The use of plastic bags is discouraged in some cities. If you shop in a store, for instance, you are expected to bring your own bag or pay for a plastic bag. The objective is to discourage you from using such bags. But will this rule reduce the use of plastic bags?

Since this practice is recent, it is possible that you will forget to carry a bag each time you visit a store. And once you get used to paying for the bags, you may not be compelled to carry one to avoid the charge. Why? Your brain gets used to the practice and dulls the pain of paying for it! It works on the same logic that prompts people to continue using their cars and motor bikes even if petrol prices increase by 25 per cent.

Charging a penalty

That said, the decision to charge for use of plastic bags is based on sound logic. The charge is essentially a penalty for degrading the environment. And charging a penalty should reduce the occurrence of the behaviour subject to the penalty; behavioural psychologists call this deterrence hypothesis. Experiments in behavioural psychology have, however, shown that such practice need not always work.

Consider an experiment conducted at a day-care centre. Parents were required to pick-up their children by 4 pm every day from the centre. Some parents regularly came late, forcing the centre to stay open beyond the mandated time. To encourage parents to come on time, the day-care centre imposed a penalty for late arrival. According to the deterrence hypothesis, the penalty ought to discourage the parents from coming late. The opposite, however, happened!

The penalty gave the parents the right to come late; for it was perceived as a fee for keeping the children for a longer time. That removed the parent's moral obligation to come on time. By the same logic, it could be, perhaps, argued that paying for the use of plastic bags removes our moral obligation to protect the environment!

(The author is the founder of Navera Consulting. He can be reached at >enhancek@gmail.com )

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW