Tim Harries

Feeling secure or being secure? Why it can seem better not to protect yourself against a natural hazard

This article presents qualitative research in flood risk areas of England that suggests that the desire to feel secure can sometimes deter people from taking actions that would reduce the actual physical damage of a hazardous natural event. That is, it argues that people sometimes put what Giddens calls their ontological security above their physical security. Preferring to think of their homes as places that are innately safe, they reject the idea of defending them; preferring to think of nature as a positive moral force, they hesitate to view it as a source of real danger; and preferring to think of society as a competent protector of last resort, they are reluctant to accept the need to protect themselves. Being central to ontological security, such social representations (of ‘home,’ ‘nature,’ ‘society’ etc.) are defended by avoiding perceptual shifts and behaviours that might challenge them. This paper discusses how and why they are defended, what happens when they become indefensible and why some householders and groups of householders are more willing than others to take self-protective actions against risks such as flooding.

The anticipated emotional consequences of adaptive behaviour—impacts on the take-up of household flood-protection measures

When considering householder responses to flood risk, researchers and policy makers have perhaps focused too much on the influence of risk perceptions and concerns about material costs and benefits. Using secondary analysis of survey data from UK households who had experienced flooding or who were at risk of flooding, this paper presents evidence to suggest that protective behaviour may be influenced less by material and financial considerations than by concerns about feelings of anxiety and insecurity. It also looks at the role of beliefs about protection and flooding in mediating the impacts of flood experience and suggests that experience reduces confidence in the ameliorative capacity of insurance and promotes the belief that protective measures increase anxiety about flooding. The paper concludes that more research should be carried out on the role of anticipated emotions in risk response and that policy makers and the designers of protection products should pay more attention to the emotional barriers and incentives to adaptation.

Is social norms marketing effective? A case study in domestic electricity consumption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present details of a large-scale experiment that evaluated the impact of communicating two types of feedback to householders regarding their domestic electricity consumption: feedback on their own consumption and feedback of both their own consumption and that of others in their locality. Design/methodology/approach – Digital technologies were used to automatically measure and communicate the electricity consumption of 316 UK residents for a period of 16 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: one involving no feedback; one involving feedback about a households own usage, and one involving a households own usage plus social norms feedback (the average consumption of others in the locality). At the end of the study, a selection of participants took part in interviews or focus groups. Findings – Both types of feedback (individual and individual-plus-social-norms) led to reductions in consumption of about 3 per cent. Thos...

Walking in the Wild – Using an Always-On Smartphone Application to Increase Physical Activity

This multidisciplinary paper reports on a large-scale field trial, designed and implemented by a group of social scientists, computer scientists and statisticians, of a new smartphone-based app for the promotion of walking in everyday life. The app, bActive, is designed for a more diverse range of users than the typical active-lifestyle app, since it requires neither additional equipment nor a great deal of commitment to exercise. As a result, it can raise awareness of walking and promote walking amongst those with only a casual or hesitant engagement with the topic. The 6-week randomised controlled trial with 22-40 year-old male participants (N=152) indicates that bActive prompted users to increase the amount of walking they did by encouraging them to value and increase walking that is incidental to normal everyday activities. Longitudinal data analysis showed that use of the app increased walking by an average of 64% but did not find any evidence to suggest that the inclusion of comparative social feedback improves the impact of such apps on male participants.

Responding to flood risk in the UK

This chapter considers the response of UK householders to the country’s most widespread and damaging natural hazard, flooding. Although flood risk affects 3 million UK residents and major floods in 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007 and 2009 received extensive media coverage, few at-risk householders take any action to reduce their risk exposure. Research conducted in London, Reading and Leeds suggests that people who have insufficient confidence in their ability to manage their exposure to the material impacts of flooding choose instead to adopt anxiety-avoidance strategies such as blame and fatalism. These strategies protect social representations that enable citizens to achieve a feeling of safety in their lives but they also de-legitimise the discourse of risk mitigation. The research suggests that protection of self-identity and social identity also play a role. Only when traumatic or repeated experiences of flooding force changes to identity and make the retention of old representations untenable are these psychological strategies abandoned. When this occurs, individuals either learn to accept the existence of the risk or else fall into a state of disabling anxiety.

Energy Consumption Feedback: Engagement by Design

This paper reports two energy feedback studies and explores the role of design in increasing householder engagement with energy feedback. The paper discusses a range of design issues that arise when developing an energy feedback system. It argues 1) that it is important to provide feedback in terms of activities rather than energy units, which have little relevance to householders, and 2) that emphasising the avoidance of waste could help to make energy consumption visible and prompt changes in energy consuming behaviours.

Why it takes an ‘ontological shock’ to prompt increases in small firm resilience: Sensemaking, emotions and flood risk:

This article uses a sensemaking approach to understand small firms’ responses to the threat of external shocks. By analysing semi-structured interviews with owners of flooded small firms, we investigate how owners process flood experiences and explore why such experiences do not consistently lead to the resilient adaptation of premises. We, conclude that some of the explanation for low levels of adaptation relates to a desire to defend existing sensemaking structures and associated identities. Sensemaking structures are only revised if these structures are not critical to business identity, or if a flood constitutes an ‘ontological shock’ and renders untenable existing assumptions regarding long-term business continuity. This article has implications for adaptation to the growing risk of flooding, climate change and external shocks. Future research analysing external shocks would benefit from using a sensemaking approach and survey studies should include measurements of ‘ontological’ impact as well as material and financial damage. In addition, those designing information campaigns should take account of small firms’ resistance to information that threatens their existing sensemaking structures and social identities.