The principles of behavior change social and behavioral science

Social and behvioral science. The principles of behavioral change

1. The principles of behavior
change

2. The concept of behavior in psychology
•Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity (mentally,
physically, and socially) of human individuals or groups to respond to
internal and external stimuli throughout their life (Marc H. Bornstein
& Lerner, 2024)
•Behavior is driven by genetic and environmental factors that affect an
individual
•Human behavior is influenced by biological and cultural elements. An
individual's personality, attitude and environmental factors can also
affect behavior, often in conjunction with genetic factors

4. Why is behavior change important?
•Behavior change is important for many reasons
•It can help improve our health, our relationships, and our overall
sense of wellbeing
•It can also help us be more productive and successful in our work and
careers
•Changing behavior such as eating nutritious foods, exercising
regularly, and getting enough sleep – can help us feel our best and
enjoy a higher quality of life
•Adapting these healthy habits can help prevent chronic diseases such
as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes

5. Why is behavior change important?
•Making important behavior changes in our life can be challenging,
but the rewards can be great
•If you smoke, quitting smoking is one of the most important
changes you can make for your health
•If you already know that overcoming the habit of smoking will
improve your cardiovascular and respiratory health
•Smoking is a leading cause of cancer and other serious illnesses, so
quitting will dramatically improve your health
•If you try to change, you can get many health benefits from almost
any behavioral change

6. Why Is Behavioral Change Difficult?
•The process of change appears to be difficult. It is important to
remember that change is a process and not a one-off event
•It can be difficult to make large changes in one step, but breaking up a
large goal into smaller parts takes planning and commitment
•It’s challenging to stay motivated if the reward for behavior change
seems far off in the future or is vague; for example, exercising more to
reduce risk of heart disease in older age
•If there are no immediate rewards for changing a behavior, or if there
are immediate costs, such as nicotine cravings when quitting smoking,
this can make it difficult to stay motivated
•It is important to identify these issues and need to create plans for
when they occur.

7. What are the stages of behavioral change?
•The stages of change model is a tool that is often used to help
people understand and work through the process of making behavioral
changes
•Five stages of change have been conceptualized for a variety of problem
behaviors
•The model suggests that there are five distinct stages that people go through
when changing a behavior:
1.Pre-contemplation,
2.Contemplation,
3.Preparation,
4.Action
5.Maintenance.

8. Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/behavior-change-intervention-models-methods-abhijeet-p-sinha

9. 1. Precontemplation,
•In the precontemplation stage, individuals are not yet ready to change and may
not be aware of the problem
•Many individuals in this stage are unaware or under aware of their problems. In
the precontemplation stage, people are not thinking seriously about changing
and are not interested in any kind of help
• People in this stage tend to defend their current bad habits and do not feel it is
a problem
•They may be defensive in the face of other people’s efforts to pressure them to
change
•The individual is not intending to change their behavior
•They may be uninformed about the consequences of their behavior or lack
confidence in their ability to change, sometimes because of previous failed
attempts

10. 2. Contemplation
•Contemplation is the stage in which people become aware of the problem and
start to think about making a change
•People are seriously thinking about overcoming it but have not yet made a
commitment to take action
•Although they think about the negative aspects of their bad habit and the
positives associated with changing, they may doubt that the long-term benefits
associated with change will outweigh the short-term costs
•It might take as little as a couple weeks or as long as a lifetime to get through the
contemplation stage
•They can see the benefits of making a change but are also very aware of the
disadvantages and challenges, which can keep them stuck in this stage

11. 3. Preparation,
•During preparation, individuals make a plan to change and take steps to
implement it
•Individuals in this stage are intending to take action in the next month and
have unsuccessfully taken action in the past year
•In the preparation stage, people have made a commitment to make a change
• They described their motivation for change: “I've got to do something about
it - it's serious
•Something has to change
•What can I do for it?" This is a research phase

12. 3. Preparation,
They gather information (sometimes by reading things like this) about
what they need to do to change their behavior
•Or they will check websites, organizations and resources that are
available to help them in their attempt
•People often skip this step: they don't do enough research or
acceptance to make this major lifestyle change, so they try to move
directly from reasoning to action

13. 4. Action
• In the action stage, people take visible steps to change their behavior
•Action is the behavior of individuals to overcome their problems. It is
the stage where experiences or environments are modified
•Action involves extreme behavior changes and requires a lot of time
and energy
•This is the stage where people are motivated to change their behavior
and are actively involved in taking steps to change their bad behavior
using a variety of different methods
•It generally takes about 6 months, but can literally be as short as an
hour. This is the stage where most people rely on their own will
•They are making an intense effort to change the behavior

14. 5. Maintenance.
•In the maintenance phase, individuals work to maintain their
behavior change over time
•Maintenance is the step taken to prevent people from relapse and to
consolidate the gains made during the action phase
•For addictive behaviors; this phase extends from six months after the
initial action to an indefinite period
•Maintenance involves being able to successfully avoid any
temptations to return to the bad habit

15. 5. Maintenance.
•The goal of the maintenance stage is to maintain at the new status
•People at this level notice how much they have improved
•In maintenance, people are constantly adjusting their life rules and
acquiring new skills to cope with life and not let it happen again
•They are able to anticipate the situations in which a relapse could
occur and prepare coping strategies in advance

16. 5. Maintenance.
•They still know that what they are trying to do has personal value and
meaning
•They are patient with themselves and recognize that it often takes
some time to let go of old behaviors and practice new ones until it
becomes second nature to them
•They thought about going back to their old ways, but resisted the
temptation and stayed the course
•Individuals continue to change their behavior enough to prevent
relapse, but not with as much time and effort as in the action phase

17. Relapse
•Relapse can occur at any stage and go back to any of the earlier stages
in the model
•People most frequently return to contemplation or preparation for
another attempt at changing their behavior (Prochaska & Velicer,
1997)

18. Termination
•There may be a sixth stage which is relapse or termination
•The individual tries to cope their old behavior and feels confident in
their ability to keep this change
•Many people will struggle to reach this end state
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/behavior-change-intervention-models-methods-abhijeet-p-sinha

19. •Behavioral change is about changing long-term habits and behaviors
•Small changes can lead to big improvements in people's health and
life expectancy
•These are just a few examples of behavior changes that many have
tried at some time in their lives
•Some changes may be easy, but others prove quite challenging

20. Examples for behavior change include:
•Smoking cessation
•Reducing alcohol intake
•Substance used problem
•Eating healthily
•Exercising regularly
•Practicing safe sex
•Driving safely
•Incorporating regular self-care activities
•Going to bed earlier
•Practicing mindfulness

22. References
•Douglas A. Bernstein, L. A. P. A. C.-S. & Roy, E. J., 2012. Psychology. 9th ed.
Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.
•Fadem, B., 2017. Behavioral Science. 7th ed. China: Wolters Kluwer.
•Myers, D. G., 2014. Myers’ Psychology for AP. 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers.
•Marc H. Bornstein, J.K. & Lerner, R. M., 2024. Human Behavior. Available at
https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-behavior [Accessed 3 March 2024].
•Prochaska JO, Velicer WF. The Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change.
American Journal of Health Promotion. 1997;12(1):38-48. doi:10.4278/0890-
1171-12.1.38