Mobility as a service and sustainable travel behaviour: A thematic analysis study

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a novel brand of transport that promises to replace private cars with multimodal personalised mobility packages enabled by a digital platform capable of integrating travel planning, booking and ticketing, and real-time information services. It is an intervention that through its digitisation, connectivity, information and sharing merits intends to inspire and support the transition to a more sustainable mobility paradigm. Recent research suggests, however, that the potential uptake of MaaS might not be overwhelming; current car drivers could face considerable difficulties in bypassing their personal car for it and, more worryingly, future MaaS users may substitute not only personal car trips but also public transport journeys with car-sharing and ride-sharing services. This means that MaaS might not be able to create travel behaviour change, and even if it does, the changes may not be always towards the right direction. Through conducting 40 semi-structured interviews in three different UK cities, namely London, Birmingham and Huddersfield, and employing a robust Thematic Analysis approach, this study explores the factors underpinning the uptake and potential success of MaaS as a sustainable travel mechanism. The challenges and opportunities reflecting and affecting potential for responsible MaaS usage refer to five core themes Car Dependence; Trust; Human Element Externalities; Value; and Cost, each of them with distinctive and diverse dimensions. Policy-makers and mobility providers should realise that MaaS success relies on changing people’s attitudes to private cars (something very challenging) and thus they should incentivise responsible MaaS use, promote public transport as its backbone, use public engagement exercises and trials to expose people to the concept and somewhat demonise private car ownership and car use.     

Healthy marriage initiatives: on the need for empiricism in policy implementation

The association between marriage and well-being has led to policies that promote marital interventions and discourage divorce. These include federal initiatives specifically targeting poor couples and couples of color. While there are many prospective studies on marriage that have informed some couple interventions, the studies that are included in this literature sampled predominantly White and middle-class couples. By comparison, far less is known about the longitudinal predictors of relationship satisfaction and status for poor couples and couples of color. Therefore, it is unsurprising that preliminary data on applying current interventions to the couples targeted by these federal initiatives have been disappointing. In this article, I detail three concerns with these initiatives, propose a course of psychological research to address deficits in what is known about poor couples and couples of color, and make specific recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of these initiatives.     

Identity and travel behaviour: A cross-sectional study on commute mode choice and intention to change

IntroductionSocial and self-identities have been conceptualised to prevent travel behaviour change, as threats to one’s identity may cause resistance to change. This study focuses on the role of social, transport, place, and self-identities on commute mode choice and intention to change mode choice.MethodData were collected in June 2015 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Invitations to participate were distributed by mail using data from the municipality, resulting in 1062 adult participants.The outcome measures were the transport mode shares based on a 14-day travel-to-and-from-work record of trips (i) involving any car use, (ii) involving any bicycling, (iii) involving any walking, and (iv) involving any public transport use. The second series of outcome measures concerned the willingness to change the amount of car use, bicycle use and walking, determined by the question ‘to what extent do you intend to change the use of …?’. Identity was measured on a seven-point disagree/agree scale for 17 items by asking to what extent the respondent ‘sees him/herself as …’. Separate multinomial regression models were estimated stepwise adjusting for socioeconomic and transport characteristics.ResultsMultiple identity items were associated with the use of all commute modes. In the maximally adjusted models, identities associated with the respective modes remained significant. For example, whether someone identified themselves with being a cyclist corresponded with higher likelihood of cycling occasionally (relative risk ratio (RRR): 1.84; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.47–2.30), or always to work (RRR: 2.86; 95% CI: 2.16–3.79). In addition, we found that a family-oriented identity was negatively associated with occasional commuting by car, and a ‘sporty’ identity was negatively associated with always cycling to work.Transport identities were also associated with stated intentions to change as were several social, place, and self-identities. Identifying with being a car driver decreased the likelihood of intending to reduce car use, but it increased the likelihood of intending to increase car use, as did identifying with being career-oriented. Individuals that identified with being a cyclist were less likely to have an intention to reduce bicycle use, whereas countryside-lovers had greater intentions of increasing cycling. Individuals that identified themselves as pedestrians had a lower intention of decreasing their walking levels, and a higher intention of increasing them, as did those who identified themselves as being family-oriented.DiscussionThe results confirm limited previous findings that identifying with users of a transport mode correspond with its use. Nevertheless, questions around causality remain. The intention to change mode choice was associated with several identities, including transport-related identities, place-related identities, social/family-related identities, and self-identities. Future research should focus on the associations between identity and actual behaviour change to further our understanding of the effect of identity on travel behaviour.     

