Energy Graph Feedback: Attention, Cognition and Behavior Intentions

Behavioral science has long acknowledged that informational and performance feedback is a key to behavior change. The graph features prominently as a feedback modality. Driven by the large scale deployment of energy sensing devices, graphs have become a ubiquitous visualization of household energy consumption. We investigate the influence of three energy graph formats (bar, line and radial) and two cue conditions (color or numeric cues) within four group conditions (cost or kilowatt hour subject matter with single graph or comparison graph feedback) on five outcomes. Ease of understanding, positive attitudes and involvement were higher for bar and line graphs. Novel graph formats – the radial graph, were attended to longer and associated with more learning. There were no overall behavioral change intention effects by condition, although a few individual energy behavior intentions did differ by condition. The importance of multiple outcomes of graph feedback and the relationships among outcomes are discussed.

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