Behaviour Change
PROPAGANDA FOR CHANGE is a project created by the students of Behaviour Change (ps359) and Professor Thomas Hills @thomhills at the Psychology Department of the University of Warwick. This work was supported by funding from Warwick's Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Using Sex to Sell Not-So-Sexy Information
Upworthy has a lot of interesting work on influence.
Here's one using 'sexy' to sell not-so-sexy information.
And here's another on how brands use gender because you use gender to make decisions.
Here's one using 'sexy' to sell not-so-sexy information.
And here's another on how brands use gender because you use gender to make decisions.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Sparking a Child's Thirst for Knowledge and Exploration
Growing up and advancing through the education years of our
lives, we as students don’t usually appreciate how much work goes in to being
our teachers. Especially at a younger age, students cause all sorts of havoc in
and out of the classroom that is relevant to and affects our teachers’ ability
to impart their knowledge onto us. As someone who has tutored academically and
coached sports to children of all ages, as well as with learning disabilities,
I know first hand how disruptive children can be. Despite this I want to
continue my work with children and continue to learn how to become a fun,
effective, successful teacher. The goal is to be able to spark each child’s
thirst for knowledge and exploration. To do this I need to better arm myself
with techniques that can gain each child’s attention, help change their
behaviour for the better, so that I can have the chance to make a difference in
their lives. Applied behaviour analysis can help me do that.
Let us look at a situation in a primary school where a new
year is beginning and I am receiving a new class of students for the year. The
scenario worked through here is a common occurrence and shows how I could use
applied behaviour analysis to reach my goals as a teacher. I soon learn that
there is one particularly disruptive child and he distracts the majority of the
class completely, with a few still managing to work but who are quite
significantly disturbed. I talk to his previous teacher and she tells me she
used to send him to sit in the principles office for a while every time he
disrupts the class. Whilst this solves the problem for the rest of the class
and the teacher, this does not help change the child’s behaviour, as he wants
to not be in class and it goes against my goal of helping him spark a natural
curiosity for learning. Sending him out of the classroom during lesson time
acts as a positive reinforce for him. This leads me to change the consequence
of his usual disruption from something he wants, to something he very much
dislikes. Instead of sending him out in class time I get him to stay during his
breaks where he wants to be playing, and finish the work he didn’t do during
the class time. A study by Sulzbacher and Houser (1968) showed that by reducing
the time a child has for his breaks leads to a decrease in the identified
target behaviour. This acts as a response cost which has been found to be
effective when working with children (Falcomata et al., 2004). Many teachers
also use positive reinforcers to increase desired behaviours in children. It is
common to have a star or point system within primary schools that are awarded
when a child performs to a certain level academically, elicits desired
behaviour that is uncommon to someone of that age (going out of their way to
help a friend) etc. These systems help us measure a student’s academic and
behavioural progress. Using these to motivate the misbehaving child, and adding
an incentive such as chocolate if he reaches a certain number of stars can help
as positive reinforcers to the desired behaviour. Hoffman et al. (2009) showed
that by using these reinforcers as rewards for students, teachers can increase
desired behaviours so that they are the norm within the classroom.
I have used bed time snacks being given or not given as both
a positive reinforcer to desired behaviour, and a response cost to undesired
behaviour in a summer camp environment and at certain ages it worked very well.
These methods are just a few ways in which applied behaviour analysis can be
used within my future career working with children.
References
Falcomata, T. S., Roane, H. S., Hovanetz, A. N., Kettering,
T. L., & Keeney, K. M. (2004). An evaluation of response cost in the
treatment of inappropriate vocalizations maintained by automatic reinforcement. Journal
of Applied Behavior Analysis, 37, 83-87.
Hoffmann, K. F.,
Huff, J. D., Patterson, A. S., & Nietfeld, J. L. (2009). Elementary
teachers' use and perception of rewards in the classroom. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(6), 843-849.
Sulzbacher,S., & Houser, J. (1968). A tactic to
eliminate disruptive behaviours in the classroom: Group contingent
consequences. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 73,88-90.
Door In The Face
Robert Cialdini and his colleagues conducted a study in
1975, investigating the compliance tactic called rejection then moderation.
