my car is a video game

Goodness, it has been a week since my last post!  Fall quarter started up on Monday, so I have been chipping away at my classes all week.  I'm taking Methods of Psychological Research, Modern American Literature, Environmental Issues & Problems, and Introductory Physics.  Psych research ends a month from now (eek!) so physics will be my hardest course once that's done.

But anyway.  This summer I bought an adorable little red Prius, which I love to bits.  I particularly enjoy the two of the nifty dashboard displays.  One shows you whether the car is using the gas engine, electric motor, both, or neither (such as when coasting downhill). 

The other (pictured to the left, click for huge version) tracks your fuel consumption.  The bar graph provides a readout of miles-per-gallon and power regeneration in 5 minute increments.  The bottom display the average MPG since the last refuel.  

(You can see more views of both displays at this post by Carpundit.)

You already know I am a geek so I have no hesitation in revealing that I find this feature crazy fun.  The energy monitor is a fun logic puzzle as you try to figure out when and why it switches between gas and electric.  Obviously it is not completely random, but the algorithm for the switch is not readily obvious either.

But the especially fun one is the consumption monitor.  It is endlessly amusing for me to sit in the passenger seat and watch how driving style affects MPG and regeneration.

Using the general knowledge that the energy monitor gives you, you can learn to maximize MPG (for example, not accelerating quickly, or using engine braking when going downhill or coming to a stop). 

And unlike most cars, you get almost instant feedback through the consumption monitor.  Instead of calculating an average when you fill up or even just noticing you saved a few cents on gas, you see with five minutes how well you've done. 

When I'm in the passenger seat, the driver and I often (and this is really geeky) cheer when a particularly high MPG pops up due to efficient driving.  I even have a few photos on my camera phone from times when we've hit an especially long run of high MPG.  For example, the photo to the left is from a memorable drive up the 1 from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, where gently rolling hills and my co-pilot's excellent engine braking skills kept the MPG at nearly 100 for over fifteen minutes and regenerated 400Wh!

Artur tells me that there is research showing that constant monitoring of this kind turns activities into a video game.  Any time you can constantly see the effects of your actions in digital form (heart rate monitoring comes to mind,** or calories burned on a treadmill), it becomes a game to adjust your actions and see the effects.

So why am I treading on the lovely Jane MacGonigal's turf on my little literature blog?  One of my "humanity through humanities" interests is the psychology of motivation as seen through literature (see what do bestsellers tell us about society?), particularly the literature of technology (see del.icio.us as a model for social change). 

So you can probably see where I'm going with this: how can this be harnessed for social change?   Yes, you've heard this question from me before, and hopefully you will hear it a lot more.   This seems particularly relevant to environmental concerns, such as the Prius' motivator to save gas. 

From a psychology of motivation perspective, the Prius essentially shortens the time between action and reinforcement.  If you took Psych 101 you probably remember rat studies that explore this idea.*  A rat is placed in a box and tries to perform a maze correctly, receiving a pellet for a correct performance.  If the rat receives a pellet immediately after performing a maze correctly, it will remember the maze better next time.  If the rat receives a pellet a day after performing a maze correctly, the rat doesn't connect the two and the reward has no effect on the maze.  You receive the electrical bill after two months and it isn't connected to that time six weeks ago that you left the lights on when you went away for the weekend, or even all those times you left the lights on when you went out to dinner.

Carolyn Webster-Stratton's Incredible Years program applies the same principle when using logical consequences for children.***  If a child goes outside in winter without a coat, the consequence (being cold) is logical and immediate, therefore reinforcing the lesson that cold weather requires a coat.  But if a child does not study for a spelling test, the consequence (failing the spelling text next week) is logical but not immediate, so the child doesn't connect the failing grade with all those nights spent playing video games instead of studying.  The environment is one big spelling test that we are failing, but the grades likely won't come in until our children's, grandchildren's, or great-grandchildren's generations if we're lucky.  The consequences of not conserving are logical but without a Prius-style display, they are not immediate.

So back to the example of electricity.  What could be done to reduce the period between action and reinforcement?  I picture putting up a Prius-style display in my apartment, perhaps over the living room lightswitch, showing in real time the kilowatts of power my house is using plus averages for the hour, day, week, and month.  I imagine testing out the different combinations of lights that produce the ideal combination of low wattage and light needed for my task, instead of just flipping on all the lights at once.

Surely there could be lots more environmental applications for this.  I hope people smarter than me get around to inventing and implementing them!

* There are lots of examples and of course I don't have a relevant textbook handy, but one good example with pigeons is Fantino, E., & Dunn, M. (1983). The delay-reduction hypothesis: Extension to three-alternative choice.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 9(2), 132-146.
** For example, Larkin, K.T., Zayfert, C., Veltum, L.G., & Abel, J.L. (1992).  Effects of feedback and contingent reinforcement in reducing heart rate response to stress.  Journal of Psychophysiology, 6(2), 119-130.
*** From a therapeutic perspective, see Webster-Stratton, C.  (2007).  Reducing Inappropriate Behaviors: Part 5, Logical Consequences.  In Leader's Guide: School-Age Version (ages 6-12 years), (pp. 639-676). The Incredible Years: Parents, Teachers, and Children Training Series. Seattle: Incredible Years Press.
From a parent/lay perspective, see Webster-Stratton, C.  (2005).  Logical Consequences.  In The Incredible Years (don't have my copy handy for page numbers).  Seattle: Incredible Years Press.

Update, 10/19/07

Artur points to this DEFRA report, which analyzes the effects of feedback on energy consumption.  Here is the beginning of the executive summary:

Most domestic energy use, most of the time, is invisible to the user. Most people
have only a vague idea of how much energy they are using for different purposes
and what sort of difference they could make by changing day-to-day behaviour or
investing in efficiency measures. Hence the importance of feedback in making
energy more visible and more amenable to understanding and control. This
review considers what is known about the effectiveness of feedback to
householders. The focus is on how people change their behaviour, not on the
detail of the technology used. 

He also briefly posted on Radar about technologies that monitor everyday power usage here, and plans a followup on the latest technologies.  I'm looking forward to it!