1. Behavioural Change
Week 1.1

2. What is this course about?
Theories of behavioural change
Methodology/Statistics in evaluating change
Domain-specific behavioural change
Your creative inputs

3. What is this course not about?
“Advanced” social psychology
Behavioural modification
Mind control
Unrealistic optimism
Law enforcement
Policy & government
Social change
We may talk about these, just that the focus of the course is not solely on them.

4. The syllabus Attendance and punctuality Assignments and projects
Grading components

5. Let’s start

6. Riddle This is a one behaviour that affects 50% of the population
It happens mostly in developed countries
It incurs some monetary cost
But doesn’t really harm anyone
Though it is an annoyance nonetheless
Takes place in private / semi-private settings

7. Behavioural change
Write down a list of things about other people’s behaviours that concern you
Severity
Minor
Major
Relevance
Self
Societal
Country

8. Behavioural change
For each behaviour, give a score whether you (i) can; and (ii) want to change it.
Severity
Minor
Major
Relevance
Self
Societal
Country

9. The conventional view I
Problems are motivated by self-interests, which may conflict with another person’s self-interests
Solutions: Laws, Regulations, Rules
These can be effective. But they are not always cost-effective.

10. The conventional view II
Problems are structural, and as such require engineering solutions
Some problems are indeed structural but a purely structural solution may not solve the problem
E.g., open defecation = not enough toilets?

11. The new view Problems often have a psychological component.
Psychologically-informed interventions can be:
More effective
Less costly (sometimes free)
Complement structural, legal solutions

12. Example: Eating behaviour
Popcorn box size and amount eaten
Movie-goers were given stale popcorn, either in a big or small box
Guess who ate more?

13. How would you change such eating behaviours?
Ban popcorn
Place ads to tell people
not to eat popcorn
to eat popcorn in moderation
about of fat in popcorn
Serve popcorn in smaller sizes (but how should this be done?)
Draconian
Freedom
I will reveal it in Week 10.2

14. Important
Very often we think that the problem is with the person (or an abstract entity like “society”)
Hence we design change campaigns at that level
This is not always successful; think hard about the problem. Make sure you understand the problem (Week 2)
And surprise, surprise: sometimes effective solutions don’t require understanding the problem (e.g., scurvy & vitamin C).

15. Theoretical domains and assumptions
The problem is with…
Social psychology
Cognitive psychology
Social cognition
Personality psychology
Behavioural economics
Communications
Politics & Law (not in this course)
The situation
The way people process info
The way people process info in a particular situation
The person
Rationality
Poor messaging
How the powerful rule over the powerless

16. Social psychology Social norms Social influence Persuasion
Learning theories
Motivation x ability

17. Learning theories
Complex behaviour is learned gradually through the modification of simpler behaviours
How do you train a child soldier?
Or as Obama tweeted, if people can learn hatred, they can unlearn hatred.

18. Cognitive psychology Heuristic & Systematic thinking: System 1 and 2
Higher level cognition: Humans as rational decision makers
Lower level cognition: Fundamental perceptual mechanisms are stable across humanity

19. Rationality: Humans as homo economicus
How to get people to save money for retirement?
How to get drivers to slow down near a bend?
Improve financial literacy
Conduct financial seminars
Distribute leaflets
Better road signs
More prominent signs
More warning of dangers
These are effective, but the question is, can behavioural scientists make them even more effective?

20. Social cognition
People actively try to make sense of their social world
Problematic behaviours often occur in a social rather than private context.
Therefore other people matter!

21. Personality A leopard never changes its spots…or does it?
Remember the fundamental attribution error?
When someone does something bad, it’s because the problem is with them
When we do something bad, the problem lies with other people.

22. Behaviour = f(personality x environment)

23. Game theory
Why two completely "rational" individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so.

24. Prisoner’s dilemma
Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge. They hope to get both sentenced to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the prosecutors offer each prisoner a bargain. Each prisoner is given the opportunity either to: betray the other by testifying that the other committed the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. The offer is:
If A and B each betray the other, each of them serves 2 years in prison
If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve 3 years in prison (and vice versa)
If A and B both remain silent, both of them will only serve 1 year in prison (on the lesser charge)

25. Prisoner’s dilemma on Delhi’s roads
How can you apply principles of the prisoner’s dilemma to understand drivers’ behaviours?
Rangunathan, V. (2007). Games Indians play.: Why we are the way we are. Delhi: Penguin.

26. The robust way to win the Prisoner’s dilemma
Tit-for-tat strategy
Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York: Basic Books.

27. Is behavioural change simply commonsense?
How would you use this teapot?
Everyone has pet theories about why people behave the way they do, and how to change behaviour.
The design of everyday things. Don Norman

28. Is there a role for commonsense?
Yes, but mere commonsense sometimes lead you to reinvent the wheel
Do a proper literature search
What worked, what didn’t?
How large is the effect size? (see Week 4.1: Meta-analysis)

29. Take home messages Behavioural change is not mere commonsense.
There are many theories of behavioural change; no one size fits all
Be creative, but never neglect the role of theory
Theory-driven is not good enough; we need quantifiable evidence