Safe behavior promise

My students and I have also distributed Buckle-Up Promise Cards during church services (Talton, 1984), throughout a large university campus (Geller et al., 1989), and at the Norfolk Naval Base (Kalsher et al., 1989). In every case, a significant number of pledge-card signers increased their use of safety belts after their initial commitment behavior. 

This simple activator approach also has had remarkable success in applications beyond safety-belt promotion. Streff et al. (1993) found the technique successful at increasing the use of safety glasses. More recently, Boyce and Geller (in press) used this promise card technique to motivate university students to recognize the altruistic or helping behavior of others. 

Richard Katzev and his colleagues at Reed College in Portland, OR, have used this activator to increase participation in community recycling programs (Katzev and Pardini, 1987-1988 Wang and Katzev, 1990). Work teams at Logan Aluminum in Russellville, KY, 

Involve the group in discussing the personal and group value of the target behavior. Make the commitment for a specified period of time that is challenging but not overwhelming. 

Assure everyone that signing the card is only a personal commitment, not a company contract. 

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Public and voluntary commitment. The "Safe Behavior Promise Card" described in Chapter 10 derives its power to influence from the commitment and consistency principle. When people sign their name to a promise card they commit to behaving in a certain way Then, ey act in a way that is consistent with their commitment. 

The "Safe Behavior Promise Card" uses this principle. After people sign on to perform a certain behavior for a specified period of time, such as "Buckle vehicle safety belts for one month," "Use particular personal protective equipment for two months," or "Walk behind yellow lines for the rest of the year," they are more likely to actually perform the target behavior. 

The interpersonal influence principles of reciprocity and commitment-consistency were introduced as they apply to our everyday decisions and behaviors. The commitment and consistency principle is behind the success of safe behavior promise cards, the foot-in-the-door technique ("start small and build"), and throwing a curve ball ("raise the stakes later"). These principles and specific strategies can be applied to directly boost actively caring behaviors. 

The actual intervention process must be documented to decide if the procedmes are being implemented as planned and whether the intervention is reaching appropriate niun-bers of people. Attendance records, for example, provide an efficient means of measming the coverage of training programs. Participation in an intervention can be measmed readily if the procedures include completion or delivery of materials with the participant s name, such as recognition thank-you cards, critical behavior checklists, or safe behavior promise cards. 

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