushing) among par- ticipants is important to understanding barriers to reduced flushing. 2.1.1. Survey materials Disassociating urine with disgust among those who are sensitive All questions in the survey focused on flushing after urination at could include psychological approaches (e.g., changing attitudes home. The survey began with a closed-ended item measuring about urine) or technical fixes that eliminate disgust-eliciting fac- flushing frequency at home: “How often do you flush after you tors (i.e., sight, smell; Rachman, 2004; Rozin et al., 2015). urinate at home?” with five response options (never, sometimes, Related to the idea of disgust, social norms regarding toilet half of the time, most of the time, always). The survey then cleanliness may also influence flushing behaviors. Common ex- branched to an open-ended item asking about reasons for flushing pectations of encountering urine-free toilets may exert strong so- behaviors, worded specifically for either participants who indicated cial pressure. Embarrassment about leaving urine in a toilet may they (a) always flush (response “Always”) or (b) do not always flush create a significant barrier for individuals who might otherwise be (responses “Never”, “Sometimes”, “Half of the time”, and “Most of motivated to conserve water via reduced flushing. Measuring the the time”) after urinating at home. We chose separate branching role of such norms will be integral to overcoming barriers to with unique wording because we expected participants who al- flushing less. ways flushed to be different from occasional flushers. All partici- Increased understanding of how to encourage adoption of the “if pants then completed the same items for the rest of the survey. it's yellow, let it mellow” approach will help increase water con- Closed-ended, multiple-choice questions using 5-point Likert servation. Research suggests potential for environmental concern scales were used to measure attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors dis- and related motivations to influence water use behaviors (Gilg & cussed in greater detail in the sections below. This research was Barr, 2006; Willis, Stewart, Panuwatwanich, Williams, & approved by Indiana University's Internal Review Board at the Of- Hollingsworth, 2011). Social norms that pressure people to fice of Research Administration, and informed consent was conserve water for the greater good may be more influential than received from all participants. The complete survey can be found in cleanliness concerns (Shove, 2003). If pro-environmental norms Appendix A. are stronger than cleanliness norms, people may be willing to reduce flushes, or may already be doing so. Furthermore, experi- 2.1.2. Reasons for flushing behavior ence with drought may increase risk perceptions that in turn in- Through literature review and pre-testing, we identified 17 fluence environmental concern and encourage water conservation potential reasons that might influence people's flushing behavior at (Weber, Blais, & Betz, 2002; Zaval, Keenan, Johnson, & Weber, home that were asked to participants on a Likert scale (1 ¼ Strongly 2014). Household-level behavior strongly
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