The effects of videotape modeling and daily feedback on residential electricity conservation, home temperature and humidity, perceived comfort, and clothing worn: Winter and summer.
A short video plus a daily self-comparison graph cuts electricity use up to one-third without anyone feeling colder.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers mailed adults a 15-minute VHS tape. The tape showed neighbors turning thermostats down, adding insulation, and closing drapes.
Each home then got a daily feedback card that compared yesterday’s kilowatts with the same day last week. Participation was optional.
What they found
Electricity use dropped a large share overall. Winter heating and summer cooling fell 25–a large share.
People kept the same thermostat settings and said they felt just as comfortable.
How this fits with other research
Perry et al. (2022) kept the video but added least-to-most prompts to teach church skills to adults with ID. Prompts let the learner pause and retry—something the 1982 study never tested.
van Timmeren et al. (2016) flipped the model: teens with autism shot and watched their own iPhone clips. Self-managed video cut adult prompts to zero, while the 1982 adults still relied on mailed tapes and daily notes from the power company.
Bailey et al. (2010) found no difference between video and live models for kids with autism. That null result looks like a contradiction, but the kids were learning brand-new tasks. The 1982 adults already knew how to twist a thermostat; they just needed a reminder, so video alone was enough.
Why it matters
You can shrink problem behavior or increase cooperation by changing the environment first—less heat, lower bills, calmer staff. Try a 60-second clip plus a daily graph: show yesterday’s data next to last week’s. Email it, tape it to the door, or drop it in a parent app. One minute of video and one number can do the prompting for you.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Two studies were conducted in all-electric townhouses and apartments in the winter (N = 83) and summer (N = 54) to ascertain how energy conservation strategies focusing on thermostat change and set-backs and other low-cost/no-cost approaches would affect overall electricity use and electricity used for heating and cooling, the home thermal environment, the perceived comfort of participants, and clothing that was worn. The studies assessed the effectiveness of videotape modeling programs that demonstrated these conservation strategies when used alone or combined with daily feedback on electricity use. In the winter, the results indicated that videotape modeling and/or feedback were effective relative to baseline and to a control group in reducing overall electricity use by about 15% and electricity used for heating by about 25%. Hygrothermographs, which accurately and continuously recorded temperature and humidity in the homes, indicated that participants were able to live with no reported loss in comfort and no change in attire at a mean temperature of about 62 degrees F when home and about 59 degrees F when asleep. The results were highly discrepant with prior laboratory studies indicating comfort at 75 degrees F with the insulation value of the clothing worn by participants in this study. In the summer, a combination of strategies designed to keep a home cool with minimal or no air conditioning, in conjunction with videotape modeling and/or daily feedback, resulted in overall electricity reductions of about 15% with reductions on electricity for cooling of about 34%, but with feedback, and feedback and modeling more effective than modeling alone. Despite these electricity savings, hygrothermograph recordings indicated minimal temperature change in the homes, with no change in perceived comfort or clothing worn. The results are discussed in terms of discrepancies with laboratory studies, optimal combinations of video-media and personal contact to promote behavior change, and energy policies that may be mislabeled as sacrificial and underestimate the effectiveness of conservation strategies such as those investigated in these studies.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1982 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1982.15-381