Pull Apart Carpooling Appeals

Consider the benefits offered by carpooling. As a passenger, you’re relieved of the bother of driving the distance. As a driver, you’re reimbursed for all or part of the cost of the journey. For both driver and passengers, you’re avoiding the traffic congestion and vehicle emissions which come from multiple vehicles. You get to use high occupancy vehicle lanes to move ahead of the rest of the traffic. In addition, the companionship could make the journey more pleasant.
     Still, people need to be persuaded to carpool because there are downsides. You must align your schedule with that of others. You risk sharing the journey with people you consider unpleasant. As a driver, you’re allowing others to contaminate a possession closely entwined with your identity as a person—your private vehicle.
     Researchers at Vienna University of Economics and Business find that this last one is a central point in forming carpools. Since the prospective passengers would be riding in somebody else’s vehicle, their self-identity is not a major issue. The appeal which will work best in attracting drivers is different from what works best in attracting passengers.
     What works best regarding driver recruitment turns out to be a particular facet of self-identity—viewing oneself as environmentally conscientious. Tell those you want to recruit as drivers how their carpooling is a social good. When recruiting passengers, instead emphasize the savings of time, money, and aggravation. Effective persuasion pitches don’t waste the listener’s attention, and talking about environmentalism to prospective passengers wastes their attention.
     In fact, emphasizing environmental conscientiousness to prospective passengers is worse than a waste of influence effort. It might actually discourage people. Studies at Central Michigan University and National Dong Hwa University indicate that consumers often admire environmentalism but consider items which show an environmental conscientiousness to be inferior to those that don’t. In emphasizing the environmental benefits to prospective passengers, for whom other benefits count more, you could be injecting weight into the downsides of carpooling.
     In the Vienna University research, both passengers and drivers were attracted by the opportunity for companionship during a drive to and from work. A “misery loves company” effect has been noted by social psychologists at Vanderbilt University. When we’re in stressful circumstances, being with others suffering the same fate provides support that boosts our tolerance. People can complain to each other and commiserate. They find comfort in forming even short-term social bonds.

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