This is more commonly known as the door in the face technique. The foundations
for their study started by looking at the foot in the door technique which
describes a situation where a small favour is asked first, and after complied
with, a larger favour is asked of the helper. Studies showed that this tactic
shifted peoples self perception so they see themselves as those who are
helpers, who comply to requests for things they believe in. This makes them
more likely to comply with a larger request (Freedman & Fraser, 1966). The
next step towards the study in question was to purpose that another effective
technique is doing those things the other way round. This theory was based on
work concerning the concept of reciprocation. Gouldner (1960) stated that the
norms of reciprocity exists in all societies, and describes it in its simplest
form as: “You should give benefits to those who give benefits to you.” This
leads on to a related aspect of the norm of reciprocity which is that you
should make concessions to those who make concessions to you. Mutual
concessions and compromise is essential to any negotiation. Studies have shown
that a concession by one party increases the likelihood of a concession by the
other leading to a successful compromise (Benton et al., 1972). This leads on
to the basis for the study in question. By the analysis of Benton et al. (1972)
it seems likely that by offering an extreme favour initially, and then asking
for a smaller favour after it is rejected, you will see an increase in the
likelihood of compliance than when compared to just asking for the smaller
favour outright.
Cialdini et al. (1975) carried out three experiments to
investigate the door in the face technique. The first was designed to see the
effects of the rejection-moderation technique and also prove that the effect
seen was not mediated by a perceptual contrast effect. The conditions of this
experiment were the rejection-moderation condition where the participants were
asked to perform the target favour after previously rejecting the larger
favour. The exposure control where participants heard a description of both the
larger and the target favours and then asked to pick one. The last was the
target favour only condition where they were only asked to perform the target
favour. Results showed no significant difference between the two control
conditions showing that the effect was not mediated by a perceptual contrast
effect. They also showed a significant increase in compliance for the target
favour in the rejection-moderation condition compared to the control
conditions. The table below shows the percentage of participants complying with
the smaller request.
Percentage of Subjects Complying with the Smaller Request:
Experiment 1
Treatment
|
% Compliance
|
Rejection-Moderation
condition
|
50.0
|
Exposure Control
|
25.0
|
Smaller Request
Only Control
|
16.7
|
The next experiment tested the need for the participants’
perception that the requestor has made a concession on their own concession.
The first condition was where the participant was asked to perform a favour by
a single requestor. The second was where the participant was asked to perform
the target favour after rejecting the larger favour by the same requestor. The
third was where the participant was asked to perform the target favour by one
requestor after rejected to perform the larger favour by a different requestor.
The results were the same in that there was no significant difference between
the control conditions and there was a significant difference seen between the
controls and the experimental condition. The table below shows the percentage
compliance for this experiment.
Percentage of Subjects Complying with the Smaller
Request: Experiment 2
Treatment
|
% Compliance
|
Rejection-Moderation
condition
|
55.5
|
Two Requestor
Control
|
10.5
|
Smaller Request
Only Control
|
31.5
|
The third experiment aimed to show that the
rejection-moderation condition results seen in the previous experiments were
solely due to a persistent requestor and the participant subsided to the
request due to this persistence. The findings of this experiment was in
concurrence with the first two, showing that the rejection moderation
technique, or the door in the face technique is effective, and is due to the
rules of reciprocation created when someone perceives the requestor to be
making a concession, and so they feel they should make a concession themselves.
References
Benton, A. A.,
Kelley, H. H., & Liebling, B. (1972). Effects of extremity of offers and
concession rate on the outcomes of bargaining. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 24(1), 73.
Cialdini, R. B.,
Vincent, J. E., Lewis, S. K., Catalan, J., Wheeler, D., & Darby, B. L.
(1975). Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: The
door-in-the-face technique. Journal of personality and Social
Psychology, 31(2), 206.
Freedman, J. L.,
& Fraser, S. C. (1966). Compliance without pressure: the foot-in-the-door
technique. Journal of personality and social psychology, 4(2),
195.
Gouldner, A. W.
(1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement.American
sociological review, 161-178.
The Magic of Disney: A new Analysis
Disney World - A Magical Place
This is a short advert for Disney World. The previous blog
entry looked at a few key techniques used in this advert such as human
salience, priming affect, and targeting affect. There are a few others that we
can attribute to this advert. Firstly let us look at social consensus. This
basically states that the more people are observed to support a particular
position or be doing something, the more likely others will join and agree.
Milgram et al. (1969) placed confederates on a busy street and had them look up
at a building. They found that passers by copied this behaviour and looked up
as well. As more people looked up, this increased conformity. In this video,
seeing numerous clips of parents telling their children they are taking them to
Disney World, increases the likelihood of the viewers to do the same. It even
increases the likelihood of them recording the event as seen in the video. This
way Disney World gains more homemade videos for future adverts without even
asking for them.
This leads on to the next technique that is closely related
to social consensus. It is called multiple sources. This advert is made up of
multiple clips of parents telling their children that they are taking them to
Disney World. In each of these numerous clips, it is seen that the children’s
reactions are all extremely positive, and this is recreated over and over again
with children of varying ages, both boys and girls. Seeing just one family have
such positive reactions is quite persuasive, but by showing numerous ones, this
advert becomes even stronger. Harkins and Petty (1981) showed the effects of
multiple sources compared to one on persuasion strength. They showed that using
three different speakers for three different arguments, was more persuasive
than having just one speaker for all three arguments. This finding was
replicated using synthetic voices as well by Lee and Nass (2004). These
experiments showed that increasing the number of sources, increased the amount
the recipients of the message thought about them. When the arguments are strong
this increases persuasion. In this case the fact that the children’s positive
reactions were so strong is very compelling and persuasive.
