Does Adding Reinforcement of Implementation Intentions Support Behaviour Change?

It has been suggested that implementation intentions could help people to translate intentions into action and help them form a new habit by repeating their behavioural action consistently. However, implementation intentions remain underused. Previous studies have used reminders to strengthen implementation intentions. However, this could lead to dependency towards the reminders and hinder automaticity. So, in this experiment, we have tried a different approach by conducting a 4-week study to investigate the impact of reinforcement on implementation intentions for reporting daily mood. Unlike reminders sent when the action happens, our reinforcements were sent in advance to remind people of their implementation intentions. Our findings suggest that adding reinforcements leads to better compliance but not necessarily increased automaticity. The reinforcements also help people to remember their implementation intentions.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Adhi Wicaksono

Robert J. Hendley

Russell Beale

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 1-11

Affiliations

[1 ] School of Computer Science

University of Birmingham

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.38

SO-VID: 4717a736-55c3-4f0a-ad7d-0d0ccd7ac548

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 32

Conference location: Belfast, UK

Conference date: 4 - 6 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Human Computer Interaction Conference

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.38

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

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C. AbrahamS. Michie 2008 A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychology 27 3 379 387 Available at: http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/0278-6133.27.3.379
M.A. Adriaanse 2011 Breaking Habits With Implementation Intentions: A Test of Underlying Processes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37 4 502 513 Available at: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/37/4/502.abstract
I. Ajzen 1991 The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes 50 2 179 211
J.A. Bargh 1994 The four horsemen of automaticity: Awareness, intention, efficiency, and control in social cognitionIn R. WyerT. Srull,eds. Handbook of Social Cognition Lawrence Erlbaum
R.N. BrewerM.R. MorrisS.E. Lindley 2017 How to Remember What to Remember: Exploring Possibilities for Digital Reminder Systems. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol. 1 3)38 1 38 20 Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3130903
C. CheungM. Limayem 2005 The role of habit in information systems continuance: examining the evolving relationship between intention and usage. ICIS 2005 Proceedings 39
M. a ElliottC.J. Armitage 2006 Effects of implementation intentions on the self-reported frequency of drivers’ compliance with speed limits. Journal of experimental psychology. Applied 12 2 108 117
M.E. FishbeinI. Ajzen 1975 Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research Reading, MA Addison-Wesley
B. Gardner 2012 Towards Parsimony in Habit Measurement: Testing the Convergent and Predictive Validity of an Automaticity Subscale of the Self-Report Habit Index. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 9 102 Available at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3552971&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract
P.M. Gollwitzer 1993 Goal achievement: The role of intentions. European review of social psychology 4 1 141 185
P.M. Gollwitzer 1999 Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist 54 7 493 503
P.M. GollwitzerP. Sheeran 2006 Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta‐analysis of effects and processes. Advances in experimental social psychology 38 69 119
H.J. Klein 2001 The Assessment of Goal Commitment: A Measurement Model Meta-Analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 85 1 32 55 Available at: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749597800929315[Accessed July 20 2017]
P. Lally 2010 How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology 40 6 998 1009
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A. Mehrotra 2017 A framework for intelligent mobile notifications University of Birmingham Available at: http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/7440/1/Mehrotra17PhD.pdf
A. Mehrotra 2015 Designing Content-driven Intelligent Notification Mechanisms for Mobile Applications In Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. UbiComp ’15 New York, NY, USA ACM 813 824 Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2750858.2807544
G. OettingenH. PakK. Schnetter 2001 Self-Regulation of Goal Setting: Turning Free Fantasies About the Future Into Binding Goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80 5 736 753
S. OrbellB. Verplanken 2010 The automatic component of habit in health behavior: habit as cue-contingent automaticity. Health Psychology 29 4 374
A. PrestwichI. Kellar 2014 How can the impact of implementation intentions as a behaviour change intervention be improved? Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology 64 1 35 41 Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1162908810000186[Accessed June 23 2015]
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A. PrestwichM. PeruginiR. Hurling 2009 Can the effects of implementation intentions on exercise be enhanced using text messages? Psychology & health 24 6 677 687
I. Renfree 2016 Don’t Kick the Habit: The Role of Dependency in Habit Formation Apps In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI EA ’16 2932 2939 Available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2851581.2892495
U. Scholz 2008 Beyond behavioural intentions: Planning mediates between intentions and physical activity. British journal of health psychology 13 3 479 494
R. Schwarzer 2008 Modeling health behavior change: How to predict and modify the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors. Applied Psychology-An International Review 57 1 1 29
A.J. Sellen 1997 What Brings Intentions to Mind? An in Situ Study of Prospective Memory. Memory 5 4 483 507
P. SheeranS. Orbell 2000 Using implementation intentions to increase attendance for cervical cancer screening. Health psychology?: official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association 19 3 283 289
P. SheeranT.L. WebbP.M. Gollwitzer 2005 The Interplay Between Goal Intentions and Implementation Intentions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 31 1 87 98 Available at: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/31/1/87.abstract
K. StawarzA.L. CoxA. Blandford 2015 Beyond Self-Tracking and Reminders: Designing Smartphone Apps That Support Habit Formation In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI ’15 New York, NY, USA ACM 2653 2662 Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2702123.2702230
K.M. Stawarz 2017 Towards better medication adherence apps: Preventing forgetfulness by facilitating the formation of routine-based remembering strategies University College London
S. Sutton 1998 Predicting and explaining intentions and behavior: How well are we doing? Journal of Applied Social Psychology 28 15 1317 1338 Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01679.x/abstract
R. Tobias 2009 Changing behavior by memory aids: A social psychological model of prospective memory and habit development tested with dynamic field data. Psychological Review 116(August)408 438 Available at: http://psycnet.apa.orgjournals/rev/116/2/408
B. VerplankenH. Aarts 1999 Habit, Attitude, and Planned Behaviour: Is Habit an Empty Construct or an Interesting Case of Goal-directed Automaticity? European Review of Social Psychology 10(September)101 134
T.L. WebbP. Sheeran 2006 Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological bulletin 132 2)249
T.L. WebbP. Sheeran 2007 How do implementation intentions promote goal attainment? A test of component processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43 2 295 302
W. WoodD.T. Neal 2007 A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW 114 4 843 863

