One of the dangers of studying behavioral economics and psychology is that the ideas follow you around pretty much everywhere you go. I was reminded of that when some of my students came back from a mid-class bathroom break to tell me they thought the toilet levers were not well designed, environmentally speaking. At Duke, you see, to help the environment, we have toilets that include a low flush option—lift the lever up and it uses less water. Folks are asked to do this whenever they urinate in the toilet.
My students pointed out that this might be the wrong “default option.” Since most people are used to flushing down, they think this downward direction would be a better one to use to promote water savings.
What do you think?
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