Representational gravity: Empirical findings and theoretical implications

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Judgment of the location of a previously viewed moving or stationary target is often displaced in the direction of implied gravitational attraction, and this has...     

A detailed evaluation of ramp metering impacts on driver behaviour

Ramp metering was first installed in Chicago in 1963 and is now widely employed in North America and European countries to alleviate motorway traffic congestion. A detailed investigation was carried out to study the potential impacts of ramp metering on driving behaviour. An instrumented vehicle and 11 video cameras were used to measure detailed driving performance of drivers merging at on ramps and those on motorway carriageways in a ramp metering controlled intersection with and without ramp metering control. The main behavioural parameters used for the study include: speed, headway, acceleration and deceleration, sizes of accepted gap, merge distance, speed at merge, etc. Based on the study, it is believed that ramp metering does result in driving behaviour changes of traffic on the motorway carriageway and on ramp. It improves the merge condition of traffic at the on ramp, but may cause minor reduction of speeds of traffic on motorway carriageway during the metering time.     

Neighbourhood preferences,active travel behaviour,and built environment: An exploratory study

In the current study we investigated the extent to which neighbourhood preferences could be used as a base to group people in order to explore their residential and travel choices. The basic idea of this study was that the preferences people would have for their residential and travel choices might be a robust predictor of their actual travel behaviour, and that the neighbourhood preferences might distinguish people in terms of the characteristics of their living environment. We used a moderation model to test whether the effect of built environment on travel behaviour varied in terms of resident’s type. A total of 3403 inhabitants of the city of Tampere in Finland participated in the study. A web-based public participation GIS survey combining the questionnaires with a map (SoftGIS technique) was used to collect the data. We identified two distinct groups of residents in terms of general neighbourhood preferences. The findings showed that clustering residents based on neighbourhood preferences moderated the association between some features of density measures and travel behaviour. We found significant differences between the two clusters in both the frequencies and the distance of pedestrian and bike travel. The findings revealed that inhabitants of neighbourhoods with a larger percentage of green surroundings had a greater perception of neighbourhood stability than did the residents of neighbourhoods with a smaller percentage of green surroundings.     

Preventing extremism through education: exploring impacts and implications of counter-radicalisation efforts

ABSTRACT

The counter-radicalisation efforts that have swept through much of the world seem to have placed schools and universities at the forefront of global counterterrorism. In this article, we review research to explore the impacts and implications of preventing radicalisation and violent extremism through education. We synthesised themes from the literature in relation to intervention models that differentiate between primary, secondary and tertiary prevention levels, in order to embrace the heterogeneity and complexity of radicalisation issues. Research is at an early stage in trying to make sense of the ‘causes and cures’ of radicalisation in the context of young people and education; yet our review suggests that educators should approach prevention through humanistic, relational and inclusive pedagogics. However, counter-radicalisation efforts tend to result in the use of ‘harder’ prevention strategies, which can have quite negative impacts on education. Although scholarly output is growing, effectiveness evidence on these issues remains weak. More consideration should be given to study how the counter-radicalisation discourse is merged with education, and with what consequences.     

The prematurity stereotype: Empirical evidence and implications for practice

The prematurity stereotype is defined as a set of biased beliefs about infants who are identified as having been born prematurely. This article reviews studies that have explored how this prematurity stereotype may negatively influence adults' perceptions of, expectations for, and behavior toward premature infants. The findings from these studies are considered in the context of more general knowledge about how expectations can influence behavior and result in self-fulfilling prophecies. Recent research designed to investigate how prematurity stereotyping can be reduced also is described and evaluated. Finally, the implications of this program of research for intervention with parents of premature infants and suggestions for future research directions are discussed.     

Identification of the psychopathic batterer: The clinical,legal, and policy implications

A number of theoretical and empirical sources have proposed that a subgroup of domestically violent men exhibit more antisocial behavior, express more generalized violence, and are generally more resistant to mental health intervention than others. In a parallel literature, researchers have identified a subgroup of violent criminal offenders (i.e., psychopaths) that exhibit a number of similar characteristics to this more antisocial/generally violent group of batterers. Moreover, the offender literature on psychopathy describes the violence tendencies, physiological responses, cognitive impairments, interpersonal/affective characteristics, and treatment responsiveness of these individuals in much greater depth and breadth than the current domestic violence literature. The present article seeks to compare and contrast these two literatures, proposing that there is a subgroup of batterers that can be characterized as exhibiting significant psychopathic characteristics. The clinical, legal, and policy implications of identifying a subgroup of batterers in this manner also are explored.     

Through the community looking glass: reevaluating the ethical and policy implications of research on adolescent risk and sociopathology

Drawing on a conception of scientists and community members as partners in the construction of ethically responsible research practices, this article urges investigators to seek the perspectives of teenagers and parents in evaluating the personal and political costs and benefits of research on adolescent risk behaviors. Content analysis of focus group discussions involving over 100 parents and teenagers from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds revealed community opinions regarding the scientific merit, social value, racial bias, and participant and group harms and benefits associated with surveys, informant reports, intervention studies, blood sampling, and genetic research on youth problems. Participants comments highlight new directions for socially responsible research.     

Route-based travel and shared routes in sympatric spider and woolly monkeys: cognitive and evolutionary implications

Many wild primates occupy large home ranges and travel long distances each day. Navigating these ranges to find sufficient food presents a substantial cognitive challenge, but we are still far from understanding either how primates represent spatial information mentally or how they use this information to navigate under natural conditions. In the course of a long-term socioecological study, we investigated and compared the travel paths of sympatric spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth) and woolly monkeys (Lagothrix poeppigii) in Amazonian Ecuador. During several field seasons spanning an 8-year period, we followed focal individuals or groups of both species continuously for periods of multiple days and mapped their travel paths in detail. We found that both primates typically traveled through their home ranges following repeatedly used paths, or “routes”. Many of these routes were common to both species and were stable across study years. Several important routes appeared to be associated with distinct topographic features (e.g., ridgetops), which may constitute easily recognized landmarks useful for spatial navigation. The majority of all location records for both species fell along or near identified routes, as did most of the trees used for fruit feeding. Our results provide strong support for the idea that both woolly and spider monkey use route-based mental maps similar to those proposed by Poucet (Psychol Rev 100:163–182, 1993). We suggest that rather than remembering the specific locations of thousands of individual feeding trees and their phenological schedules, spider and woolly monkeys could nonetheless forage efficiently by committing to memory a series of route segments that, when followed, bring them into contact with many potential feeding sources for monitoring or visitation. Furthermore, because swallowed and defecated seeds are deposited in greater frequency along routes, the repeated use of particular travel paths over generations could profoundly influence the structure and composition of tropical forests, raising the intriguing possibility that these and other primate frugivores are active participants in constructing their own ecological niches. Building upon the insights of Byrne (Q J Exp Psychol 31:147–154, 1979, Normality and pathology in cognitive functions. Academic, London, pp 239–264, 1982) and Milton (The foraging strategy of howler monkeys: a study in primate economics. Columbia University Press, New York, 1980, On the move: how and why animals travel in groups. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 375–417, 2000), our results highlight the likely general importance of route-based travel in the memory and foraging strategies of nonhuman primates.

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This contribution is part of the Special Issue “A Socioecological Perspective on Primate Cognition” (Cunningham and Janson 2007).     

Social science stereotypes of the Mexican American woman: policy implications for research

Reviewing the social science literature on the Chicana or Mexican American woman reveals a tenaciously perpetuated stereotype in which she appears almost exclusively as a submissive maternal figure. This may be related to an on-going trend to support studies of interpersonal or cultural characteristics of Chicanas and a resistance to undertake evaluations of systemic discrimination against Mexican American women. Almost all such studies investigated lower class samples, thus confounding ethnicity with socioeconomic status. The size and selection of many of the samples are questionable for purposes of generalizing to the entire population. Because many concepts are not defined in behavioral terms, they are seldom assessed empirically. The main concern is to what extent social scientists and the media are dictating norms to the Chicano family and to what extent are social planners and educators being influenced by these images. Examples from 3 distinct areas of research conclude with interpretations of Mexican American women that differ considerably from those with a heavy emphasis on cultural values: 1) demographic analyses of the 1970 Public Use Samples of the census that acknowledge the disadvantaged economic position of Mexican Americans; 2) studies that are beginning to measure empirically the family dynamics of Mexican Americans; and 3) family planning studies that attempt to examine the interaction between health care delivery systems and Mexican American contraceptive behavior. Trained and experienced Chicana researchers are needed to offset the male orientation and ethnocentrism that have characterized the social sciences.     

