Applications of social psychology to increase the impact of behaviour-focused intervention Flashcards
Chapter 3
One effective way to increase the frequency of desirable behavior or decrease the occurrence of undesirable behavior is to change the consequences.
Approach to intervention is based on the scientific philosophy of B.F. Skinner. Instead of targeting internal events such as thoughts and attitudes, Skinner believed psychologists should focus their attention on observable behaviour.
applied behaviour-analysis
precede and direct behaviours necessary to obtain a desired consequence.
antecedents or activators
antecedent→ behaviour→ consequence
three-term contingency
three-term contingency
antecedent→ behaviour→ consequence
Most large-scale interventions designed to improve behaviour can be classified as either antecedent or consequence strategies. We outline below four antecedent strategies and three consequence strategies behaviour analysts have applied successfully to change socially important behaviours.
Behavioural intervention strategies
include (1) education, (2) prompts, (3) modelling and (4) behavioral commitment
Antecedent strategies
usually involves adding role-playing and feedback components to verify participants can perform the target behavior.
Training
can be enhanced by tailoring the information to the target audience.
effectiveness of educational and training interventions
TRUE OR FALSE: Training is different from education in that training usually involves adding a role-playing and feedback component to verify participants can perform the
target behaviour.
TRUE
are verbal or written messages strategically delivered in the place where the target behaviour occurs. These messages serve as antecedent reminder stoper form the target behaviours.
Prompts
Geller, Winett and Everett (1982) identified several
conditions under which prompting strategies are most effective:
prompts workbest when (1) the target behaviour is clearly defined by the prompt, (2) they are relatively easy to perform, (3) the message is displayed where the target behaviour can be performed and (4) the message is stated politely.
This tendency to rebel against a top-down request was termed (—) by Skinner (1971) and (—) by social psychologist Jack Brehm (1966).
countercontrol, psychological reactance
Prompts are popular because they are
(1) simple to implement, (2) relatively low cost, and (3) can have considerable impact if applied properly on a large scale.
may be more effective when the models are presented with rewarding consequence immediately after the desired behaviour is performed.
Modelling
take this process a step further by asking individuals to formally agree to change their behaviour. Intervention research has repeatedly demonstrated that asking individuals to make a written or verbal commitment to perform a target behaviour increases the likelihood that behaviour will be performed.
Social psychologists attribute this tendency to follow through this commitment to the powerful social norm of consistency, which creates pressure to be internally and externally consistent.
Behavioural commitments
three basic
consequence strategies:
penalties, rewards and feedback
Interventions employing (—-) techniques identify undesirable behaviours and
administer negative consequences to those who perform them.
penalty
Practical Reason or Main Reason? penalty interventions usually require extensive enforcement in order to be effective, and enforcement requires backing by the proper authority.
Practical Reason
Main Reason or Practical Reason? the effect it has on the attitudes and long-term behaviors of those who receive it.
Main Reason
can be expensive to implement. Fixed and variable-ratio reinforcement schedules both produce high rates of response.
Practical Disadvantage
Second Limitation or Third Limitation? target behaviors on which they are contingent tend to decrease when the rewards are removed.
Second Limitation
Second Limitation or Third Limitation?
reward interventions have been criticized by some who contend rewards diminish intrinsic motivation.
Third Limitation
T OR F? The main reason behavioural psychologists have opposed the use of negative consequences is the effect it has on the attitudes and long-term behaviours of those
who receive it.
TRUE
Because of the negative side-effects associated with penalties, behavioural psychologists have typically favoured the strategy of following a desirable behaviour
with a positive consequence. (—) can come in the form of a variety of positive consequences, including money, merchandise, verbal praise or special privileges.
Rewards
rewards are often preceded by antecedent messages announcing the availability of the reward upon completion of a specified behaviour. This antecedent message is termed an:
incentive
an antecedent message announcing a punitive consequence or penalty for undesirable behaviours is considered a:
disincentive
increases future occurrences of a behaviour,
Positive reinforcement
decreases behaviour through the delivery of a consequence.
punishment
Finally, reward interventions have been criticized by some who contend rewards diminish:
intrinsic motivation
involve providing information to participants about the rate or consequences of their behaviours.
Feedback
six social
influence principles used frequently by marketing professionals to increase sales
of their products:
(1) consistency, (2) social proof, (3) authority, (4) liking,
(5) reciprocity and (6) scarcity.
six social influence principles used frequently by marketing professionals to increase sales
of their products: (1) consistency, (2) social proof, (3) authority, (4) liking,
(5) reciprocity and (6) scarcity.
Enhancing interventions through social influence
The idea that a desire to be consistent is a fundamental human motive has served as
the basis for some of the most influential theories in social psychology, including
cognitive dissonance and balance theory. In addition to the desire for internal
(—), as outlined in dissonance and balance theory, other research has demonstrated that individuals also have a strong desire to show others they are (–)
consistency
refers to the observation that individuals who comply with a small request are more likely to comply with a subsequent larger
request. The technique is thought to function through internal consistency motives and the desire to appear consistent to others
foot-in-the-door (FITD) principle
Individuals are motivated to reduce negative tension by changing their behavior or adjusting their attitudes to match the behavior.
