Behavioural design

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Behavioural design is a sub-category of design, which is concerned with how design can shape, or be used to influence human behaviour. [1] [2] All approaches of design for behaviour change acknowledge that artifacts have an important influence on human behaviour and/or behavioural decisions. They strongly draw on theories of behavioural change, including the division into personal, behavioural, and environmental characteristics as drivers for behaviour change. [2] Areas in which design for behaviour change has been most commonly applied include health and wellbeing, sustainability, safety and social context, as well as crime prevention.

Contents

History

Design for behaviour change developed from work on design psychology (also: behavioural design) conducted by Don Norman in the 1980s. [3] Norman’s ‘psychology of everyday things’ introduced concepts from ecological psychology and human factors research to designers, such as affordances, constraint feedback and mapping. They have provided guiding principles with regard to user experience and the intuitive use of artefacts, although this work did not yet focus specifically on influencing behavioural change.

The models that followed Norman’s original approach became more explicit about influencing behaviour, such as emotion design [4] and persuasive technology. [5] Perhaps since 2005, a greater number of theories have developed that explicitly address design for behaviour change. These include a diversity of theories, guidelines and toolkits for behaviour change (discussed below) covering the different domains of health, sustainability, safety, crime prevention and social design. With the emergence of the notion of behaviour change, a much more explicit discussion has also begun about the deliberate influence of design although a review of this area from 2012 [6] has identified that a lack of common terminology, formalized research protocols and target behaviour selection are still key issues. Key issues are the situations in which design for behaviour change could or should be applied; whether its influence should be implicit or explicit, voluntary or prescriptive; and of the ethical consequences of one or the other.

Issues of behaviour change

In 1969, Herbert Simon's understanding of design as "devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones" acknowledged its capacity to create change. [7] Since then, the role of design in influencing human behaviour has become much more widely acknowledged. [1] [8] [9] [10] [11] It is further recognised that design in its various forms, whether as objects, services, interiors, architecture and environments, can create change that is both desirable as well as undesirable, intentional and unintentional.

Desirable and undesirable effects are often closely intertwined whereby the first is usually intentionally designed, while the latter might be an unintentional effect. For example, the impact of cars has been profound in enhancing social mobility on the one hand, while transforming cities and increasing resource demand and pollution on the other. The first is generally regarded as a positive effect. The impact of associated road building on cities, however, has largely had a detrimental impact on the living environment. Furthermore, resource use and pollution associated with cars and their infrastructure have prompted a rethinking of human behaviour and the technology used, as part of the sustainable design movement, resulting for example in schemes promoting less travel or alternative transport such as trains and bike riding. Similar effects, sometimes desirable, sometimes undesirable can be observed in other areas including health, safety and social spheres. For example, mobile phones and computers have transformed the speed and social code of communication, leading not only to an increased ability to communicate, but also to an increase in stress levels with a wide range of health impacts [12] and to safety issues. [13]

Taking lead from Simon, it could be argued that designers have always attempted to create "preferable" situations. However, recognising the important but not always benevolent role of design, Jelsma emphasises that designers need to take moral responsibility for the actions which take place with artefacts as a result of humans interactions:

"artefacts have a co-responsibility for the way action develops and for what results. If we waste energy or produce waste in routine actions such as in the household practices, that has to do with the way artefacts guide us" [14]

In response, design for behaviour change acknowledges this responsibility and seeks to put ethical behaviour and goals higher on the agenda. To this end, it seeks to enable consideration for the actions and services associated with any design, and the consequences of these actions, and to integrate this thinking into the design process.

Approaches

To enable the process of behavioural change through design, a range of theories, guidelines and tools have been developed to promote behaviour change that encourages pro-environmental and social actions and lifestyles from designers as well as user.

Theories

Critical discussion

Design for behaviour change is an openly value-based approach that seeks to promote ethical behaviours and attitudes within social and environmental contexts. This raises questions about whose values are promoted and to whose benefit. While intrinsically seeking to promote socially and environmentally ethical practices, there are two possible objections: The first is that such approaches can be seen a paternalistic, manipulative and disenfranchising where decisions about the environment are being made by one person or group for another with or without consultation. [31] The second objection is that this approach can be abused, for example in that apparently positive goals of behaviour change might be made simply to serve commercial gain without regard for the envisaged ethical concerns. The debate about the ethical considerations of design for behaviour change is still emerging, and will develop with the further development of the field.

