Psychology spotlight on power conversation

By SIMON COLLINS

Psychologists at Waikato University have won $75,000 a year for five years to research conversational strategies to persuade people to save energy.

Associate Professor Bernard Guerin and researcher Linda Waimarie Nikora plan to listen in on conversations to find out how people talk about issues such as New Zealand's recurrent power crises.

Using similar work he has done on racism, Dr Guerin suspects that people may be talking one another out of conserving energy not because they really have any strong objection to it - but simply so that they can be liked by their friends.

"A lot of racial talk is more as jokes, which is good for conversation because everyone laughs," he said.

People did not challenge it because they did not want to be seen as "kill-joys".

"If I say, 'That's racist', you can just see it: 'Haven't you got a sense of humour?"'

His research shows that a lot of conversation is not used to convey facts, or even to seriously persuade other people about anything, but just to maintain relationships.

"We spend a great deal of our time building and maintaining relationships, whether intimate or those of 'weak ties'," he wrote in a recent journal article.

"Anthropologists notice the large number of seemingly pointless rituals that help to maintain social relationships."

"Non-PC" jokes were often used to attract attention by shock value.

But he believes that, even though they are not meant seriously, these jokes reinforce racist attitudes.

He believes the same thing may be happening with saving power.

"Even for people who approve of energy conservation, a casual joke from a friend about being the only one saving energy, or a casual comment that household savings are a conspiracy by energy companies to make money and that only fools would bother can quickly flip them away from everything they believe."

He and Ms Nikora plan to record conversations that are "as natural as possible", although for ethical reasons they will always ask people for permission first.

They also plan to test techniques that people who believe in saving power could use when their friends make jokes about it.

"We will illustrate conversational strategies that allow them to both talk about their energy conservation activities and to respond better to any rhetoric or ridicule that comes back at them - without having to lose friends."