Cognitive dissonance
it is also possible that individuals may reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes instead of their behaviors.
Bad News of Cognitive Dissonance
is most pronounced when a behaviour or decision that conflicts with an attitude or value is seen as freely chosen and produces foreseeable negative consequences.
Dissonance
T OR F: Dissonance strategies have been effective when applied on a large scale to
problems like environmentally harmful behaviours.
TRUE
Social psychologists have found that commitment strategies work best when the commitment is active, public and perceived as voluntary. There is some evidence suggesting that commitments may become more effective when followed by reminders of past failures to live up to the values espoused in the commitment.
Public commitment
Elliot Aronson has termed the phenomenon as HYPOCRISY EFFECT:
behavioural self-perception
involves obtaining a commitment to a certain course of action. Next, individuals complete an exercise in which they are reminded of past failures to perform according to their commitment.
hypocrisy effect
What step is this: obtaining a commitment to a certain course of action.
First step of hypocrisy effect
individuals complete an exercise in which they are reminded of past failures to perform according to their commitment.
Second step of hypocrisy effect
to describe the compliance technique in which evidence about the behaviour of others is
provided in order to evoke a conforming response.
‘social proof’
Social proof consist
Normative prompts
Correcting Misperceived Norms
Personalized Normative Feedback
Make Participation Salient
can be defined as codes of conduct which inform members of a social group how to act in various situations.
Social norms
are what members of the social group typically do
Descriptive norms
describe what the group approves or disapproves
injunctive norms
those creating messages to encourage behaviour change should consider both injunctive and descriptive norms when designing their messages. Cialdini notes that pro-environmental messages frequently emphasize descriptive norms by describing the high prevalence of the problematic behaviour.
Normative prompts
individuals’ perceptions of norms are inaccurate.
Correcting misperceived norms
In addition to their relevance for prompting and education, social norms can be integrated with feedback interventions.
Personalized normative feedback
compares an individual’s behaviour to typical or average group behaviour.
Normative feedback
is the belief others’ private attitudes and beliefs are different from one’s own despite the fact that their public behaviour is identical
Pluralistic ignorance
This tendency to underestimate the situational influences for others is known as:
correspondence bias or the
fundamental attribution error.
which states we calculate the probability of an event’s occurrence based on the ease with which we can bring that event to mind.
availability heuristic
A final practical implication of the principle of social proof is that intervention agents should take steps to make their interventions as salient as possible.
Make participation salient
principle of (—) states that people are more likely to comply with a request from an authority figure than someone who lacks status
authority
is based on the fact we are more likely to do things for people we know and like
liking
Liking consists of
Identify with the target audience
Block-leader approach
The liking principle suggests similarities between intervention agents requesting behaviour change and targets should be emphasized whenever possible. interventions which make use of observational learning should pick models who closely match the target audience.
Identify with the target audience
is an application of the liking principle for behaviour-change
intervention. Block leaders are members of a community recruited to serve as
intervention agents and encourage programme participation in their neighbour
hoods.
block leader approach
reflects the norm that people should repay others for benefits received from them. The norm has been shown to exist in all cultures, and
is thought to facilitate social exchange and create a sense of interdependence
Reciprocity
Reciprocity consists of:
Pre-behavior rewards
Reciprocity Prompts
The reciprocity norm suggests offering this may
be a useful alternative to conventional incentive/rewards.
Pre-behaviour rewards
An experiment by Cialdini (2005) provides an example of the application of the
reciprocity principle to behavioural prompts. The target behaviour was reusing
hotel room towels rather than discarding them on the floor to be exchanged for clean ones.
Reciprocity prompts
principle of (—) can be conceptually linked to the economic principle of
supply and demand. The extent to which something is rare or difficult to obtain serves as a heuristic to determine its perceived value.
scarcity
Scarcity consists of:
Avoid Reactance
Make Potential Losses Salient
Fear Appeals
is important for behavior-change interventions, because a message or manipulation that results in perceptions of authoritarian control or lost freedom may backfire and result in behavior opposite to that desired.
Avoid reactance
is the tendency of individuals to act in ways to re-establish freedom when it becomes limited or threatened. In addition to desiring items that are scarce, freedom becomes more desirable when it is limited or threatened.
Reactance
Messages framing consequences in terms of what will be lost if behavior is not changed may be more effective than those emphasizing what will be gained if a change is made.
Make potential losses salient
are motivational messages which attempt to change behaviour by highlighting negative consequences. This technique has been widely used in health-information campaigns with varying results.
Fear appeals
Describes the principles as compliance techniques, because they are frequently used to increase the odds a target individual will comply with a request.
ENHANCING INTERVENTIONS THROUGH SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Who outlined Six Social Influence Principle
Robert Cialdini
Consists of foot in the door, cognitive dissonance, and public commitment
Consistency
Fear appeals are effective when they persuade the target audience:
a. They are susceptible to negative consequences.
b. The consequence is severe.
c. The target audience receives a prevention strategy they can apply successfully to avoid the negative consequence.