The non-epistemology of intelligent design: its implications for public policy

Intelligent design creationism (ID) is a religious belief requiring a supernatural creator’s interventions in the natural order. ID thus brings with it, as does supernatural theism by its nature, intractable epistemological difficulties. Despite these difficulties and despite ID’s defeat in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005), ID creationists’ continuing efforts to promote the teaching of ID in public school science classrooms threaten both science education and the separation of church and state guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. I examine the ID movement’s failure to provide either a methodology or a functional epistemology to support their supernaturalism, a deficiency that consequently leaves them without epistemic support for their creationist claims. My examination focuses primarily on ID supporter Francis Beckwith, whose published defenses of teaching ID, as well as his other relevant publications concerning education, law, and public policy, have been largely exempt from critical scrutiny. Beckwith’s work exhibits the epistemological deficiencies of the supernaturally grounded views of his ID associates and of supernaturalists in general. I preface my examination of Beckwith’s arguments with (1) philosopher of science Susan Haack’s clarification of the established naturalistic methodology and epistemology of science and (2) discussions of the views of Beckwith’s ID associates Phillip Johnson and William Dembski. Finally, I critique the religious exclusionism that Beckwith shares with his ID associates and the implications of his exclusionism for public policy.     

A randomised controlled trial of the effects of implementation intentions on women's walking behaviour

The combination of low physical activity rates and increased cardiovascular deaths indicate the overwhelming need for behaviour change interventions that can effectively promote physical activity among sedentary women. This 11-week randomised controlled trial examined the effects of an implementation intentions intervention on sedentary women's walking behaviour. Seventy-five women (M age = 48.17) were randomly assigned to either a control group where they were required to self-monitor their daily pedometer-determined step count or to an experimental group where they were asked to form specific walking plans (i.e. implementation intentions) every 6 weeks and to self-monitor their daily pedometer-determined step count. Measures of exercise intentions, perceived behavioural control, scheduling and barrier self-efficacy were administered at baseline, week 6 and week 11. Analyses indicated higher step counts over the first 6 weeks for women in the experimental condition (p < 0.02). Furthermore, higher self-efficacy to schedule (p < 0.01) and overcome walking barriers (p < 0.03), as well as higher perceptions of behavioural control (p < 0.02) were found at week 11 for women in the experimental versus control condition. However, none of the control beliefs were found to mediate the effects of the intervention on the women's walking behaviour. Furthermore, the intervention did not have any effect on the strength of the goal intention–behaviour relationship. The findings suggest implementation intentions are an effective strategy for initiating leisure-time walking within sedentary women.     

Ecobehavioral analysis in the classroom: Review and implications

A rapidly developing area within applied behavior analysis that has implications for classroom instruction and behavior management is ecobehavioral analysis. Ecobehavioral analysis adds to behavior analysis the assessment of situational or contextual factors, such as classroom physical arrangements, instructional materials used by students, and teacher's behavior. Its eventual importance and contribution to behavior analysis and to education, however, has yet to be realized. In fact, it is difficult to find adequate accounts of exactly what ecobehavioral analysis entails (Morris & Midgley, 1990). To date, it has led to a number of interesting contributions. These include the development and validation of specific classroom instructional procedures, the development of a number of approaches to the reduction of challenging behaviors, an improved understanding of the components of effective instruction including the identification of instructional risk factors within regular and special education, as well as providing a better understanding of how the quality of implementation functions as a mediating variable for student outcomes. In this paper, we discuss the theory and principles that support ecobehavioral analysis, review research literature concerning its use in educational settings, describe emerging applications by school personnel (e.g., teachers, school psychologists), and examine a number of future research directions and their implications.     

