From Theory to intervention
Lecture 1 introduction
Knowledge and theory
Many societal, health and wellbeing and organizational issues are
dependent on or influenced by human behavior.
Behavior change techniques can have a big impact on these issues -> and
you are the expert!
Complexity of behavior
Health behavior determinants:
- Knowledge:
o About health
o About what healthy behavior entails
o About consequences of behavior.
- Skills:
o Self-regulation
o Obtaining knowledge
o Impact on behavior
o Impact on environment
- Health behavior determinants:
o Motivation:
Intrinsic motivation
Incentives
o Environment:
Cues for behavior
Social support
Complexity
Some core theory concepts
Intention:
- Intention-behavior gap: people want something, does not mean that
they are going to do that.
- Self-regulation:
Automatic behavior:
- Habits:
- Impulse:
- Nudging: intervention technique that tries to fit in on the automatic
side of behavior without being aware of the choice.
Norms:
- Injunctive:
- Descriptive:
Interventions
Interventions don’t always target the actual determinants.
- Providing information/education/knowledge.
- Telling people what to do.
- Trying to scare people into behaving a certain way -> fear appeal.
, Effective behavior change
Assumption: attitude -> intention ->
behavior.
Intentions cause behavior? -> theory
planned behavior.
- Attitude + subjective norms +
perceived behavior control ->
intention -> behavior.
Meta-analysis on intention-behavior
association -> Successful interventions
lead to medium to large effects on
intention, and small to medium effects on behavior.
A lot of behavior happens without intention.
Moderators:
- Control.
- Habits.
- Impulses.
- Social context.
If it’s not intention…
Environmental cues trigger:
- Habits.
- Impulses.
- Goals (sometimes conflicting)
- (Social) norms
Based on previously learned associations.
Injunctive norms: (Perceived) expectancy of what others think of your
behavior; what you ‘ought’ to do?
Descriptive norms: what do others do?
Descriptive norms are strong predictors of behavior.
Most of the time this goes automatically, without consciousness.
(Anti-) social norms
Broken window theory:
- Does a visible ‘breaking’ of a rule/norm result in other norms
shifting?
o Result: 33% (no visible breaking of rules) vs. 69% (visible
breaking of rules) drop their flyer on the ground.
Intervention implications
- What are determinants of the behavior?
- Under which conditions does the behavior take place?
- What process guides this behavior?
- Focus on attitudes and intentions?
- Focus on norms, context cues, associations, habits?
Theory-driven interventions
Lecture 1 introduction
Knowledge and theory
Many societal, health and wellbeing and organizational issues are
dependent on or influenced by human behavior.
Behavior change techniques can have a big impact on these issues -> and
you are the expert!
Complexity of behavior
Health behavior determinants:
- Knowledge:
o About health
o About what healthy behavior entails
o About consequences of behavior.
- Skills:
o Self-regulation
o Obtaining knowledge
o Impact on behavior
o Impact on environment
- Health behavior determinants:
o Motivation:
Intrinsic motivation
Incentives
o Environment:
Cues for behavior
Social support
Complexity
Some core theory concepts
Intention:
- Intention-behavior gap: people want something, does not mean that
they are going to do that.
- Self-regulation:
Automatic behavior:
- Habits:
- Impulse:
- Nudging: intervention technique that tries to fit in on the automatic
side of behavior without being aware of the choice.
Norms:
- Injunctive:
- Descriptive:
Interventions
Interventions don’t always target the actual determinants.
- Providing information/education/knowledge.
- Telling people what to do.
- Trying to scare people into behaving a certain way -> fear appeal.
, Effective behavior change
Assumption: attitude -> intention ->
behavior.
Intentions cause behavior? -> theory
planned behavior.
- Attitude + subjective norms +
perceived behavior control ->
intention -> behavior.
Meta-analysis on intention-behavior
association -> Successful interventions
lead to medium to large effects on
intention, and small to medium effects on behavior.
A lot of behavior happens without intention.
Moderators:
- Control.
- Habits.
- Impulses.
- Social context.
If it’s not intention…
Environmental cues trigger:
- Habits.
- Impulses.
- Goals (sometimes conflicting)
- (Social) norms
Based on previously learned associations.
Injunctive norms: (Perceived) expectancy of what others think of your
behavior; what you ‘ought’ to do?
Descriptive norms: what do others do?
Descriptive norms are strong predictors of behavior.
Most of the time this goes automatically, without consciousness.
(Anti-) social norms
Broken window theory:
- Does a visible ‘breaking’ of a rule/norm result in other norms
shifting?
o Result: 33% (no visible breaking of rules) vs. 69% (visible
breaking of rules) drop their flyer on the ground.
Intervention implications
- What are determinants of the behavior?
- Under which conditions does the behavior take place?
- What process guides this behavior?
- Focus on attitudes and intentions?
- Focus on norms, context cues, associations, habits?
Theory-driven interventions
