The words that changed a choice
Two cards ask hotel guests to reuse a towel. The practical request stays the same. Read what changes, then guess which message more guests followed.
Which reason would you expect to work?
These are short paraphrases of two hotel messages from a study published in 2008.
The environmental appeal
Reuse your towels to help protect the environment.
A reason to do something worthwhile.
The social-norm appeal
Most other guests reuse their towels. Join them.
The same action, now presented as something fellow guests already do.
A nine-point difference
433 observations, one per guest on the first day towel reuse could be measured. All stayed at least two nights; success meant reusing at least one towel.
The environmental message was followed in 35.1% of observations; the social-norm message in 44.1%. That is nine percentage points more towel reuse in this experiment. The useful surprise is how little the request itself had to change.
Now listen to what an invitation makes you picture
“Come to the front.”
“Think of a drawing. Someone here will try to draw it.”
The first sentence gives you a destination. The second gives you a scene: one person imagining, another drawing, and a result everyone can follow.
This is a separate stagecraft example, not a result of the towel study. An invitation can change what a moment is about before anyone moves. It should still leave the person free to choose whether to join.
Yonatan Lavy
A question becomes a live moment
In Yonatan Lavy’s show, guests’ thoughts and choices become something the whole room can follow. Then a guest discovers what another person never said aloud.
Plan the experience
