Peer Pressure: Experimental Evidence from Restroom Behavior

The purpose of the intervention is to study whether social pressure influences public restroom behavior in male adults.

2016-01-01

2017-01-01

handwashing, urinal flushing

The experiment was performed in male restrooms at Universidad de San Andrés in order to assess the effect of social pressure on two variables of interest: handwashing and urinal flushing. The experiment itself was conducted in three shifts: 1) a morning shift from 10 am to 12 pm, 2) mid-day shift from 12-2pm and 3) afternoon shift from 2-4pm. Six males acted out as the evaluators. They would each enter the restroom 8 seconds after the participant and place himself at another urinal. The observer would then act as another user of the restroom, without flushing the urinal or washing his hands. The evaluator would then note if the participant would flush the urinal or wash his hands after using the urinal. For the control group, the evaluator waited outside and listened if the participant flushed the urinal and/or washed his hands.

The results indicate that 66.3% of people wash their hands in public restrooms when no one else is present and this proportion increases by 12.5 percentage points if someone else is present, thereby suggesting that male handwashing in public restrooms is influenced by peer pressure. Similarly, 55.7% of people flush the urinal when no one is present and this raises by 14.9 percentage points if someone is present so that urinal flushing in public restrooms is influenced by peer pressure.

Randomization procedure called BCD which sequentially assigns the participants to control or treated group

Individual

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Not specified

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