CHANGING BEHAVIOUR SHOULD WE FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL? THE EXAMPLE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY-RELEVANT BEHAVIOURS

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1 CHANGING BEHAVIOUR SHOULD WE FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL? THE EXAMPLE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY-RELEVANT BEHAVIOURS DR. BENJAMIN GARDNER 11TH JUNE 2015 Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience Department of Psychology

2 Overview How to explain repeated (environmentally-relevant) behaviours? An individual-focused account: Habit A behaviour-focused account Social practice Reconciling the individual and the social

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4 Climate change and behaviour Environmental challenges can ultimately be attributed to unsustainable human behaviour Gardner & Stern (2008): 27 individual-level bhvr changes that could reduce household emissions by 30%

5 Repeated behaviour Many environment-relevant actions are done repeatedly E.g. showering (water use), waste disposal, driving to work Common models of behaviour tend to be less predictive of repeated behaviours Strongest predictor of ongoing behaviour is past performance, not perceived pros and cons People deliberate less over frequent behaviours Two alternative explanations Habit (social psychology) Social practice (sociology)

6 The habit perspective 6

7 A psychological definition of habit Learned sequences of acts that have become automatic responses to specific cues (Verplanken & Aarts, 1999) 7

8 Defining habit Learned through context-dependent repetition (Lally et al, 2010) Cue-dependent Automatic Do not require intention May be initiated without awareness Are initiated outside of volitional control Requires little/no effort (Bargh, 1996)

9 Reflective and impulsive routes to behaviour e.g. Strack and Deutsch (2004)

10 How do habits form? Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle (2010) 96 participants Performed a new healthy eating, drinking or exercise behaviour... Once a day, every day Each day, participants reported automaticity of behaviour (i.e. habit) whether bhvr performed Participants tracked over 12 weeks

11 How do habits form? Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle (2010) Median time for automaticity to plateau = 66 days Range: days Simpler actions tended to become habitual quicker

12 How does habit impact on behaviour? Triandis (1977) 1) Habit strength will correlate positively with behaviour frequency 2) Habit strength will moderate the intention-behaviour relationship where habit is strong, intentions have less impact on behaviour where habits and intentions conflict, behaviour more likely to be habitual than intentional 12

13 Habit overrides conscious motivation Gardner (2009) Survey of 109 car commuters, UK university Baseline: habit and intention measures Habit (Self-Report Habit Index): e.g. Using a car to commute to campus is something I do automatically Intention: e.g. I intend to use a car for most of my journeys to the university campus over the next week One week later: number of commutes, number of car commutes

14 Habit overrides conscious motivation Gardner (2009) 120 Behaviour (% of car commutes) STRONG HABIT MODERATE HABIT WEAK / NO HABIT Weak Intention Strong 14

15 Decision-making among those with habits Verplanken et al (1997, Study 2) Measure of bicycle use habit Computerised lab task: Hypothetical scenario: making an unfamiliar journey Pcpts have to choose which of 5 transport modes to use Information available on utility of each mode re 6 attributes Physical effort Probability of delay Travel time Nuisance caused by other people Expected convenience Freedom 24 pieces of information available

16 Decision-making among those with habits Verplanken et al (1997, Study 2) Habitual bicycle users: chose bicycle more frequently (82%) than did non-habit pcpts (50%) used less information (14.45 pieces) than non-habit users (19.45)

17 Decision-making among those with habits Verplanken et al (1997, Study 3) 27 unfamiliar journeys Information available on 5 attributes of situation e.g. weather conditions, luggage, travel distance, time of departure, time available but no information available on utility of the 4 available travel options

18 Decision-making among those with habits Verplanken et al (1997, Study 3) Habitual car users Chose the car more frequently (15.56 trials) than did non-habit pcpts (10.85 trials) Thought less about their choices than did non-habit pcpts Used less information on the choice scenario (3.25 pieces) than did non-habit pcpts (3.66 pieces)

19 A model of habitual decision-making Verplanken et al (1997)

20 The social practice perspective 20

21 A social practice perspective Behaviours ( practices ) are inherently social No separation between the individual and context Behaviours are perpetuated and reproduced through social processes Individuals are carriers or hosts of practices Practices are made up of: Material elements that afford enactment Procedural elements that render a practice functional Meanings that construct outcomes as desirable or required Combination of these elements at a historical moment allows these activities to take hold as repetitive actions

22 An example: Showering (water use) Material elements: Hot water provision, shower unit Procedural elements Modern time squeeze necessitates brief cleansing Meaning Freshness associated with having showered Combination of these enables persistence of daily showering (e.g. for 5mins between waking and eating breakfast) Contrast with weekly bath decades ago!

