Behaviour change by communication and
pedagogical strategies –
What we can learn from other fields
ECOMM 2009 in San Sebastian
14th of May 2009
Gudrun Uranitsch
Austrian Mobility Research
Background
The Province of Vorarlberg, elaborating the Cycling
Strategy, asked one simple but important question:
Are soft policies (communication via campaigning,
promotion, information, training etc.) changing people‘s
mobility behaviour?
?
Overview about different scientific fields
 Environmental Psychology
 Gender-orientated environmental research
 Social Psychological Findings & Advertising Psychology
 Communication Strategies in Traffic Safety & Health promotion
 Recommendations for Mobility Management
I. Environmental Psychology:
Theories of behaviour change
Problem: Gap between environmental attitudes and behaviours!
Conditions for behaviour change:
 social context
 cognitive factors such as perceived behavioural control
 efficacy
 incentives
 habits
 actual situation
 cost – benefit
 personal factors
 socio-cultural environment based on the key constructs
of motivation, values and identity
Relevant factors for behaviour change
(attitude-orientated model)
Factor
Potency of factor (0 – 1)
Ecological Awareness
.19 - .29
Ecological Knowledge
.15 - .40
Perceived behavioural
control
Range of behaviours
.21 - .26
Social norms
.24 - .47
Habit
.34 - .51
.25
Source: Frewein, Seebauer: Modelle zur
Beschreibung der Verkehrsmittelwahl. 2003.
II. Gender-orientated Environmental Research:
environmental problems are not gender-free
Women show higer ecological awareness &
behave more ecology-minded than men
Explantion:
1. Women are underprivileged (e.g. fewer financial
resources) and consequently need to behave and act
more resource-conserving
2. Women continue to have a central role within the
household and are often responsible for issues relating to
health and environment. However, they lack the possibility
to actively change existing systems because they are not
in the position to influence policy
Differences in driving behaviour
♀
I like to drive fast
I will never keep a voluntary speed limit
I prefer driving slowly
I have a fast reaction
♂
44 % 52 %
34% 47%
41% 31 %
34%
69%
Women behave much more eco-friendly
Women know less scientific facts (most important critique on
the part of feminist environmental research) but have a much
broader daily relevant knowledge and their behaviour is much
more eco-friendly!
Different information behaviour between
men and women
♀
37%
♂
31%
I read a daily journal very
frequently
15%
22%
Do not read professional
journals
Internet access in the houshold
57%
46%
22%
31%
I never use the internet despite
accessibility
43%
27%
Do not read weekly journals
Source: Empacher / Heyn/ Schubert / Schulz: Analyse der Folgen des
Geschlechterrollenwandels für Umweltbewußtsein und Umweltverhalten.
Frankfurt / Main, 2001.
Gap between the information rich &
information poor
 The knowledge-gap hypothesis
theory
Media research shows that increase of
information doesn‘t reach everybody
alike, due to:
- differences in access to the medium
- control over its use increases
therefore the gap between the
information rich and information poor
Source: Empacher / Heyn/ Schubert / Schulz: Analyse der Folgen des
Geschlechterrollenwandels für Umweltbewußtsein und Umweltverhalten.
Frankfurt / Main, 2001.
III. Field of Social Psychology
used in Advertising Psychology
 Know how about illusion of invulnerability
We believe that the probability that we are
influenced by advertising and consequently spend
money is much lower for ourselves than for the
others!
 Third person-Effect
Prevention and Promotion strategies work with
messages aiming to change people‘s attitudes
and behaviours.
This is a way of influencing people.
Attention: If influence is too obvious defence mechanisms are activated!
Shock advertising to raise awareness
for environmental issues
Olivero Toscani for Benneton
Shock advertising to raise awareness for
traffic safety issues
 Shame campaign in Styria’s TV: Could you life with it?
Peer group education:
Promising in traffic safety communication
 Direct communication & emotional approach, involving car
drivers who caused heavy accidents and future car drivers
Evaluation of acceptance
 56% can imagine to work as a peer mentor
telling the story about responsibility in traffic
 70% say the performance has impact on
their driving behaviour
Communication theory: Which message is
the right one?
Negative Messages -
Positive Messages +
 For the broad public negative
 The more specific your
messages are more effective, because
they attract more attention.
