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Introduction
Human behaviour is a very complex area. This document draws on key sources from the disciplines of social psychology, economics and behavioural economics (where the first two disciplines overlap). We have sought to distil this information into some key factors that are important to consider for anyone developing communications that seek to influence behaviour, and to develop a framework for applying these factors to the development of a communications strategy.
In this document
What influences people’s behaviour?
This section outlines some of the key factors that influence behaviour. It draws on a range of social psychological theories and includes three examples of behavioural models. The section also gives an overview of the key principles of behavioural economics and of the best known theories of change. Case studies provide a practical illustration of how models and theories have been used to inform government communications.
Embedding behavioural theory
A five-step framework shows how, by increasing our understanding of behaviour, behavioural theory can help to define the role for communications and build a communications model. The Department of Health’s Tobacco Control campaign is used to show how each step of the process might work in practice. The section concludes with a summary of the steps and a series of questions designed to stimulate thinking at each stage.
Conclusions and future implications
This section lists the main conclusions emerging from the report, then goes on to consider some of the key implications for communicators.
Next steps
Finally, this section suggests some areas for future discussion aimed at embedding behaviour change theory in communications development.
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For further information contact behaviourchange@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Taken from: COI Website. As my thesis focused upon the posters produced by the Ministry of Information in the Second World War, and the MOI became the COI, I am really interested in this report, particularly as this report focuses upon behavioural change, which was one of the indicators I was looking for within my thesis, although I was not using specific behavioural theories, that was a line I’ve become interested in developing, as I am really interested in a longitudinal study of government publicity, with a particular interest in health campaigns – and have been chatting to Beyond Chocolate about some of the research they have done.
See press release if interested in getting involved.
“Britain entered the war on 4 August 1914. The possessor of a small professional army and without a policy of conscription she had urgent need of more men – many, many more men – for training within the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
I’m not sure that I’m bothering with Christmas Cards this year (I usually do an e-card, and then a handful of cards for people who are not online/who I won’t see… otherwise where do you stop with the writing of cards – it just goes crazy). Christmas is about more than cards, food, etc. (
“In a BBC History Magazine poll timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, readers were asked when they thought history began – in other words, how much time has to pass before a certain event becomes history. It’s a nice question, and the response that received the most votes is likewise nice: a second before the present. One out of three of the nearly 2,000 readers surveyed share that opinion, whereas 28 percent think that events become part of history only after a decade has passed. In other words, about 60 percent of the respondents think that history is a past that ended no further than 10 years ago.
