Unlocking Behaviour Change

In this new mini-series, Robert and Jamie go through candidates for the five biggest decision-making mistakes and how to avoid them - maybe. The first one is ‘I didn’t look’ . . . Sounds obvious - but there are important nuances. Robert and Jamie also discuss psychologists trying to make people look stupid ...  And in the podcast, Robert refers to a questionnaire he developed in the 1990s called '...

The Behaviour Change Wheel is geared towards behaviour change interventions that might be delivered by governments, comms agencies, service providers, companies or teams whose role is to influence the behaviour of whole populations, subpopulations, groups or individuals. But what about the everyday behaviour change among families and friends? What can we say about how to influence behaviour in the...

Robert and Jamie delve into a class of Behaviour Change Techniques called 'Advise specific behaviour BCTs' in the BCT Ontology . Some are a bit weird, but among them is advising on practice. They discuss what’s the best way to practice a new skill, like a musical instrument. Should you have a beer in the middle of a run? What’s it like driving with your dad before a driving test? Find out all this...

What if you had a list of everything you could possibly do to change behaviour? Well, today Robert talks about such a list: The Behaviour Change Technique Ontology and also how you can see it and use it yourself! Robert and Jamie then take a deeper dive into one of the categories of behaviour change technique: 'Advise how to change emotions BCT' and its sub-categories. Here is a link to the Behavi...

What is a ‘behaviour change technique’ (BCT)? How does the way you deliver a technique affect the outcome? What is the difference between a thought and a behaviour? Join Robert and Jamie as they introduce this highly useful and widely applicable concept. Robert makes reference to the Behaviour Change Technique Ontology (BCTO) which is part of the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology (BCIO). Here...

AI - curse or cure, or both or neither? Most behavioural researchers are using AI in some aspects of their work. But are the benefits outweighing the costs? How can we do it most productively, and what are the pitfalls to look out for? Robert uses it a lot but also recognises the limitations and the need for new skills to interact effectively with this new technology. Want more? Check out our late...

Robert and Jamie ask the deepest questions imaginable . . . At least according to AI chatbots. Where do our values and moral intuitions come from and what do we do with them? Why are ideas that seem ‘obvious’ to us not universally accepted? Are today’s morals better than those of the past?  Want more? Check out this lot:   Book: Energise: The Secrets Of Motivation: https://shorturl.at/bbA7y   Book...

Is stealing always bad? Are we all hypocrites? What do we do when our morals conflict with our own self-interest? Join Robert and Jamie as they discuss values, ethics and judgements, exploring ideas from a Substack article Robert has written drawing together key writings of psychologists and others on values. Here is a link to the article. An important point that Robert brings out is that values s...

Our sense of justice plays a huge role in our moral judgements and our behaviour. But there are many different versions of justice - what is justice for one person is gross unfairness for another. In their journey through things we like and dislike, Robert and Jamie delve into this thorny topic and what it means for behavioural scientists. Want more? Check out our latest books:   Energise: The Sec...

Robert and Jamie continue to explore sources of likes and dislikes (in the broadest sense) and in this episode move on to 'power' and how that relates to leadership. Robert reflects on the idea that often people don;t just want power for themselves, but for groups with whom they identify - and this is an extremely important source of conflict.  Here is a link to the Substack article containing the...

Humans appear to need some kind of purpose to our existence. It might be directed at spiritual enlightenment, furthering the well-being of the species, personal growth, getting good at something, or even just collecting stamps. Robert and Jamie discuss this as part of their examination of things that act as sources of wants and needs. They also delve briefly into the related topic of 'transcendenc...

What are cravings and what causes them? Craving is weird. You'd think that the more we enjoy something the more we would crave it. Not so. We crave things we don’t even like! As part of the series on what people do and do not like, Robert is on to one of his favourite topics.   Here is a link to the Substack article setting out all the various things people tend to like and dislike. Want more? Che...

What would life be like without entertainment? Is beauty integral to a good life? Is all art subjective? As part of their wide-ranging look at what people do and do not like, Robert and Jamie explore the world of aesthetic pleasure and displeasure . . .  Here is a link to the Substack article that they are drawing on. Want more? Check out our latest books:   Energise: The Secrets Of Motivation:  h...