 A message is rememberd better the
higher the level of excitement.
 Negative messages place more
emphasis on extrinsic motivation.
tagret group the more positive
the message should be. They
lead to an intrinsic motivation
and the probability that the
behaviour change lasts is
higher).
Call upon fear
 Empiric studies show a higher effect of
fear appeals than of positive &
encouraging messages
 Successful, but only if they present a
fear reducing tangible behavioural
instruction immediately afterwards
 Mainly prevention campaigns
 Mainly health promoting
campaigns
 Recommendations should be formulated with positive messages
IV. Communication strategies in health promotion
 1980ies: Negative Campaigning (Warning & Fear Appeals,
Risk factor models: If you are not living healthy you will
become ill!)
Pathogenetic concept (origin & treatment of illness)
 1990ies: Health genetic concept: Why do human beings stay
healthy? (A. Antonovsky)
 Transtheoretical Model (Di Clemente / Prohaska):
Successful in the areas of nutrition and exercise
→ change happens in multiple consecutive steps (time and
process character is important)
Expectancy of self-efficacy is important
Self-efficiacy keeps healthy
Grant Study in 1930ies:
200 healthy & highly skilled male students, 25 years old,
were interviewed over 50 years about their status of
health & health attitudes.
Research about life attitude and life confidence showed
that men with an optimistic attitude were healthier!
High significance of self-efficacy became obvious in this
study. It is a central element!
Anti smoking campaign
 Style
High quality and stylish pages in magazines and
posters in London’s Underground
 Target group
Young female smokers 16 to 24 years
 Method planning
Target’s preferences were monitored for several
month by Teenwatching (read their magazines,
frequent spots where they hang out, shop where
they shop etc.)
 Interviews
with editors of leading young women’s magazines
to get know their fashion, their body image,
emotional problems…
Anti smoking campaign
 Cooperation
HEA, read medical journals and consulted
UK’s leading dermatologists
 Campaign message
Every cigarette you smoke is having a
detrimental effect on your looks now. By
using the language of cosmetics, and also
the glamour and simple gloss of the best
cosmetics advertisements, the message
was found to be believable and extremely
relevant.
Results of an Anti smoking campaign
 20% increase in the number of 16 - 24
year olds who claimed to have seen
advertising with an antismoking message
(excluding nicotine replacement
treatments).
 84% of the smokers that had seen the
ads felt that they were aimed specifically
at them
 Almost 2/3 said that the ads had
encouraged them to think about giving
up smoking
Toyota Campaign
 Social psychologists
accompanied a group of young
people for 3 years to get ideas
for the design of a new car that
would attract young people
Source: Robert Levine “ The power of
persuasion” – Psychology of manipulation
Counteracting Ads
 The Baby boomer generation and Generation X are people
who believe that they are not attractable and are immune
towards advertising – they are cool, hip, ironic, a pose of
opposition against advertising.
 Advertisers (Nike, Reebok, MTV) counteract with Ads:
You are too cool to be taken in by ads!
Source: Robert Levine “ The power of persuasion” – Psychology of
manipulation
V. Recommendations for Mobility Management:
Cycling from early childhood on!
Is Cycling a matter of habitual behaviour?
Environmental Psychology agrees: Most relevant factors for
behaviour change are social norms and habit
 Cycling from early childhood on
as part of a continous mobility socialisation!
V. Recommendations for Mobility Management:
Learning by doing - Training
 Cycle with different target groups in real traffic
V. Recommendations for Mobility Management:
Learning by doing - Training
V. Recommendations for Mobility Management:
Learning by doing - Training
V. Recommendations for Mobility Management:
Develop gender related information & methods
 If you want to reach women involve
them in participation processes!
V. Recommendations for Mobility Management
for communication: Be concrete & tangible!
 To promote cycling – call it cycling!
 Consider psychological know how (do not manipulate but be
aware about the power and hidden persuasion of words)
 Use positive, concrete, tangible, gender sensitive and actionorientated messages (reason why people cycle is fun factor!)
 Be precise defining your target group
(health promoting campaigns!)
 Invest enough money because soft measures cost money!
Thank you very much for your attention!
Gudrun Uranitsch
Austrian Mobility Research
uranitsch@fgm.at
www.fgm.at
www.radfahrtraining.at
www.bypad.org