IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 36

motivation to engage in sustainable-energy behaviors and
act beyond immediate personal interests.
most approaches to promote sustainable-energy behaviors conceptualize people as individuals motivated by
self-interest. Yet, the social context-and in particular the
groups people are part of-play an important role in how
people think and behave, even though they often don't
realize this. We do not live in a social vacuum. rather, we
are members of various groups-friendship, professional,
and community-that have the potential to influence our
energy attitudes and behaviors. for instance, when you buy
an electric vehicle, you may feel that this was your decision, yet the fact that most people in your neighborhood
have an electric vehicle may have (consciously or unconsciously) motivated you to buy one too. in this sense, the
adoption of an electric vehicle is not merely an individual
decision; it may be motivated by the fact that you belong to
a particular neighborhood. Your membership of that neighborhood group can guide your actions, in this case whether
or not to buy an electric vehicle. in addition, the adoption
of an electric vehicle could also signal to others that you
belong to a particular group, namely, the group of people
who care about sustainable energy (assuming electrical
vehicles are good for sustainability). this example illustrates that people's sustainable actions and attitudes can be
guided by the groups to which they belong (see figure 1).
in this article, we will discuss how groups and groupbased approaches can be used to promote more sustainableenergy behaviors among group members. We will first
outline the key theoretical lens within social psychology-
the social identity approach-that provides an understanding of why groups influence attitudes and behaviors. We
will then discuss how this theoretical lens enables a better
understanding of energy-related attitudes and behaviors.
We will use these insights to discuss different group-based

approaches to encourage sustainable-energy attitudes and
behaviors. We hope these insights enable readers to better
assess the important role of groups in promoting a sustainable society and help them to better take into account the
human dimension of the sustainable-energy transition in
their professional practice.

How Can Groups Influence
Energy-Related Attitudes and Behaviors?

a central proposition of the social identity approach is that
our self-concept is made up of both personal and social identities. Our personal identity is comprised of the distinctive
and idiosyncratic aspects of ourselves that makes us different
from others. social identities, on the other hand, are the identities that arise from membership in specific social groups.
for example, a reader of this article may have a self-concept
that is made up of the social identities of being a woman,
an electrical engineer, and a member of the ieee power &
energy society. Our social identities can relate to large social
categories like gender, profession, or nationality, to small
groups such as friendships or work group, and to mediumsized groups such as a neighborhood or a school. the social
identity approach contends that our membership in any of
these groups can influence how we think and behave.
the social identity approach outlines the conditions under
which our membership in a specific group (i.e., our social
identity) will influence our attitudes and actions. When the
situation makes our personal identity come to the fore, we
define ourselves in terms of our distinctive attributes, and
our behavior is driven by individual motives. as an example,
a conversation with another electrical engineer that highlights that you are someone who cares strongly about the
environment, whereas he/she does not, may activate this
personal identity ("i") and influence your decision about
whether to invest in sustainable-energy technology (see figure 2 for an illustration of salient
personal identity).
in contrast, when a particular
social identity becomes salient,
our personal identity is pushed to
the background and we define ourselves in terms of this group membership; we internalize the content
of that group identity (i.e., its needs,
goals, norms, and values), and our
attitudes and behaviors are driven
by the group's motivations. group
members are also more likely to
communicate with and influence
each other as well as cooperate
and act collectively to pursue their
group's interests. group members'
relations with other groups can also
figure 1. Engaging in sustainable-energy behaviors, such as the adoption of an
change.
members aim to see themelectric vehicle, may well be influenced by the group(s) of which you are a member.
selves as positively distinct from
(© Marlies Bouman, used with permission.)

ieee power & energy magazine

january/february 2018

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