It seems everyone is talking about changing behaviour through design, but changing behaviour is actually a pretty hard task.
This presentation looks at behaviour change and what this means for us as designers.
32. So what influences mass behaviour change? āSystemic Innovation is determined by a balance of three things ā behavioural norms, tools and rulesā Tim Brown, IDEO
Today, Iām going to talk about the A B C of behaviourā¦ Ā
ā¦ has anyone kept a NYR that lasted more than ā¦a day ā¦a week? Ā Well done! You are pretty rareā¦ The āmajorityā of people relapse within a day of making itā¦ At best, they last a few months.
As you can imagine Iāve been thinking about this a lot latelyā¦ And the last time I changed my behaviour was when I received this in the postā¦
It was sent as a mail-out from Melbourne Water at the height of the drought a few years back in Melbourne. Ā At first I put it on the wall next to our sink, in the hope it would guide young children to brush their teeth for a certain timeframeā¦it didnāt. Ā So it sat near the sink for a while actuallyā¦until one day I looked at it and thought how useless it was in that position ā so I had the brainwave - Ā ā Hey, how about I actually put this *in* the showerā¦it will probably be more useful thereā. Ā So I moved it to our shower and some amazing things happened, firstly I had to learn to shower within the 4 minutes it allowedā¦and this took some time ā despite the fact I thought I was aware of time spent I also became incredibly guilty about being in the shower for longer than the 4 minutes it allowed. Ā The change was almost immediate *once the device was actually in the shower itself*ā¦ Ā ā¦ though it took a while for the device to find its way to the correct context. Ā When I reflect on āhowā this device has influenced and changed my behaviour I marvel at the fact that there are times I go longer than 4 minutes in the shower (ā¦being a girl and all)ā¦ but interestingly, I build up a āmental bankā of time in credit for the times when I took a shower in less than 4 min so I can justify the time. Ā Interesting how the presence of such a small thing, positioned in the right area made such a huge impact and difference to my behaviour. Anyway, letās take a look at some of the key triggers of behaviour change for this instanceā¦
Like many in Melbourne ā there was a general cultural attitude toward the water shortage in Victoria ā it was at crisis point. As a result of the norm of the time , my senses were highly attuned to the fact that water saving was a big deal ā and this was reinforced through many different channels and media I was *aware* or *conscious* of the need to save water ā and heard about it a lot on various media channels ā but didnāt really do it in any structured way, besides being āmindfulāā¦ Then suddenly a tool was provided that would help me time how long I took ā or bring it even more prominently to my awareness As we talked about, the tool sat around in the wrong contextā¦the context was changed and voila! Change in behaviour resultedā¦and has been maintained and constantly improved upon, ever since. Ā Well that is my view of what happened in my particular situationā¦
Soā¦ what do I know about behaviour change anyway?
Like a million starry eyed psychology grads ā I wanted to be a clinical psych. So at the start of my career, I worked at a place called Lowry Lodge in Newcastle NSW. Ā Lowry Lodge was a ānon-medical detoxification unitā for in-patients who were looking to kick their addictions to a variety of substancesā¦heroin, amphetamines, cannabis, alcohol, so onā¦ Ā What I experienced there was my first view of how hard it is to change behavior. I learnt that it certainly isnāt impossible to change behaviour ā and we are talking serious stuff here ā but it *does take time*ā¦ Ā Interestingly enough, it was probably my first experience of poor service design too ā without even knowing it. ā¦ this is because Lowry Lodge was also a needle exchange. Ā Thatās not so unusualā¦ but it was *how* this took place that just didnāt seem quite right to meā¦ Ā Users would come and swap used needles for new ones at the centreā¦again not so unusualā¦ Ā BUT ā they did this by *ringing a door bell* that would chime throughout Lowry Lodge ā¦
Nowā¦I think we have all heard of Pavlov right? Ā Maybe they were trying for *extinction ā which means to face your addiction head-on so you can better carry on day-to-day life un-fazed if you encounter it again* Ā ā¦ as opposed to *avoidance ā which is more like removing yourself from any situation you may encounter your addiction*. Ā ā¦ but to my mind ā that was a little early to be testing peoplesā resolve. Ā Anyway ā when I hear everyone talk about changing behaviour through design I often reflect on my time at Lowry Lodge. Ā Ā
Design has always facilitated change in behaviourā¦especially in the area of Technology. Ā But it seems lately that Design for behaviour change is in the forefront of peopleās awareness. Ā Part of the challenge of designing for behaviour change is understanding what influences behaviour change in the first place. Ā **So as designers we need to become more familiar with human behaviour and make it a conscious focus of our design process. Ā But donāt we already do that? Yep ā we sure do ā that is why were are here; we focus on what it is that users do and why they do it, so we can then design better systemsā¦
However, one of the most important things we need to be mindful of is that we must focus not only on the here and now ā ā¦ but also on the āfutureā view of how we want people to behave with what we create . ā¦ and this point, is something I think that is often forgotten . It has been rolled out a number of times, but I love the reference to Henry Ford sayingā¦ ā if he had have asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horseāā¦ This cuts to the core of the fact that people canāt project beyond their current experience to meet a future need ā¦ because at the end of the day they are not designers .
