Chapter 3

• Cognitive Dissonance Reduction


  • Behavior vs. attitudes
  • Easier to change attitudes than behavior
• Policy Effectiveness

  • Need for integrated policies
  • Examples like congestion charging
  • Uncertainty around MaaS adoption
• Objective

  • Reduce private car use
  • Stimulate public transport and active/shared transport modes
  • Combat congestion, climate change, and improve public health
• Disciplinary Perspectives

  • Psychology, economics, geography
  • Differences in determinants and mechanisms
  • Interconnectedness between disciplines
• Understanding Travel Behavior

  1. Importance of interdisciplinary approach

  2. Psychology, economics, and geography perspectives

  3. Factors influencing travel choices
• Macro-level Influences

  • Economic growth, demographic changes
  • Societal developments affect NOA factors
• BEHAVIOURAL CHOICES FROM A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

  1. Theoretical Perspectives in Psychology

  2. Integration into Framework

  3. Shortcomings

  4. Motivational Factors
• Perceived Feasibility


  • Perception affects choices
  • People may lack information on alternatives
• Conceptual Model of Travel Behaviour

  • NOA Model Needs, Opportunities, Abilities
  • Influences travel behavior
  • Changes in response to alterations in NOA factors
• Travel Behavior Statistics

  • Key indicators driving licenses, car ownership, trips, kilometers/day
  • Differentiated by gender, age, income
• Multilevel Perspective


  • Spatial scales influence manifestations of changes
  • Neighbourhood, city, region, country, continent
• Theoretical Perspectives on Motivational Factors

  • Weighing various individual costs and benefits
  • Moral and normative concerns
  • Affect and symbolic factors
• Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory

  • Problem awareness rooted in personal values
  • Self-transcendence values linked to favorability of reducing car use
• Norm Activation Model (NAM)

  • People engage in behaviors based on moral obligation
  • Personal norms activated by problem awareness and outcome efficacy
• Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)


  • Assumes behavior results from intentions
  • Influenced by attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control
  • Reflects costs, benefits, social norms, and feasibility
• Integrative Perspective


  • Goal-framing theory suggests multiple goals influence behavior
  • Hedonic, gain, and normative goal-frames coincide with theoretical frameworks
• Affect and Symbolic Factors


  • Travel behavior influenced by instrumental, symbolic, and affective motives
  • Car use related to symbolic and affective motives more strongly than instrumental
• Contextual Factors

  1. Direct Effect of Contextual Factors

  2. Indirect Effect of Contextual Factors

  3. Moderation of Relationship

  4. Determination of Dominant Motivation
• Characteristics of Habits

  • Habits are formed when behavior consistently leads to positive outcomes
  • They involve a goal to be achieved, repetition of the same action, and are mediated by mental processes
  • Behavior becomes automatically elicited by contextual cues associated with the goal-directed behavior
• Measurement of Habit Strength

  • Habit strength is measured by assessing how choices are made in familiar situations, rather than simply focusing on the frequency of behavior
  • This approach, known as the response-frequency measure, has been successfully used in studies on travel behavior
• Temporary measures inducing alternative travel modes

  • Resulted in long-term reductions in car use, particularly among habitual car drivers
• Lifestyle changes

  • Moving, changing jobs, having children, or the COVID-19 pandemic can prompt reconsideration of habitual behavior
• Measurement of Habit Strength


  Assessed by how choices are made in familiar situations, rather than simply focusing on the frequency of behavior
• Preferences of consumers

  • Form the basis of analysis, and individuals are assumed to make choices by comparing options based on desirability
• Complete and Consistent Ranking


  • Consumers are assumed to arrive at a complete and consistent ranking of alternatives, enabling comparisons among different options
• Behavioral Economics Integration
• Economic models assume that individuals make choices based on rational considerations to maximize overall satisfaction
• Utility Functions and Preferences

  • Utility functions represent consumer preferences, where attributes of alternatives are weighted according to their importance
• Budget Allocation and Trade-offs


  • Consumers allocate monetary and time budgets over alternative uses, considering not only the price of goods or services but also the time required for consumption
• Demand Function for Travel

  Optimization of utility by consumers results in a demand function for kilometers traveled, showing how travel demand varies with the price per kilometer and the time needed to travel, among other factors
• Generalized Costs

  • Encompass both monetary and time-related costs, with an increasing share of time costs in generalized transport costs as people become wealthier
• Sophisticated Models


  • Separate VOT from values of schedule delays and travel time uncertainty to better capture complex decision-making scenarios
• Variability of VOT


  • Different travelers have different values of time, which can also vary depending on circumstances and trip purposes
• Value of Travel Time

  • Represents the trade-off consumers make between price and speed when comparing different travel options
• Cross-Price Elasticity


  • Measures the sensitivity of demand for one good to changes in the price of another good
• Travel Time Elasticity

  • Measures the sensitivity of demand for travel time
• Own Price Elasticity


  • Measures the sensitivity of demand for a good or service to changes in its own price
• Price Elasticity


  • The sensitivity of demand with respect to price changes: own price elasticity and cross-price elasticity
• Positive cross-price elasticity


  Implies substitution between goods
• Negative cross-price elasticity


  Implies complementarity between goods