Eliciting attachment security with social norm messages is linked to reduced energy consumption in extreme heat in the United Arab Emirates

Social norms effectively reduce household energy use, yet research often focuses on moderate climates. Extreme heat could hinder energy-saving behaviors, potentially requiring extra motivational triggers. Here, we examined whether eliciting attachment security—a psychological mechanism triggering bonding and empathy—combined with a social norm message is linked to reduced energy consumption in extreme heat. In a preregistered field experiment in the United Arab Emirates (100 households, 26,400 observations over 9 months, from September 2019 to May 2020), we compared a standard social norm message against one enhanced with secure attachment priming (vs a control group) in the campus housing of an international university. Results showed that households receiving the combined message saved more electricity (9.98%) than those receiving the standard message (6.11%), showed greater efficacy in already efficient households, had heightened effectiveness on hotter days, and the follow-up effect lasted twice as long post-intervention. During the study’s final months, the COVID-19 lockdown occurred, revealing no significant usage differences between experimental groups from lockdown onwards. Given that this study was conducted in only one location with particular characteristics, results may not be generalizable and should be interpreted with caution. Energy savings improve when messages evoking social expectations also promote empathy, especially in extreme heat, according to a randomized controlled field experiment on a United Arab Emirates campus housing.