Comment on "Bring action plans, not empty words" (China Daily, Nov 26)

"Please consider taking the stairs if you're going to one of the first five floors"

This sign by the elevators in an office building of the National Development and Reform Commission is a great example of how to change behaviors, because it is specific.

Rather than just suggesting that people take the stairs, the sign creates a specific social norm that people should walk up the stairs if their destination is between the second and the sixth floors.

It will make people violating the norm feel guilty, too. Let us hope, fellow passengers in elevators will object to people getting out between the second and sixth floors and help implement the rule.

Patrick Mattimore, on China Daily website

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