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] H. AartsT. PaulussenH. Schaalma 1997 Physical exercise habit: on the conceptualization and formation of habitual health behaviours. Health education research 12 3 363 374

[2] C. AbrahamS. Michie 2008 A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychology 27 3 379 387 Available at: http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/0278-6133.27.3.379

[3] M.A. Adriaanse 2011 Breaking Habits With Implementation Intentions: A Test of Underlying Processes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37 4 502 513 Available at: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/37/4/502.abstract

[4] I. Ajzen 1991 The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes 50 2 179 211

[5] J.A. Bargh 1994 The four horsemen of automaticity: Awareness, intention, efficiency, and control in social cognitionIn R. WyerT. Srull,eds. Handbook of Social Cognition Lawrence Erlbaum

[6] R.N. BrewerM.R. MorrisS.E. Lindley 2017 How to Remember What to Remember: Exploring Possibilities for Digital Reminder Systems. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol. 1 3)38 1 38 20 Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3130903

[7] C. CheungM. Limayem 2005 The role of habit in information systems continuance: examining the evolving relationship between intention and usage. ICIS 2005 Proceedings 39

[8] M. a ElliottC.J. Armitage 2006 Effects of implementation intentions on the self-reported frequency of drivers’ compliance with speed limits. Journal of experimental psychology. Applied 12 2 108 117

[9] M.E. FishbeinI. Ajzen 1975 Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research Reading, MA Addison-Wesley

[10] B. Gardner 2012 Towards Parsimony in Habit Measurement: Testing the Convergent and Predictive Validity of an Automaticity Subscale of the Self-Report Habit Index. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 9 102 Available at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3552971&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract

[11] P.M. Gollwitzer 1993 Goal achievement: The role of intentions. European review of social psychology 4 1 141 185

[12] P.M. Gollwitzer 1999 Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist 54 7 493 503

[13] P.M. GollwitzerP. Sheeran 2006 Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta‐analysis of effects and processes. Advances in experimental social psychology 38 69 119

[14] H.J. Klein 2001 The Assessment of Goal Commitment: A Measurement Model Meta-Analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 85 1 32 55 Available at: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749597800929315[Accessed July 20 2017]