Anyway, on that noteā¦we had better look a little more at this thing called ābehaviour changeāā¦
Iāve said in the past thatā¦ āThe mind is a powerful thing, and then I remembered who was telling me thatā. Funny huh? Anyway - I donāt want to delve too deeply into the cognitive side of things or dissect the different ātypes of thoughtā, but I did want to recap on a few basics.
ā¦ the human brain *is* powerful, it helps us to do a number of things daily that we may not even realise. One of the best examples of the power of the mind in taking over and letting you essentially āfall asleep at the wheelā as you go about your day-toāday activities is driving home... I go the same way everyday, but sometimes if I need to do something after work on my way back home ā I often find myself going down the same path and totally missing the new route I have to takeā¦ I used to have a lecturer that referenced this as the ālizard that lives at the back of our headāā that just does things for us automatically ā so we donāt need to think about the details.
So for now what I want to highlight is that āconscious thinkingā is actually thought to play only a small role in shaping our behaviourā¦
So this makes things tricky right? There are lots of behaviour theoriesā¦so Iām not going to delve too deeply into all the possibilities, assumptions or philosophical leaningsā¦ Iām going to fly my flag as a behaviourist and focus on a few that we have found to be the most relevant to our world and the most useful in helping us to understand what makes people do what they do ā¦
Behaviour is thought to be a function of a person and their environmentā¦ This is the basic tenant of behavioural analysis whereby, something happens to precede a behaviour (antecedent)ā¦ That in effect causes or influences the behaviourā¦ Resulting in a consequence . Ā
Now we canāt change a personā¦ but we can influence the way they behave by shaping the environment they function within. What this model shows is that *yes* we *can* shape behaviour. And generally the easiest way to do this is through some form of positive reinforcement or removal of a negative impactā¦ Believe me I have toddlersā¦so I put this theory into practice every day.
The really important part of this basic model is that ā The behaviour you are seeing is the behaviour you have designed forā¦ Ā In design we have the ability to create a new or novel Antecedent that can essentially shape Behaviour.
The Theory of Planned Behaviour proposes a model for how human action is guided. It was originally put forward by Fishben and Ajzen ā then later modified by Ajzenā¦to what you see here. Today, this is thought to be one of the most predictive persuasion theories ā so letās take a closer look at itā¦
Theory of Planned Behaviour explains why we might make certain choices ā¦ So as the model shows, to predict whether a person intends to do something , we need to know: Ā - Whether the person is in favour of doing it ( attitude ) - How much the person feels social pressure to do it ( subjective norm ) - Whether the person feels in control of the action in question ( perceived behavioural control ) Ā Ā In its first evolution, this theory suggested that if a person intends to do something, then it is likely that the person willā¦ Ā Ā
HOWEVER - Behaviour is often not *intentional* or *controlled* at all. Ā Regardless, to-date, this theory is one of the most predictive persuasion theories as shown in the application of study in advertising, public relations, and healthcare . So this is one we need to keep in mind as a good overall model to reference behaviour.