23 An example: Showering (water use) Habit perspective: Showering as environmentally triggered Lack of prior deliberation Acquired through repeated performance (e.g. in childhood) Waking up as possible event cue to initiation of showering within broader morning routine

24 Examples 24

25 Travel mode choice Social practice research Journeys and destinations are not arbitrary they are located within a network of other practices e.g. siting of workplaces demands and sustains (motorised) commuting e.g. proliferation of Ashtanga Yoga in 1970s has led to increased market for long-distance travel for recruits to visit gurus in India (Hui, 2013) Yoga practice is therefore bound to air travel practice

26 Recycling / waste management Habit research Intervention study (Comber & Thieme, 2013) Cameras placed in household refuse bins and footage shared Less waste disposal, greater recycling Participants reported becoming more conscious of their waste disposal decisions So intervention disrupted non-conscious/automatic waste disposal

27 Recycling / waste management Social practice research Social practices surrounding workplace paper disposal Paper use facilitates important workplace functions e.g. giving paper handouts supports social coordination, post-it notes facilitates remembering, carrying documents to meetings facilitates verifying

28 Food consumption Habit research Eating a healthy food daily for 12 weeks gradually increases agreement that behaviour is something done automatically (Lally et al, 2010) Self-reported automaticity correlates with quantity of food consumed, and overrides intentions (Gardner, de Bruijn & Lally, 2011) Social practice research Food practices can be delineated into four types (Halkier, 2009) Improvisation to achieve pleasure Pursuit of health Pursuit of organisation and order Achievement of a necessary chore

29 Approaches to changing ingrained behaviours 29

30 Habit perspective If habits override intention, motivation change not sufficient to break existing habits Need to try to overwrite habit associations Habit discontinuity hypothesis If contexts associated with cues are no longer encountered, habits are broken In these situations, behaviour will be guided by motivation

31 Habit discontinuity (context change) Verplanken et al (2008) Study of 433 employees, UK university Measures of: Motivation (environmental concern) Context change (whether moved home in last year) Frequency of car commuting Among those who had recently moved, envtl concern was negative predictor of car commuting days No envtl concern-commuting relationship among those who had not recently moved

32 Social practice perspective Shove (2012) Ingrained practices are broken when groups of devoted practitioners fail to collectively re-enact it Need to map elements that allow practices to recruit carriers Possible routes to change: Reduce availability or prominence of key elements Consider whether to target adjacent practices Reconfiguring or tapping into social networks to support more desirable practices

33 Cool Biz, Japan Shove (2012) Initiative designed by Japanese government in partnership with fashion industry Promotion of cooler business clothing and new social meanings Reduced need for air conditioning Saved estimated 1.4m tonnes of carbon emissions

34 Limitations No program has yet been based a priori on social practice perspective Has only been used post-hoc to interpret successful interventions Effective components of social practice interventions concur with social psychological theories E.g. Cool Biz: based on social influence, and descriptive and injunctive social norms

35 Reconciling the two perspectives Habit perspective Focuses on the individual/cognitive neglects social processes Individualistic perspective would benefit from focusing on features of behaviour, and the social structures that support them Social practice perspective Focuses on the social but neglects the psychology of the individual

36 Reconciling the two perspectives The COM-B framework (Michie et al, 2011)

37 Conclusions Much behaviour is repetitive Two perspectives: Habit : focuses on cognitive process located within the individual Social practices: focus on the behaviours and how they perpetuate themselves Although portrayed as conflicting both can be subsumed into a broader framework of the determinants of behaviour 37

38 @DRBENGARDNER