Staying alive is terribly important to us . . . under certain circumstances. Why do we behave in ways that actually damage our bodies and shorten our lifespan? Robert and Jamie discuss what is going on and how life and death fit in with and compete with other motives.  Here is a link to the Substack article with quite a comprehensive list of our sources of motivation.  Want more? Check out our lat...

Robert continues to explore the different factors that act as sources of liking and disliking and has asked his AI friend Claude to review his list and suggest how these could be usefully grouped. One crucial grouping concerns being in control of ourselves, other people and events, and understanding the world around us. Robert and Jamie delve into this and reflect on the importance, when teaching...

Robert has been busy making a list of things we like and things we dislike... Or do we? One person’s meat is another person’s poison. The duo also discuss drinking culture, life and death, and wanting to feel less bored... and make a passing reference to the wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for no very good reason...  Want more? Check out our latest books:   Energise: The Secrets Of Moti...

So much of what we do stems from anticipated comfort, pleasure or satisfaction, or relief from pain or discomfort.  So a really important target when trying to change behaviour is creating these anticipated feelings. We do this in lots of different ways, from rewarding and punishing behaviours, through prompting them to vividly imagine what may happen if they do the behaviour. Robert and Jamie con...

As part of their exploration into the updated COM-B and the CACTIS tool, Robert and Jamie discuss one of the big reasons for changing behaviour: because people think it's a good idea! But there is so much to unpack here when it comes to how we can provoke behaviour change. Do we improve their capability by helping them truly understand the benefits of changing over the costs, or try to persuade th...

How can we make practical use of the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation - Behaviour) Model when developing behaviour change interventions? The answer is the CACTIS (COM-B Assessment To Intervention Strategy) tool! It was CACTISS with 'Spreadsheet' at the end, but since the podcast, a decision has been made to drop the last S because although the original version was a spreadsheet, the new...

Robert has been wondering whether the updated COM-B is enough of an advance to merit the label COM-B 2.0! But more importantly, Robert and Jamie drill down on the concept of 'intention' and explore the intention-action gap. This leads to evidence-based tips for increasing the chances that we will do what we intend to do using the COM-B model. Want more? Check out our latest books:   Energise: The...

This week Jamie has been playing Animal Crossing and Robert has been trying not to eat chocolate biscuits. Also, Robert offers tips on making marginal but meaningful changes to behaviour as the duo delves deeper into COM-B.  Robert talks about how identity and imagination are important in turning 'should' into 'want' ... and how 'want' becomes 'should'! Want more? Check out our latest books:   Ene...

Why does Robert keep hitting tennis drop shots into the net? How does ‘Atomic/Individual COM-B’ relate to ‘Aggregate/Population COM-B’? Robert continues his preview of COM-B 2.0 while Jamie wonders if England’s cricketers will ever learn how to make the right decisions ‘in the moment’ . . . Oh yes and they make a start, looking at the granular COM-B targets of: awareness of the behaviour and stuff...

An updated version of the COM-B model is nearly ready to roll. It clarifies some things and expands others. It is 'backwardly compatible' with 'classic COM-B'. This episode is the first of several discussing what's new in COM-B 2.0 covering: 1) distinguishing 'individual' and 'population' level COM-B, 2) expanding the specification of 'behaviour', and 3) making a start on covering the more specifi...

You can do it! Or . . . can you? When does believing in your own abilities help you achieve your goals? In this episode, Robert and Jamie explore how the different elements of the COM-B model interact. They clear up a bit of confusion about whether self-efficacy sits better with capability or motivation, and why the capability factor 'understanding the costs and benefits of doing something' primar...

Having finished their series on decision-making, Robert and Jamie start a new series that delves into a widely used model of human behaviour, designed to guide interventions that influence behaviour. Many podcast listeners will be very familiar with this model, and many won't. Either way, Robert and Jamie try to bring the model to life in a way that is accessible to specialists and non-specialists...