Nudges Can Both Raise and Lower Physical Activity Levels : The Effects of Role Models on Stair and Escalator Use – A Pilot Study

We acknowledge support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Funds of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Nudging für den Biolebensmitteleinkauf im Supermarkt : drei pragmatische Feldexperimente auf Basis von sozialen Normen, Feedback und Positionierung

This dissertation explores the influence of nudging on organic food purchases in supermarkets in an in-depth literature review and three real-world field experiments. First, the core sustainability challenges of the global food system as well as the prior use and effectiveness of nudging interventions are analyzed. Based on these, three large-scale nudging interventions employing social norms, feedback, sorting, and vertical position changes in more than 100 German supermarkets with more than 21,000 customers are developed, implemented, and analyzed. Last, the potential causes and implications of the smaller-than-expected effects are discussed in detail.Die vorliegende Dissertation analysiert den Einfluss von als Nudgingtechniken auf den Kauf von Biolebensmitteln in Supermärkten anhand eines Literaturreviews und dreier Feldexperimente. Zunächst werden hierfür die Nachhaltigkeitsherausforderungen des globalen Lebensmittelsystems sowie die bisherige Nutzung und Effektivität von Nudgingtechniken analysiert. Im Hauptteil der Arbeit werden dann auf dieser Basis drei umfangreiche Feldexperimente unter Einsatz von sozialen Normen, Feedback, Sortierung und Sichthöhe in mehr als 100 Supermärkten mit mehr als 21,000 Kunden entwickelt, umgesetzt und analysiert. Im letzten Teil der Arbeit werden potentielle Ursachen für die hinter den Erwartungen zurückbleibenden Effekte der Interventionen im Detail diskutiert

GreenDB: Toward a Product-by-Product Sustainability Database

The production, shipping, usage, and disposal of consumer goods have a substantial impact on greenhouse gas emissions and the depletion of resources. Modern retail platforms rely heavily on Machine Learning (ML) for their search and recommender systems. Thus, ML can potentially support efforts towards more sustainable consumption patterns, for example, by accounting for sustainability aspects in product search or recommendations. However, leveraging ML potential for reaching sustainability goals requires data on sustainability. Unfortunately, no open and publicly available database integrates sustainability information on a product-by-product basis. In this work, we present the GreenDB, which fills this gap. Based on search logs of millions of users, we prioritize which products users care about most. The GreenDB schema extends the well-known schema.org Product definition and can be readily integrated into existing product catalogs to improve sustainability information available for search and recommendation experiences. We present our proof of concept implementation of a scraping system that creates the GreenDB dataset

Evaluating the Quality of ChatGPT’s Climate-related Responses

The use of ChatGPT and language models carries the risk of spreading false information. Although ChatGPT produces mostly correct information about climate related topics, the answers reflect societal misunderstandings about climate change