A Systematic Review of
Cognitive Mechanisms of
Travel Mode Choices
Christin Hoffmann, Charles Abraham,
Mathew White & Stephen Skippon
1
Background

Why do we need to reduce car use?
 Pollution


Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases

1.2 million deaths globally (OECD, 2014)
Physical inactivity

Overweight and obesity

Contributes to GBP 1.08 billion (DfT, 2012)
2
Background

How do we reduce car use?
Personal
Norm
Environmental
Beliefs
Lifestyle
Desires
Perceived
Risk
Attitudes
Subjective
Norm
Intentions
Behaviour
Values
Perceived
Behavioural
Control
Awareness of
consequences
Habits
Ajzen (1988)
Perceived
Necessity
Ecological
Norm
Prosocial
Motives
3
The Review

Research Question
What cognitive mechanisms have been measured as
predictors of adults’ driving and travel mode choice (TMC)?

Aims

Which modifiable cognitive mechanisms have been
used to explain TMC and how frequently have these
been related to TMC?

Which theories are these derived from?

Does strength of relationships between mechanisms
and driving or TMC differ across different study
characteristics?
4
Methods – Search Strategy

64 search terms entered for title, abstract
and keyword search

Systematic search of 10 databases


Web of Knowledge (Web of ScienceTM Core Collection)

TRB (Transport Research Information Services – TRIS)

EBSCO (Business Source Complete, Environment Complete,
PsychINFO, Psychology and Behavioural Science Collection)

ProQuest (ASSIA, ABI/Inform Complete, ProQuest Sociology,
Sociological Abstracts)
English language, peer-reviewed published journal
article, no limit on publication date,
psychology literature
5
Methods – Inclusion Criteria



Population

General adult population, various socio-economic groups

Excluded: Households, disabled, non-drivers & elderly only
Journey Type

General purpose, commuting, shopping, leisure trips

Excluded: School runs, holiday travel
Behavioural Outcome


Frequency or intensity of (i) driving or (ii) use of an
alternative transport mode in relation to car use
Mechanisms & Measures

Provide at least one measured cognitive mechanism

Quantitative measure of relationship between cognitive
mechanism and transport mode behaviour in relation to
car use
6
Results – Search
N=42
N=4,156
• Identified
through
ancestry
search
• 805 duplicates
removed
N=3,351
• 3,005 excluded after
Title & Abstract
Screening
N=388
• 348 excluded
after Full Text
Screening
N=40
7
Results – Study Characteristics
Studies N=40

Design
Study Design
100%

Cross sectional (N = 29)
80%

RCT (N = 6)
60%

Prospective (N = 5)
40%
20%
0%
Crosssectional
RCT
Context
Studies N=40

Context

Urban (N = 21)

Mixed (N = 8)

Rural (N = 2)
Prospective
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Urban
Mixed
Rural
8
Results – Study Characteristics

Journey Type

Commuting (N = 17)

General
purpose (N = 13)

Leisure trips (N = 5)
Journey Type
Studies N=40
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Commuting General
Purpose

Country

Europe (N = 34)

Australia (N = 3)

USA (N = 3)
Leisure
Studies N=40
not
specified
Country
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

No consistent TMC definition
Europe
Australia
USA
9
Results - Mechanisms

274 associations with TMC were tested
Cognitive
Mechanism
N of measures and
% of 274 reported
associations
N and % of
40 studies
Attitude
80 (29.2%)
20 (50%)
Beliefs
22 (8.03%)
4 (10%)
PBC
21 (7.65%)
16 (40%)
Social Norms
Lifestyle
20 (7.3%)
20 (7.3%)
15 (37.5%)
3 (7.5%)
Habit
16 (5.84%)
12 (30%)
Intention
13 (4.73%)
12(30%)
10
Results – Mechanisms
Convenient
Reliable
Secure
Comfortable
Pleasant
Subjective Importance
Attitudes
Positive/negative evaluation
of cars, public transport etc.
Travel in general
Stress
Commute Benefit
Environment
Hazard perception
Car autonomy
Proposal to reduce car use
11
Results – Theory

26 studies applied 5 Social-Psychological Models
(10 extended model or combined theories)

Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (N = 20) (Ajzen, 1991)

Norm Activation Model (NAM) (N = 4) (Schwartz, 1977)

Ipsative Theory (N = 2) (Frey, 1989)

Role Theory (N = 1) (Stryker, 1987)

Material Possessions (N = 1) (Dittmar, 1992)
Social Psychological Models
Studies N=26
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
TPB
NAM
Ipsative
Theory
Material
Possessions
Role Theory
12
Conclusion


Plethora of driving-specific mechanisms to understand
behaviour?

Generalisability?

More use of theory?
Diversity vs. Consistency
13
Acknowledgements
Charles Abraham
Stephen Skippon
Mathew White
Psychology Applied
to Health
@ University of Exeter
Medical School
[email protected]
14
References

Ajzen, I. (1991) The Theory of Planned Behaviour. Organisazional
Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 50 (2), pp. 179-211

DfT (2012) DfT Transport Statistics for Great Britain: 2012 edition.
Retrieved from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transportstatistics-great-britain-2012

Dittmar, H. (1992) The Social Psychology of Material Possessions: To Have

Frey, B. S. (1989) Ipsative and objective limits to human behavior. Journal
of Behavioral Economics, 17(4), 229-248.

Kaufmann, V., Bergman, M., Joye, D. (2004) Motility: mobility as capital.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 28 (4), 745–
756.

OECD (2014) The Cost of Air Pollution: Health Impacts of Road Transport.
Retrieved from: http://www.oecd.org/environment/cost-of-airpollution.htm

Schwartz, S. H. (1977). Normative influences on altruism. In L. Berkowitz
(Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 221-279).
New York: Academic Press.

Stryker, S. (1987) Identity theory: Developments and extensions. In K.
Yardley & R. Honess (Eds.), Self and identity: Psychosocial perspectives
(pp. 89–103). Oxford: John Wiley and Sons.
is To Be. Havester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead, UK (1992) St. Martin’s
Press, New York
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