By using the theory, we are better able toā¦ Ā understand the beliefs and attitudes of customers, Segment our customers by their beliefs , create products to impact those beliefs , ā¦ and hopefully measurably increase the likelihood of the desired behaviour. If we maximize these three predictors , we will increase the likelihood that the person will intend to perform the desired action and thus increase the chance of the person actually doing it. So this is a great one for us to be mindful of when we are designingā¦
Thinking of my water habits example again we can see how the Theory of Planned Behaviour and basic behavioural analysis models explain the change I observedā¦ The norms of the time and my attitude meant I was open to act in a certain wayā¦and I did have control over the way I acted by placing the tool in the right context However, the initial control over my behaviour was much lower than I had anticipated before I received the tool ā that led to dramatic change ā when in context. Something that really triggered this change though ā was that tool. So looking at the ABC again ā the tool was the Antecedent , and the Consequence was that I felt better about having a shorter shower and saving water ā¦ less guilt if you like . This is important to think about, becauseā¦ as designers ā that tool is our designā¦
Another model that I find very useful is the Stages of Change Model, Proposed by Prochaska & DiClemente and it is arguably one of the most dominant models of health behaviour change ā so no prizes for guessing where I came across this oneā¦! However, it is something we have seen to apply to the online space and weāll talk a little about that ā¦ So weāre going to take a look at it a little more hereā¦
The model basically outlines several steps in the change process, whereby people can cycle in and out and around several timesā¦the stages are: [Talk through the stages of change model, as applied to drug and alcohol addiction] Ā Pre-contemplation Contemplation Preparation Action Maintenance Termination (100% self efficacy) Relapse (cycle back to an earlier stage)
Because it is useful for us to understand ā not only how people might make certain choicesā¦ ā¦ but also it is important to consider āwhereā in the cycle of change, or how willing they might be to change. For example, we applied this model to better understand the cycles of change that users went through when researching online ā¦
The context was house-huntingā¦ And we applied this model to better understand when people were using the online channels available to them as against the offline channels for this product ā¦ So as we can see from the diagram that there was a trigger of some sort that kick-started the process for users where they would: Start researching for a new house, Assess the options available to them They might record properties of interest and then move to the offline process of viewing properties and make their shortlists or selections. The stages of change were different for different user types. That is, first home buyers versus investors, or home owners buying for a second or third timeā¦
Tying these user processes to the Stages of Change model, we discovered that people tended to research online most heavily when they are in what would relate to the pre-contemplation / contemplation stages of the modelā¦ So we found that extensive online researching allows them to feel confident enough to get ready for actionā¦ Which in this case is taking the plunge on what is probably the most serious financial commitment any of us might make ā¦ our home. So generally speaking, users build their confidence via mostly online channels, then moving offline for the main action stagesā¦ with āsomeā online touch-points still referencedā¦
Something interesting we noted was that there was also a spiral effectā¦ that meant that each time people cycled around trying to find a new house or search again [because the house they found fell through or something similar] they then had shorter and shorter spirals each time ā¦presumably learning from what they had gained from the last experience and becoming a bit quicker in their activities. How did we use this information? So this assisted us to set a clear user experience strategy that identified how and when to focus on different digital channels to better target users in different stages of the house hunting process. What this meant to the business was that different product channels could be optomised to better benefit from the significant investment in marketing . Overall this allowed marketing efforts to be more focused around the user ā¦
So we have looked at a few examples of behavioural change ā but now Iād like to look at a few examples of āmass behaviour changeā as it allows us to focus on how the introduction to ārulesā influences behaviour change. Ā
Bike helmets are a topical issue in Melbourne lately due to the instillation of the new bike share system. Ā I think it is no surprise that the need for helmets to be worn is a problem for the success of the system as it currently stands. ā¦ So I thought it would be interesting to consider - what was the behaviour they were hoping to change at the time of the introduction of helmets in the 1990ās? Ā
Helmets were introduced to assist lower the level of head injuries sustained by those on a bicycle . This graph is an example, showing cyclists admitted to hospital in Victoria with and without head injuries. Looking at the data, they achieved that ā but they also reduced the number of non-head injuri esā¦ ā¦ so perhaps all they did is reduce the number of cyclists, and looking at the peaks and troughs, before and after helmet lawsā¦ ā¦ seasonal variation (i.e., winter) appears to have had the greatest impact of all. Research seemed to suggest that people were also turned off cycling because of the introduction of mandatory helmets. Ā
Wearing our behaviourist hat we can see nowadays that having to wear a helmet has turned many causal bike riders off riding a bikeā¦ Ā In this example we can see how the Rules impacted the Tools and Norms ā¦ and behaviour change was quick for adopting a helmetā¦ ā¦ but also somewhat rapid in decline of number of cyclists. Ā Today we want to design systems that encourage use of bikes. Ā From an infrastructure perspective safe roadways and specific bike paths and education on bike safety is what Norway suggests. Ā From a behaviour change perspective, helmets appear to stand in the way in a more significant manner. So, the big question here is ā Was the drop in cyclists a planned behavioural change, or simply an oversight due to the assumption that all cyclists would adopt helmets?