A third lesser technique used in this advert, which comes
about as a by-product of the previous two is repetition of a message. Repeating
a message over and over again generally increases it’s believability and
increases people’s acceptance of said communication. Message repetition works
by creating a liking for the object or product through the exposure effect.
This is shown in a study by Zajonc (1968). Message repetition also increases
the validity of facts stated within the message, which is seen in a study by
Boehm (1994). In this video, the slight difference is that the message caption,
revealing the meaning of the message, comes after the message evidence itself.
The message of happiness, or ‘magic’ as the caption labels it, that Disney
World brings, is repeated over and over again in the form of the homemade
reaction video clips.
All of these, as well as the ones described in the previous
analysis contribute to the successful persuasive power of this Disney World
advert.
References
Boehm, L. E. (1994).
The validity effect: A search for mediating variables.Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 20(3), 285-293.
Harkins, S. G., & Petty, R. E. (1981). The
Multiple Source Effect in Persuasion The Effects of Distraction. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7(4), 627-635.
Lee, K. M., & Nass, C. (2004). The multiple source
effect and synthesized speech: Doubly disembodied language as a conceptual
framework. Human Communication Research, 30(2), 182-207.
Milgram, S.,
Bickman, L., & Berkowitz, L. (1969). Note on the drawing power of crowds of
different size. Journal of personality and social psychology, 13(2),
79.
Zajonc, R. B.
(1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of personality
and social psychology, 9(2p2), 1.
Give me $400!
(Joey's Fridge)
This video is a compilation of clips from an episode of
Friends, where Joey tries to convince the gang they owe him four hundred
dollars for his fridge. He obviously has no reason to ask any of them for
money, and so expectedly most of them turn him down outright. Joey tries many
unsuccessful ways of convincing his friends, but the one negotiation I am going
to look at here is the one where Phoebe convinces Joey he actually owes her
money. Joey asks to call it even and comes away feeling like he has saved
money. The first thing Phoebe does is say yes to Joey’s request, which even he
is surprised at. She then initiates something called intimates (friends)
altercast. By stating Joey owes her six hundred dollars for sending out happy
thoughts on his last ten auditions, Joey feels a certain obligation to pay back
his friend, over the need to buy a new fridge. This creates a feeling of guilt,
which makes him even more likely to oblige and pay Phoebe back. This also leads
to a well known phenomenon called the norm of reciprocity. An experiment by
Kunz and Woolcott (1976) showed that after sending a Christmas card to a sample
of strangers, the majority of them sent one back to them despite having no idea
who they were. Using questionnaire data Roloff et al. (1988) tested three
measures of intimacy related to the obligation to grant requests. Their study
showed that increased intimacy with a potential helper increased obligations to
grant requests and obligations to offer resources. They also found that with
increased intimacy, the requests needed less elaboration, lower frequency of
explanations for the request, and fewer inducements. Vangelisti et al. (1991)
showed that by reminding people of their obligation to a relationship, and by
listing the sacrifices one has made for the other, you could induce and
increase the feelings of guilt within conversation. This is what phoebe did by stating she had sent
out happy thoughts on Joey’s last ten auditions. Their experiment showed that
increased intimacy was positively associated with the likelihood of using guilt
in conversation as a method of persuasion. This guilt crated a stronger
motivation for the friend to comply with a request.
Another phenomenon seen in this situation is called
emotional seesawing. This is when a person receives either good or bad news,
and then it is quickly taken away. This is what happens when Phoebe says yes to
Joey’s request for money, but then immediately states he actually owes her more
money than she owes him. Dolinski and his colleagues (Dolinski & Nawrat,
1998; Dolinski et al., 2002) showed that when this occurs, people are more
likely to comply with a request. He explains this by saying that emotions
invoke a specific plan of action, and when the emotions are quickly taken away,
the person has not made a new plan of action. It is in this confusion, that the
person is more likely to comply with with a request. In this case, Joey feels
emotions such as relief and happiness about the fact that Phoebe has agreed to
give him the money to buy a new fridge. When he is told he actually owes her
more money, the emotions are taken away and in this confused state, he is more
likely to find a way to comply with the request of paying her what he owes her.
This scenario ends with him rescinding the request for Phoebe’s money as a way
of restoring the debt.
