The Challenge of New Behaviors

1. Week 11 The Challenge of New Behaviors A Look at Will and Intentions

2. Announcements • Quick questions after class • Make a time to meet your TF or anyone on the team for particular puzzles

3. Review and Preview

4. The challenge of new behaviors • Behaviorism • How is it best learned? – Reinforcement, conditioned reinforcers, shaping, desensitization, etc. • Beliefs and mental models • How is it best learned? – Low need for cognitive closure; reason, research, resonance, etc. • Will and intentions • ???

5. PreviewA look at will and intentions, the third session on “the challenge of new behaviors” • The thoughtful will • Getting yourself to do, or not to do, something • Creating a willful culture • Summing up the challenge of behavioral change • Rapid review and looking ahead

6. Learning Goals • Get acquainted with some of the potentials and limits of changing behavior through will and intentions • Develop a summative sense of how behaviorism, beliefs and mental models, and will and intentions all contribute to the challenge of behavioral change

7. The Thoughtful Will Goal: Get oriented to contemporary ideas about will and intentions through explanation and later application

8. 8 • ‘What’s hard about learning that?’ – • The gap between intentions and actions • The doing mind and the planning mind… • And sometimes they disagree • Enter the will

9. Five powerful ideas about the will and ‘what makes it hard’ • Depletion of the will • Impact of social exclusion • Cycle of self-deception • Low level vs. high level focus, e.g. ‘how’ rather than ‘why’ • General ‘good intentions’ vs. implementation intentions

10. 10 From Muscle to Management • Depletion of the will • Impact of social exclusion • Cycle of self-deception • Low level vs. high level focus, e.g. ‘how’ rather than ‘why’ • General ‘good intentions’ vs. implementation intentions • The idea of the • Thoughtful Will

11. Getting Yourself to Do, or Not to Do, Something Goal: Come to understand some tools for effective management of the will through personal examples and a key concept

12. Implementation intentions for getting yourself to do something… Are specific in what you will do Are specific in when you will do it Are near-term Include setting up the environment to cue and support your efforts Include guarding against distractions Foreground ‘why’ not just ‘how’ Foreground learning rather than measuring up to someone else’s expectations Avoid a lot of thinking at the time they are applied – just do it! Avoid piling up a lot of change agendas at the same time Implementation intentions for getting yourself not to do something… Are specific in what you will do instead, substituting another behavior that interferes with the target behavior Frame as promotion goals rather than prevention goals Question whether emotional distress is really relieved by yielding to a temptation Are specific in when you will do it instead Are near-term Include setting up the environment to cue and support your efforts Include guarding against cues that trigger temptations Foreground ‘why’ not just ‘how’ Foreground achieving something positive rather than resisting something negative Avoid a lot of thinking at the time they are applied – just do it! Avoid piling up a lot of change agendas at the same time Quick design: The term project connection

13. Creating a Willful Culture Goal: Understand tactics for creating a culture of initiative and responsibility through principles and quick design

14. Origins versus PawnsRichard deCharms in Personal Causation, 1968 Personal causation or intentional behavior invites a distinction between an internal perceive locus of causality, in which the actor is perceived as an ‘origin’ of his or her behavior, and an external perceived locus of causality, in which the actor is seen as a ‘pawn’ to external forces.

15. Origin vs. Pawn Attribution theory Locus of control Perceived self-efficacy Incremental vs. entity learner Social exclusion Extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation Culture of compliance ‘How’ vs. ‘why’ focus Learned helplessness Quick design: The term project connection

16. Summing Up the Challenge of Behavioral Change Goal: Synthesize ideas about behavioral change through a pop culture example

17. The challenge of new behaviors • Behaviorism • How is it best learned? – Reinforcement, conditioned reinforcers, shaping, desensitization, etc. • Beliefs and mental models • How is it best learned? – Low need for cognitive closure; reason, research, resonance, etc. • Will and intentions • How is it best learned? – avoid depletion of the will, social exclusion, self-deception, foster implementation intentions, etc.

18. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith • The Chancellor’s secret • Anakin Skywalker’s talent • Anakin Skywalker’s dedication • Anakin Skywalker’s pride • Anakin Skywalker’s girlfriend

19. 1. Behaviorism Look for moments of positive or negative reinforcement – should come immediately after something Anakin does that the Chancellor wants to encourage or discourage 2. Beliefs and Mental Models Look for efforts to influenceAnakin’s beliefs by… Creating need for cognitive closure Foregrounding reasons, research, resonance, redescriptions, resources and rewards, real-world events • 3. Will and Intentions • Look for efforts to undermine Anakin’s will by depletion of the will, suggesting social exclusion, fostering self-deception about being in the driver’s seat, relief from emotional distress

20. Rapid Review and Looking Ahead

21. Learning Goals • Get acquainted with some of the potentials and limits of changing behavior through will and intentions • Develop a summative sense of how behaviorism, beliefs and mental models, and will and intentions all contribute to the challenge of behavioral change

22. Beyond these walls • Try out ‘the thoughtful will’ • Look for how conditions of reinforcement, influences on beliefs, and will and intentions jointly determine changes in behavior