Another instance of rules forcing mass behaviour change is the introduction of eTags across Sydney and Melbourne . The desired behavioural change from rolling out eTags was that motorists would pay their toll without stopping , thereby reducing traffic and easing congestions on the road . In Melbourne it was rolled out as mandatory overnight, while in Sydney itās been a gradual trickling to encourage eTag use. During the rollout in Melbourne you would hear complaints that the government was āforcingā drivers to do this and that they would never use the system , however the traffic runs freely and most people I know savour the convenience that these roads bring. In Sydney, you can still pay cash at some toll booths and there are 2 or 3 different eTags available, and overall, it is a headache to work out which lane is eTag or not. Even worse ā I think there is still a boom gate that comes down in front of you in the eTag lane for the Harbour Bridgeā¦ This does nothing to assist the flow of the traffic. Ā Ā This is an interesting example as a designer ā As it harks back to the need to consider our role as designers being to focus not only on the here and now, but also on the future possibilities and how we can influence the design of systems to better accommodate what we know about behaviourā¦ It again reinforces that we need to design for the behaviour change we want to see in the future, and keep that top of mind in any planning activities.
Now they are two changes that were really influenced by rules and regulations that impacted behaviourā¦ but what I guess I want to also explore is - can we have change in behaviour when there are no rules pushing immediate change ? Mainly because this is the type of world we all work withinā¦ The answer is yesā¦ Ā It *is* possible and one way that has been shown to influence behaviour is āfunāā¦
As children we are taught to learn through play, games and funā¦ Ā Are we really that different now? Ā Raph Koster wrote a book called āA Theory of fun for Game Designā, which examines what fun actually is, what makes things fun, and why itās importantā¦ Ā Fun is stuff thatās enjoyable. ā¦ And, crucially, itās the means by which we retrain our brain to learn new patterns of behaviour. Ā So actually, if we want to encourage behaviour change, and get people to do things they wouldnāt otherwise do, or even want to do, isnāt it just about designing playful and enjoyable experiences? Ā Here is a great example of how making things fun can lead to almost immediate behaviour changeā¦
Talk about the dramatic change in people walking up the stairs vs. escalator ā¦ and that there were no new rules or norms that influenced in this situation.
So the good news is *yes we can* design behavioural changeā¦ Ā Ā ā It is about thinking about culture and context before we even start on ideasā Ā And we are all really good at that. Design research leads us to enquire about the context and identify the opportunities and habits. However, we need to considerā¦ Ā How can we as designers shape how users feel, and not just accommodate what they are doing currently? This is a really important point to consider, because if we hope to design behavioural change in our users, weāll need to focus beyond what is happening now. Ā
So none of this is any good if we donāt know how to apply this in our day-to-day workā¦ so here are a few takeaway tips to consider when you are designing systems, services and interfaces.
So this is where we need to become better at identifying the desired behavioural outcome and design a structure that facilitates this. Ā We need to consider scenarios of use that might lead us to our future goal... We are good at identifying a UX strategyā¦but we need to consider āwhat is the behaviour we want to changeā and let this guide our design process Ā
This needs to tie into our business strategy and design processā¦
We work with a lot of companies that are so focused on getting users āonlineā ā¦ but yet they are very hesitant to include users in research who are not online. Why? Wonāt this teach us more?
We still need to understand the context and we need to break information apart in terms of understanding peoples attitudes, the norms and what stage of readiness they might be to change behaviours they already have as well establishedā¦
If we are aiming to change behaviours, we need to track and measure the rate of success over a longitudinal period of timeā¦ This takes timeā¦ We need to be patient!