Behaviour Change

Learn how to increase the uptake of new knowledge, ideas, products and policies

While behaviour change has long interested psychologists and economists, its potential for public policy has only recently become clear. Behaviour Insight draws on physiological and psychological research, to develop ways of transforming human action. An understanding of this emerging social science can benefit anyone needing to convey an effective message to a specific sector or the wider public.

Why don’t new innovations or interventions seem to be taken up as soon as we’d like? We’ve provided evidence that they work, everyone thinks they’re a good idea but, even if they have all the relevant information, people still don’t behave as you’d expect them to. That’s because people are not really rational! We tend to think we are ‘thinking beings that feel’ but evidence is showing that we are more often ‘feeling beings that think’. This module will be developed in conjunction with the Aberystwyth Behavioural Insights Interdisciplinary Research Centre and will help you to understand the theory of behaviour insights and show how it can be applied to a range of situations.

This module is aimed at:

• policy makers
• knowledge exchange professionals
• marketing personnel and people managers

List of Units

What is Behaviour Change?	History and development of behaviour change theory and practice.
Psychology & Sociology	A deeper exploration of the most influential or widely-recognized behaviour change theories.
The Brain	Can brain evolution and development explain why we behave the way we do?
External Influences	How might factors outside of an individual’s control affect their behaviours?
Models	Putting behaviour change theory into practice; a selection of established models will be explained in detail.
Ethics	Implications of using behaviour change approaches; do they undermine our liberal values?
Applications	How, when and where might behaviour change approaches best be used?
Case Studies	Hear from practitioners of behaviour change about their successful interventions and lessons learned.

Tutors

Tutors Name
Dr Sarah Watson-Jones