Sustainable development, engineering and multinational corporations: Ethical and public policy implications

This paper explores the concept of sustainable development and its ethical and public policy implications for engineering and multinational corporations. Sustainable development involves achieving objectives in three realms: ecological (sustainable scale), economic (efficient allocation) and social (just distribution). While movement toward a sustainable society is dependent upon satisfying all three objectives, questions of just distribution and other questions of equity are often left off the table or downplayed when engineers and corporate leaders consider sustainable development issues. Indeed, almost all the effort of engineers and engineering organizations on the issue of sustainable development has been focused on striking a balance between economic development and environmental protection. Similarly, corporate approaches rely on technological fixes to the challenges posed by sustainable development. While there have been some efforts aimed at incorporating environmental and social equity concepts into engineering codes of ethics, social concerns have been secondary to environmental issues. The incongruity between the ideal of sustainable development and the way in which it is typically characterized by the engineering and business communities has significant implications for engineering and public policy, engineering ethics, and the potential roles of engineers and multinational corporations as facilitators of a transition to a sustainable society. Presented at the Engineering Foundation Conference on “Ethics for Science and Engineering Based International Industries”, Durham, NC, USA, September 1997. An earlier version was presented at and appeared in the proceedings of the “1997 International Symposium on Technology and Society”, IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, June 1997. The author, an Assistant Prolessor of Multidisciplinary Studies, teaches in the Science, Technology and Society Program and is Director of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program, a dual-degree program in engineering and humanities/social sciences.     

The implementation of guided Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy for panic disorder in a routine-care setting: effectiveness and implementation efforts

Panic disorder is a common mental disorder. Guided Internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (Guided Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT)) is a promising approach to reach more people in need of help. In the present effectiveness study, we investigated the outcome of guided ICBT for panic disorder after implementation in routine care. A total of 124 patients were included in the study, of which 114 started the treatment. Large within-group effect sizes were observed on the primary panic disorder symptoms (post-treatment: d = 1.24; 6-month follow-up: d = 1.39) and moderate and large effects on secondary panic disorder symptoms and depressive symptoms at post-treatment and follow-up (d = .55–1.13). More than half (56.1%) of the patients who started treatment recovered or improved at post-treatment. Among treatment takers (completed at least five of the nine modules), 69.9% recovered or improved. The effectiveness reported in the present trial is in line with previous effectiveness and efficacy trials of guided ICBT for panic disorder. This provides additional support for guided ICBT as a treatment alternative in routine care.     

No Easy Answers: Avoiding Potential Pitfalls of De‐implementation

In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began to de‐emphasize and de‐implement multiple evidence‐based HIV prevention practices that had been around for 20 years, thus changing the scope of implementation across the globe. The authors provide evidence how existing interventions (e.g., CDC HIV interventions) may influence implementation of interventions that came after the program was discontinued. De‐implementation is an ecological event that influences, and is influenced by, many parts of a system, for instance, implementation of one type of intervention may influence the implementation of other interventions (biomedical and/or behavioral) after a long‐running program is discontinued. Researchers and policy makers ought to consider how de‐implementation of behavioral interventions is influenced by biomedical interventions mass‐produced by companies with lobbying power. The scientific study of de‐implementation will be inadequate without consideration of the political climate that surrounds de‐implementation of certain types of interventions and the promotion of more‐profitable ones.     

A simple syllogism-solving test: Empirical findings and implications for g research

It has been reported that the ability to solve syllogisms is highly g-loaded. In the present study, using a self-administered shortened version of a syllogism-solving test, the BAROCO Short, we examined whether robust findings generated by previous research regarding IQ scores were also applicable to BAROCO Short scores. Five syllogism-solving problems were included in a questionnaire as part of a postal survey conducted by the Keio Twin Research Center. Data were collected from 487 pairs of twins (1021 individuals) who were Japanese junior high or high school students (ages 13–18) and from 536 mothers and 431 fathers. Four findings related to IQ were replicated: 1) The mean level increased gradually during adolescence, stayed unchanged from the 30s to the early 50s, and subsequently declined after the late 50s. 2) The scores for both children and parents were predicted by the socioeconomic status of the family. 3) The genetic effect increased, although the shared environmental effect decreased during progression from adolescence to adulthood. 4) Children's scores were genetically correlated with school achievement. These findings further substantiate the close association between syllogistic reasoning ability and g.