Revealing the implicit and explicit attitudes of the public towards recycled aggregate based on psychological experiment

Abstract

The public' s disfavour of recycled aggregate (RA) produced from construction and demolition waste is recognized as a main hinder for RA's promotion. To understand their real thought, this study measures not only their explicit attitude but also implicit attitude. Particularly, this study explores the effective strategy of information intervene to change their attitude based on psychological experimental methods. The initial measurements show that subjects prevailingly report positive explicit attitude, but indeed, majority of them hold negative implicit attitude. The information intervention can positively change both explicit and implicit attitude. Large quantity of rational information and small quantity of affective information are more effective to change explicit attitude. Whereas, large quantity of rational information is the most effective way to change implicit attitude. The supposed ironic effect does not appear. This study provides valuable psychological guidance for the publicity campaign of RA and the development of circular economy in the construction industry.

Keywords

• Construction and demolition waste
• Recycled aggregate (RA)
• Explicit attitude
• Implicit attitude
• Information intervention