Nudges Can Both Raise and Lower Physical Activity Levels: The Effects of Role Models on Stair and Escalator Use – A Pilot Study

Introduction: The majority of people worldwide do not engage in enough physical activity which can have hazardous effects on both individual and public health. Increasing physical activity levels in our daily lives is therefore a key concern within public health initiatives. Making an active choice to take the stairs over alternatives is an effective and freely accessible way to increase daily physical activity. Research has shown that alongside prompts, role models can be influential in increasing stair use among pedestrians. Presently, no research has been conducted comparing the role model effect towards passive and active behaviour. We conducted a pilot study, seeking to confirm the effect of role-models on stair use and also investigating the effect of role-models on escalator use. Method: In the railway station “Zoologischer Garten” in Berlin, a role model either climbed the stairs or took the escalator in front of unknown pedestrians to reach the platform in sequences of 3 minutes. Two researchers counted per intervention-sequence the number of people taking the stairs or the escalator respectively against a control measurement with no intervention. In total pedestrian behaviour was observed over a period of 108 minutes and the choices of a total of 1778 people were recorded. A chi-squared test was used to measure the intervention effects. The effects of role-models on active and passive behaviour were compared. Results: Stair use increased from 29% to 33% in the presence of a stair role model (net increase 14%). Escalator use increased from 71% to 74% in the presence of an escalator role model (net increase 4%). A chi-squared test shows that participants’ decisions on whether to take the stairs or the escalator were significantly different depending on the intervention type (Stair-, Escalator-Model, no model) participants were exposed to. Neither of these differences was found to be statistically significant when estimating logistic regression models. Traffic volume was weakly significantly (p < 0.1) linked with an increased likelihood of participants using the stairs when traffic volume increases. Discussion: Role models can impact physical activity levels among citizens on an unconscious and often anonymous level. For public health experts it is important to recognise that people can be nudged by role models both towards passive and active behaviour. This pilot study provides the first evidence of the concept that everyone in society can and should be an effective role model for increasing physical activity levels in our daily lives and should be aware of negative role model effects when demonstrating passive behaviours. This information can be relevant when creating public health messages. Future studies should observe a larger sample size and distinguish between a number of different factors (such as weather, time of day, weekday vs, weekend) that might influence the role model effect on stair or escalator use.