One of psychology’s scientific major goals lies in describing, explaining and predicting human behavior and often this knowledge is considered an important means to influence human behavior. Especially in applied fields of psychology changing human behavior is important, as it often aims to correct societal effects of human behavior regarded as detrimental, e.g., in clinical psychology correcting the negative effects of psychological disorders on work ability or in health psychology correcting dietary choices to lessen health system costs or in consumer psychology to correct “irrational” investment behavior and prevent market failure of assumed to be beneficial consumption goods for society or parts thereof. Which behavior to change and what impacts of behavior are to be targeted, is an evaluation principally open for debate and part of societal discourse.

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   Stern and Gardner (1981b) report a remaining 68% of U.S. energy use in other economic sectors (industrial, commercial/service, other (export, feedstocks, etc.) than households (includes fuels for automobile transportation).

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1. Braunschweig, Germany

   Farina Wille

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Correspondence toFarina Wille.

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