When designing for behavior change, the misapplication of behavioral design can trigger backfires, when they accidentally increasing the bad behavior they were originally designed to reduce. Given the stigma of triggering bad outcomes, researchers believe that persuasive backfires effects are common but rarely published, reported, or discussed. [32]

Artificial intelligence in behavior change

The use of 3rd wave AI techniques to achieve behavior change, intensifies the debate over behavior change. [33] These technologies are more effective than previous techniques, but like AI in other fields it is also more opaque to both users and designers. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well as the inanimate physical environment. It is the computed response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Design</span> Plan for the construction of an object or system

A design is a concept of or proposal for an object, a process, or a system. Design refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, though it is sometimes used to refer to the nature of something – its design. The verb to design expresses the process of developing a design. In some cases, the direct construction of an object without an explicit prior plan may also be considered to be a design. A design is expected to have a purpose within a certain context, usually has to satisfy certain goals and constraints, and to take into account aesthetic, functional, economic, environmental or socio-political considerations. Typical examples of designs include architectural and engineering drawings, circuit diagrams, sewing patterns and less tangible artefacts such as business process models.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persuasion</span> Umbrella term of influence and mode of communication

Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours.

Persuasive technology is broadly defined as technology that is designed to change attitudes or behaviors of the users through persuasion and social influence, but not necessarily through coercion. Such technologies are regularly used in sales, diplomacy, politics, religion, military training, public health, and management, and may potentially be used in any area of human-human or human-computer interaction. Most self-identified persuasive technology research focuses on interactive, computational technologies, including desktop computers, Internet services, video games, and mobile devices, but this incorporates and builds on the results, theories, and methods of experimental psychology, rhetoric, and human-computer interaction. The design of persuasive technologies can be seen as a particular case of design with intent.

Sociotechnical systems (STS) in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to coherent systems of human relations, technical objects, and cybernetic processes that inhere to large, complex infrastructures. Social society, and its constituent substructures, qualify as complex sociotechnical systems.

The Stanford Behavior Design Lab is a research organization advancing behavior change methods and models based at Stanford University. Founded in 1998 and directed by B. J. Fogg, the Behavior Design Lab is a team of Stanford students, recent graduates, and quantitative researchers who study factors that impact human behavior, and conduct IRB research. The team is the global authority in a new and systematic way to design for behavior change, an approach called “Behavior Design”. The Lab manager is Tanna Drapkin.

Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." While interaction design has an interest in form, its main area of focus rests on behavior. Rather than analyzing how things are, interaction design synthesizes and imagines things as they could be. This element of interaction design is what characterizes IxD as a design field, as opposed to a science or engineering field.

Participatory design is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders in the design process to help ensure the result meets their needs and is usable. Participatory design is an approach which is focused on processes and procedures of design and is not a design style. The term is used in a variety of fields e.g. software design, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, product design, sustainability, graphic design, planning, and health services development as a way of creating environments that are more responsive and appropriate to their inhabitants' and users' cultural, emotional, spiritual and practical needs. It is also one approach to placemaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. J. Fogg</span> Author

Brian Jeffrey Fogg is an American social scientist and author who is a research associate and adjunct professor at Stanford University. He is the founder and director of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab, formerly known as the Persuasive Technology Lab.

Social design is the application of design methodologies in order to tackle complex human issues, placing the social issues as the priority. Historically social design has been mindful of the designer's role and responsibility in society, and of the use of design processes to bring about social change. Social design as a discipline has been practiced primarily in two different models, as either the application of the human-centered design methodology in the social sector or governmental sector, or sometimes is synonymously practiced by designers who venture into social entrepreneurship.

Behavioural change theories are attempts to explain why human behaviours change. These theories cite environmental, personal, and behavioural characteristics as the major factors in behavioural determination. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the application of these theories in the areas of health, education, criminology, energy and international development with the hope that understanding behavioural change will improve the services offered in these areas. Some scholars have recently introduced a distinction between models of behavior and theories of change. Whereas models of behavior are more diagnostic and geared towards understanding the psychological factors that explain or predict a specific behavior, theories of change are more process-oriented and generally aimed at changing a given behavior. Thus, from this perspective, understanding and changing behavior are two separate but complementary lines of scientific investigation.

The value-action gap is the space that occurs when the values or attitudes of an individual do not correlate to their actions. More generally, it is the difference between what people say and what people do. The phrase is associated with environmental geography, relating to attitudes and behaviors surrounding environmental issues. Numerous studies have reported an increase in global environmental concern, but have shown that environmental engagement is not adjusting in accordance.

