Here’s a little bit of applied psychology for you. In 1990 some researchers tried an experiment. People were handed a piece of paper in a local park while they were walking down a path. (A public service announcement to be exact.) After they walked past the leaflet handing researcher they then walked through an area where, unbeknown to them, the number of pieces of litter on the ground was being meticulously controlled. You may be able to guess the results. If there were no pieces of litter on the ground, or only one piece, the subjects were unlikely to throw the unwanted piece of paper on the ground. After that, the likelihood of the person discarding he paper on the ground was exactly proportional to the number of pieces of paper already on the ground. The more litter already present on the ground, the more likely that the next person would also throw their piece of paper on the ground. It’s the law of social conformity. Litter begets litter. This isn’t new news. The 1990 research (Cialdini, Reno and Kalgren) was a repeat of similar research done in 1973 (Finnie), 1977 (Geller, Witmer and Tuso) and 1978 (Krause, Freedmen and Whitcup.) How does this apply to you? The law of social conformity affects everything. If you leave trash in the bottom of the trash can in the back of your rig, the next guy is likely to leave trash in it at the end of his shift too. If the floor is dirty it’s likely to get dirtier.

Original Source of Litter Begets Litter