Literature
Lecture 1
Specific learning outcomes
➢ You can explain the opportunities and limitations of a psychological approach to behavior
change;
➢ You can explain the value of megastudies to learn more about behavior change; and
➢ You can explain the difficulties with predicting whether a behavior change technique will
work to change behavior.
Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Pandiloski, P., ... &
Duckworth, A. L. (2021). Megastudies improve the impact of applied behavioral
science. Nature, 600(7889), 478-483.
Megastudies improve the impact of applied behavioral science
A major impediment to prescribing behaviourally informed policy interventions is the
inability to make apples-to-apples comparisons of their efficacy This study is a massive
field experiment in which the effects of many different interventions are compared in the
same population on the same objectively measured outcome for the same duration.
DEFINING THE PRIMARY OUTCOME
Currently, only 49% of American adults exercise at the recommended levels.
The outcomes of interest over a four-week intervention period were: (1) the number of
days participants checked into the gym each week, and (2) an indicator for whether
participants checked into the gym at least once in a given week.
Our megastudy included a placebo control condition in which participants received 1,500
points when they enrolled in the study (worth US$1.08, an amount equal to the expected
earnings of participants in a typical experimental condition Participants in the placebo
control condition received no other intervention content.
We also included a baseline intervention called planning, reminders and microincentives to
exercise. This condition combined three low-cost, evidence-based components that are
expected to increase exercise.
1. Planning prompts facilitate follow-through We prompted participants to plan the dates
and times when they would exercise each week of the programme.
2. Reminders have been shown to enhance goal achievement We texted participants
reminders to exercise at these scheduled times.
3. Building on past work showing that cash rewards for exercise that are an order of
magnitude larger than this can promote gym attendance and that the effects of very small
incentives on goal commitment can be surprisingly large We offered participants micro
incentives for each gym visit (300 points per visit, redeemable for approximately US$0.22).
Compared with the placebo control condition, approximately 34% of the experimental
conditions had significantly more people visiting the gym at least once per week.
CONCLUSIONS
As megastudies add value to policy-makers by separating the wheat from the chaff, they are
especially valuable when the targeted behaviour is of unambiguous consequence to
individual and societal wellbeing. Finally, as megastudies reduce the downside of individual
study failures, they may create incentives for scientists to design interventions with a low
probability of a notable result, so they may be well-suited to environments where risk-taking
could have a particularly large upside.
By enabling direct comparisons of diverse intervention ideas, megastudies can accelerate
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,the generation and testing of new insights about human behaviour and the relevance of
these insights for public policy.
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,Lecture 2: Resistance to change
Specific learning outcomes
➢ You can explain the distinction between alpha and omega persuasion techniques;
➢ You can analyse whether and when reactance, scepticism, or inertia will occur;
➢ You can describe different types of resistance, and explain how you can prevent or reduce
this type of resistance using different techniques; and
➢ You can analyse the limitations of the practical application of different techniques to
reduce reactance.
Knowles, E. S., & Riner, D. D. (2007). Omega approaches to persuasion:
Overcoming resistance. In A. R. Pratkanis (Ed.), The science of social influence:
Advances and future progress (pp. 83-114). Psychology Press.
Omega approaches to persuasion: Overcoming resistance
Not available?
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, Lecture 3: Appraisal processes
Specific learning outcomes
➢ You can explain how appraisal processes can shape the perception of food;
➢ You can explain how appraisal processes can be employed to change behavior; and
➢ You can analyse the limitations of the practical application of different techniques to use
appraisal processes to change behavior.
Papies, E. K. (2013). Tempting food words activate eating simulations. Frontiers in
Psychology, 4(838), 1-12.
Tempting food words activate eating simulations
Question central to this article: How do people represent food?
It will be examined whether simulations of eating experiences play a role in our
representations of food concepts, particularly for tempting food. This may have important
implications for understanding how we regulate our eating behavior, as well as for the
development of effective interventions for healthy eating.
How food is represented:
- The nutrients of food and its effects on the body
- Its taste and the pleasure of eating it strong hedonic purpose
- Social and cultural functions
- Emotional states Comfort food
- Certain situations
- Specific events
- Consumed a certain ways
Although we know that contextual cues play an important role in triggering desire and
motivated behavior, it is unclear whether such eating situations form part of the actual
conceptual representation of food
RQ: To what degree features related to the taste, the pleasure, and the context
of eating play a role in our cognitive representation of food items.
Thinking about an item like chips in terms of enjoying its taste and texture in a relaxed social
situation is more likely to trigger consumption than thinking about it in terms of nutritional
properties Understanding the representation of food, and whether food is represented by
earlier eating experiences, is crucial for understanding the development of desire for foods,
and for developing effective ways to regulate this in order to facilitate healthy eating
behavior.
A GROUNDED COGNITION PERSPECTIVE ON FOOD
Grounded cognition: our knowledge about objects is represented by partial reenactments,
or simulations, of earlier perceptual experiences in the relevant modalities
The simulations that underlie our knowledge of the world support goal-directed behavior
The simulations triggered by external stimuli tell us what we can do with them, how to do
it, and what may result, so that we are prepared to engage with the respective objects in a
way that supports our goals.
When thinking about an object, we do not activate a simulation of this object in isolation, but
in a relevant background situation E.g. about non-present objects (e.g., “car”),
participants not only describe perceptual features of the object (“headlight”; “stinks”) but
also features of its use (“faster than walking”) and relevant events and situations for using it
(“on the highway,” “a long drive”).
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