The semantic turn refers to a paradigm shift in the design of artifacts – industrial, graphic, informational, architectural, and social – from an emphasis on how artifacts ought to function to what they mean to those affected by them – semantics being a concern for meaning. It provides a new foundation for professional design, a detailed design discourse, codifications of proven methods, compelling scientific justifications of its products, and a clear identity for professional designers working within a network of their stakeholders.

Human-centered design is an approach to problem-solving commonly used in process, product, service and system design, management, and engineering frameworks that develops solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process. Human involvement typically takes place in initially observing the problem within context, brainstorming, conceptualizing, developing of concepts and implementing the solution.

Human-centered design is an approach to interactive systems development that aims to make systems usable and useful by focusing on the users, their needs and requirements, and by applying human factors/ergonomics, and usability knowledge and techniques. This approach enhances effectiveness and efficiency, improves human well-being, user satisfaction, accessibility and sustainability; and counteracts possible adverse effects of use on human health, safety and performance.

Environmentally sustainable design is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability and also aimed at improving the health and comfort of occupants in a building. Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, the health and well-being of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments.

Pervasive informatics is the study of how information affects interactions with the built environments they occupy. The term and concept were initially introduced by Professor Kecheng Liu during a keynote speech at the SOLI 2008 international conference.

Mindfulness and technology is a movement in research and design, that encourages the user to become aware of the present moment, rather than losing oneself in a technological device. This field encompasses multidisciplinary participation between design, psychology, computer science, and religion. Mindfulness stems from Buddhist meditation practices and refers to the awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose in the present moment, and in a non-judgmental mindset. In the field of Human-Computer Interaction, research is being done on Techno-spirituality — the study of how technology can facilitate feelings of awe, wonder, transcendence, and mindfulness and on Slow design, which facilitates self-reflection. The excessive use of personal devices, such as smartphones and laptops, can lead to the deterioration of mental and physical health. This area focuses on redesigning and creating technology to improve the wellbeing of its users.

Positive computing is a technological design perspective that embraces psychological well-being and ethical practice, aiming at building a digital environment to support happier and healthier users. Positive computing develops approaches that integrate insights from psychology, education, neuroscience, and HCI with technological development. The purpose of positive computing is to bridge the technology and mental health worlds. Indeed, there are computer and mental health workshops that are aimed to bring people from both communities together.

A Behavioral Change Support System (BCSS) is any information and communications technology (ICT) tool, web platform, or gamified environment which targets behavioral changes in its end-users. BCSS are built upon persuasive systems design techniques.

Design justice is the ethical and inclusive approach to designing products or systems that address and mitigate historical inequalities to ensure fair and equitable outcomes for all users. The article covers an overview of design justice, the 10 Principles of Design Justice, challenges in equitable design, and applications of design justice in Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction.

