The Science
There are different approaches to behaviour change, here are a few:
INFORMATION
Provide people with lots of information. Educate them. Send them on a course.
This is what public policy tries to do. It creates regulation, health campaigns and warnings.
This assumes people will take the messages on board. That they’ll act in their own best interest. Most don’t.
People are good at tuning out information. Willpower frequently runs out and people continue to do things that aren’t good for them in the long term.
ENVIRONMENT
Change a person’s environment. Nudge them. Design choices differently. Offer incentives.
Mindspace approaches try to do this.
They encourage goal-setting and use trusted messengers.They remind people what others do and assume they will make the desired changes. Most don’t.
People are habit machines. They slip back to old ways. They like doing what they have always done.
THERAPY
Talk to people. Examine their thoughts. Explore the past. Listen and motivate.
Therapies vary enormously. Most are time-consuming and costly. Many people don’t change. Some motivate people to change but fail to guide the process.
The potent ingredient in them is action.
The person has to change what they do not what they think.
REENGINEER WORK PROCESSES
Restructure the way work is done. Change organisational processes.
This can be a costly way to try and engender behaviour change. The approach assumes the processes are the problem , but it’s people who ultimately have to change. And often people bring old habits into new situations.
The answer is to focus on changing the person not the work environment.
DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT
It’s easier to change behaviour than to change thinking
Encourage people to start by doing a small, effortless, different action every day. Make the new action fun. Cultivate new ways of behaving without the need for willpower.
Do Something Different tackles people’s natural resistance to change. It chips away at their inertia. It can be integrated into someone’s daily routine and most importantly doesn’t require willpower because the changes are small.
They are designed to be psychologically powerful. Small changes lead to big differences.
The table below has been created by Professor Ben Fletcher to facilitate a comparison between the various behaviour change methodologies. The table doesn’t of course tell the full story but in many ways it explains why we are so committed to promoting the ‘Do Something Different’ approach.
Do Something Different has been created by Professor Ben (C) Fletcher and Professor Karen Pine following 20 years of rigorous psychological studies covering behaviour change. You can read more about the people behind Do Something Different here.