A lesser affect seen in this negotiation is one of
psychological reactance. This is when an individual (in this case Joey)
perceives that his freedom of behaviour is restricted. It is an aversive
tension state that motivates behaviour to restore his freedom. Here we see
Joey’s ability to take Phoebe’s money and buy a new fridge restricted by the
fact that he owes her more than she owes him. He can’t afford to pay Phoebe and
the only way he can be free from his obligation to pay her is to rescind his
request for four hundred dollars, and ask if they can call it even. This is the
behaviour that was motivated to restore the closest level of freedom he can. He
might not be able to pay for his new fridge but he is no longer indebted to
Phoebe. This motivation and behaviour to restore freedom was seen in a number
of experiments (Brehm, 1966; Brehm & Brehm, 1981) with personal and
impersonal threats.
In a very short space of time, Phoebe has managed to use
multiple arts of persuasion to convince Joey that she is in fact doing him a
favour by not paying him for his new fridge. He feels relief and freedom from
obligation after her ‘rejection’ of his request for money, compared to
increased stress and tension between Joey and his other friends. If anything,
Phoebe can later use the fact that she let Joey off from paying her the two
hundred dollar difference to persuade him to do something else for her.
References
Brehm, J. W. (1966).
A theory of psychological reactance. New York.
Brehm, S. S., &
Brehm, J. W. (1981). Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and
control (pp. 327-343). New York: Academic Press.
Dolinski, D., &
Nawrat, R. (1998). “Fear-then-relief” procedure for producing compliance:
beware when the danger is over. Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 34(1), 27-50.
Dolinski, D.,
Ciszek, M., Godlewski, K., & Zawadzki, M. (2002). Fear‐then‐relief,
mindlessness, and cognitive deficits. European Journal of Social
Psychology, 32(4), 435-447.
Kunz, P. R., &
Woolcott, M. (1976). Season's greetings: From my status to yours. Social
Science Research, 5(3), 269-278.
Roloff, M. E.,
Janiszewski, C. A., McGRATH, M. A. R. Y., Burns, C. S., & Manrai, L. A.
(1988). Acquiring resources from intimates when obligation substitutes for
persuasion. Human Communication Research, 14(3),
364-396.
Vangelisti, A. L.,
Daly, J. A., & RUDNICK, J. (1991). Making people feel guilty in
conversations. Human Communication Research, 18(1),
3-39.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
A Refugees Story
Imagine seeing shattered glass...blood... and war in your country.. what would you do?
Samantha Faulkner
Hee Jay Park
Fofung Dissick
Isma Khan
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Be Cruelty Free
By:
Chan Kei Fong Chermaine
Chan Wing Shan Jennifer
Ng Ching Yiu Yoyo
Yeung Sze Kei Regina
Say No to Educational Inequality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZYRb7w5h8w&feature=youtu.be
By:
Siang Huat Hong
Li Ying Fong
Nimarta Dugh
By:
Siang Huat Hong
Li Ying Fong
Nimarta Dugh
Don't Mask Mental Illness
Amber Kalejs
When Death Comes Knocking
Death . Death . Death
"No"
**************
Brought to you by: Jamie Hart, Aleksander Lagowski, Toby Watson & Qi Peng Wang
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
#NekNomihate
Our video campaign against 'NekNomination'.
What is 'NekNomination'?
NekNomination involves uploading a video of yourself downing an alcoholic beverage on Facebook, before nominating someone else to do the same. This trend has resulted in at least 5 related deaths, and the hospitalisation of a 9-year-old girl.This is why we're taking a stand.
Authors
Laura Cunniffe
Grace Pattison
Anna Caswell
Simran Vaswani
Fight For Freedom
---
video by Tomas Engelthaler, Liza Khmelnitskaya and Justina PakulnytÄ—
---
The main purpose of the video is to remind everyone that we are free people. Our rights to meet new people, study, travel, share our ideas and choose our life shouldn't be taken away.
We chose Ukraine as an example for our video. A violent and cruel conflict which arose in Ukraine, started from a simple desire of people to be included in major decision making of their government. Political friction, religious conflicts and racial hostility could be avoided if people would respect other peoples' opinion and ideas.
We believe that the right to fight for our freedom is the right that all of us possess. Not going deeper into the recent conflict in Ukraine we wanted to focus on how it is important to know that you have your freedom and not be afraid to fight for it, because if you just look around, you will realize that you are not alone. You can find more support than you expect and live the life you deserve.
Enjoy Your Life with Responsibility
Po Yiu Chan (Andrew), Hau Tung Wong, Hui Xie, Yinan Wang
Special thanks: Kramer Lin
'See me not the disability'
By Steven Cass, Tashya De Silva and Pippa Mundy
Music: 'I Giorni' by Ludovico Einaudi
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