References

  1. 1 2 Lockton, D., Harrison, D., Stanton, N.A. (2010). The Design with Intent Method: a design tool for influencing user behaviour. Applied Ergonomics, 41 (3), 382-392.
  2. 1 2 Niedderer, K., Mackrill, J., Clune, S., Lockton, D., Ludden, G., Morris, A., Cain, R., Gardiner, E., Gutteridge, R., Evans, M., Hekkert, P. (2014). Creating Sustainable Innovation through Design for Behaviour Change: Full Project Report. University of Wolverhampton & Project Partners.
  3. ↑ Norman, D. A. (1988). The psychology of everyday things. Cambridge: MIT Press.
  4. ↑ Desmet, P.M.A., Hekkert, P. (2002). The basis of product emotions. In W. Green and P. Jordan (Eds.), Pleasure with Products, beyond usability. London: Taylor & Francis, 60-68.
  5. 1 2 Fogg, B.J. (2003). Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco.
  6. ↑ Zachrisson, J. and Boks, C. (2012). Exploring behavioural psychology to support design for sustainable behaviour research. Journal of Design Research, 10 (1/2): 50- 66.
  7. ↑ Simon, H.A. (1969). The science of the artificial, Cambridge, MIT press, p.129.
  8. ↑ Brown, T., Wyatt. J. (2010). Design Thinking for Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2010.
  9. ↑ Consolvo, S., Everitt, K., Smith, I., Landay, J.A. (2006). Design requirements for technologies that encourage physical activity. SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, ACM.
  10. ↑ Fry, T. (2008). Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice, Oxford, Berg Publishing.
  11. 1 2 Niedderer, K. (2013). Mindful Design as a Driver for Social Behaviour Change. Proceedings of the IASDR Conference 2013. Tokyo, Japan: IASDR.
  12. ↑ Ilstedt Hjelm, S. (2003) Research + Design: The Making of Brainball, Interactions, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 26-34.
  13. ↑ Srivastava, L. (2005). Mobile phones and the evolution of social behaviour. Behaviour & Information Technology, vol. 24, n. 2, pp.111-129.
  14. ↑ Jelsma, J. (2006). Designing `Moralized' Products. In Verbeek, P.P., Slob, A. (eds.), User Behavior and Technology Development: Shaping Sustainable Relations Between Consumers and Technologies. Berlin: Springer, pp.221-23.
  15. ↑ Lilley, D. (2007). Designing for Behavioural Change: Reducing the Social Impacts of Product Use through Design. PhD Thesis, Loughborough University.
  16. ↑ Lilley, D. (2009). Design for sustainable behaviour: strategies and perceptions. Design Studies, 30, 704-720.
  17. ↑ Bhamra, T., Lilley, D., Tang, T. (2008). Sustainable Use: Changing consumer behaviour through product design. In: Cipolla, C., Peruccio, P. (eds.) Changing the Change. Torino, Italy: Allemandi Conference Press.
  18. ↑ Tang, T. (2010). Towards Sustainable Use: Designing Behaviour Intervention to Reduce Household Environmental Impact. PhD thesis, Loughborough University.
  19. ↑ Tang, T., Bhamra, T. (2008). Changing Energy Consumption Behaviour through Sustainable Product Design. International Design Conference 2008. Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  20. ↑ Ludden, G.D.S., Hekkert, P. (2014). Design for healthy behavior. Design interventions and stages of change. 9th International Conference on Design and Emotion, Bogota, Colombia.
  21. ↑ Langer, E.J. (1989). Mindfulness. New York: Addison Wesley Publishing Company.
  22. ↑ Langer, E.J. (2010) Counterclockwise. London, UK: Hodder and Stoughton.
  23. ↑ Niedderer, K. (2007). Designing Mindful Interaction: The Category of the Performative Object. Design Issues, 23 (1), 3-17.
  24. ↑ Niedderer, K. (2014). Mediating Mindful Social Interactions through Design. In A. Ie, C. T. Ngnoumen and E. Langer (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Mindfulness, vol 1. Wiley, Chichester, UK, 345-366.
  25. ↑ Tromp, N., Hekkert, P., Verbeek, P. (2011). Design for socially responsible behaviour: A classification of influence based on intended user experience. Design Issues, 27 (3), 3-19.
  26. ↑ Clune, S. (2010). Design for Behavioural Change. Journal of Design Strategies, 4, 68-75
  27. ↑ Cugelman, B., Thelwall, M., & Dawes, P. (2011). Online interventions for social marketing health behavior change campaigns: a meta-analysis of psychological architectures and adherence factors. Journal of medical Internet research, 13(1), e17. https://www.jmir.org/2011/1/e17/
  28. ↑ Kuijer, L. (2014). Implications of Social Practice Theory for Sustainable Design (PhD), Department of Industrial Design. Delft University of Technology, Delft p. 223.
  29. ↑ Scott, K., Quist, J., and Bakker, C., (2009). Co-design, social practices and sustainable innovation: involving users in a living lab exploratory study on bathing, Joint actions on climate change conference, Aalborg, Denmark.
  30. ↑ Kursat Ozenc, F. (2014). Modes of Transitions: Designing interactive products for Harmony and Well-Being. Design Issues, 30(2): 30-41.
  31. ↑ Thaler, R.H. and Sunstein, C.R. (2008). Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness. London, UK: Penguin Books.
  32. ↑ Stibe, A., & Cugelman, B. (2016). Persuasive backfiring: when behavior change interventions trigger unintended negative outcomes. In International Conference on Persuasive Technology (pp. 65-77). Springer, Cham. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108479
  33. ↑ Elsevier. "Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral and Mental Health Care - 1st Edition". www.elsevier.com.
  34. ↑ Gershgorn, Dave (December 7, 2017). "AI's brightest minds are still figuring out how to understand their creations — Quartz". qz.com.
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