[15] P. Lally 2010 How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology 40 6 998 1009

[16] P. LallyB. Gardner 2013 Promoting habit formation. Health Psychology Review 7(sup1)S137 S158 Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17437199.2011.603640[Accessed March 31 2017]

[17] A. LuszczynskaM. TryburcyR. Schwarzer 2007 Improving fruit and vegetable consumption: a self-efficacy intervention compared with a combined self-efficacy and planning intervention. Health Education Research 22 5 630 638 Available at: http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/5/630.abstract

[18] A. Mehrotra 2017 A framework for intelligent mobile notifications University of Birmingham Available at: http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/7440/1/Mehrotra17PhD.pdf

[19] A. Mehrotra 2015 Designing Content-driven Intelligent Notification Mechanisms for Mobile Applications In Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. UbiComp ’15 New York, NY, USA ACM 813 824 Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2750858.2807544

[20] G. OettingenH. PakK. Schnetter 2001 Self-Regulation of Goal Setting: Turning Free Fantasies About the Future Into Binding Goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80 5 736 753

[21] S. OrbellB. Verplanken 2010 The automatic component of habit in health behavior: habit as cue-contingent automaticity. Health Psychology 29 4 374

[22] A. PrestwichI. Kellar 2014 How can the impact of implementation intentions as a behaviour change intervention be improved? Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology 64 1 35 41 Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1162908810000186[Accessed June 23 2015]

[23] A. PrestwichR. LawtonM. Conner 2003 The use of implementation intentions and the decision balance sheet in promoting exercise behaviour. Psychology & Health 18 6 707 721 Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08870440310001594493

[24] A. PrestwichM. PeruginiR. Hurling 2010 Can implementation intentions and text messages promote brisk walking? A randomized trial. Health Psychology 29 1 40 49 Available at: http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/a0016993

[25] A. PrestwichM. PeruginiR. Hurling 2009 Can the effects of implementation intentions on exercise be enhanced using text messages? Psychology & health 24 6 677 687

[26] I. Renfree 2016 Don’t Kick the Habit: The Role of Dependency in Habit Formation Apps In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI EA ’16 2932 2939 Available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2851581.2892495

[27] U. Scholz 2008 Beyond behavioural intentions: Planning mediates between intentions and physical activity. British journal of health psychology 13 3 479 494

[28] R. Schwarzer 2008 Modeling health behavior change: How to predict and modify the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors. Applied Psychology-An International Review 57 1 1 29

[29] A.J. Sellen 1997 What Brings Intentions to Mind? An in Situ Study of Prospective Memory. Memory 5 4 483 507

[30] P. SheeranS. Orbell 2000 Using implementation intentions to increase attendance for cervical cancer screening. Health psychology?: official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association 19 3 283 289

[31] P. SheeranT.L. WebbP.M. Gollwitzer 2005 The Interplay Between Goal Intentions and Implementation Intentions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 31 1 87 98 Available at: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/31/1/87.abstract

[32] K. StawarzA.L. CoxA. Blandford 2015 Beyond Self-Tracking and Reminders: Designing Smartphone Apps That Support Habit Formation In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI ’15 New York, NY, USA ACM 2653 2662 Available at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2702123.2702230

[33] K.M. Stawarz 2017 Towards better medication adherence apps: Preventing forgetfulness by facilitating the formation of routine-based remembering strategies University College London

[34] S. Sutton 1998 Predicting and explaining intentions and behavior: How well are we doing? Journal of Applied Social Psychology 28 15 1317 1338 Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01679.x/abstract

[35] R. Tobias 2009 Changing behavior by memory aids: A social psychological model of prospective memory and habit development tested with dynamic field data. Psychological Review 116(August)408 438 Available at: http://psycnet.apa.orgjournals/rev/116/2/408

[36] B. VerplankenH. Aarts 1999 Habit, Attitude, and Planned Behaviour: Is Habit an Empty Construct or an Interesting Case of Goal-directed Automaticity? European Review of Social Psychology 10(September)101 134

[37] T.L. WebbP. Sheeran 2006 Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological bulletin 132 2)249

[38] T.L. WebbP. Sheeran 2007 How do implementation intentions promote goal attainment? A test of component processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43 2 295 302

[39] W. WoodD.T. Neal 2007 A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW 114 4 843 863

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