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We used to believe people were logical.
We used to think that all we had to do was educate people about why they should do the right thing and they would do it.
We said “recycle because it saves energy.”
We said “take the bus because it reduces air pollution.”
We said “don’t drink and drive because you could kill someone.”
We said “don’t smoke because you could kill yourself.”
We believed that with knowledge, the action was sure to follow.
We sat back and waited for the action to happen. Because we believed people are logical.
But it often didn’t happen because people aren’t logical.
Then, way back in the early 1990s, Doug McKenzie-Mohr introduced us to Community-Based Social Marketing in his book Fostering Sustainable Behaviour. (https://www NULL.amazon NULL.ca/Fostering-Sustainable-Behavior-Introduction-Community-Based/dp/0865716420/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TDSJFEJ6UXM&keywords=fostering+sustainable+behaviour&qid=1643390818&sprefix=fostering%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1) Doug taught us that the most effective way to change behaviour is to nurture that behaviour directly, by applying behavioural psychology.
We learned that even with the best intentions, people often fail to act. Psychologists call it the Intention-Action Gap. Community-Based Social Marketing provided a system to help bridge the gap.
So we changed course and embraced behavioural psychology to get people take action.
Now, we still educate. We educate because it is important that people understand why they should take action. Imagine trying to get people to donate blood if they didn’t know the benefits. But now we also do a lot more beyond education.
We design systems that are more convenient to use.
We identify and remove barriers that prevent people from taking action. We find out what motivates some people to take action and we promote those benefits to others.
We also seek commitments to action and provide helpful reminders of those commitments. And we nurture and leverage peer pressure.
And now the actions happen. Not all right away, but they happen, over time.
We have learned two things about creating Behaviour Change.
Beyond Attitude Consulting acknowledges we operate in Mi’kma’ki – the unceded territory and ancestral homeland of the Mi’kmaq First Nation. Our relationship is based on a series of Peace and Friendship treaties between the Mi’kmaq First Nation and the Crown, dating from 1725 to 1779. In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada, in R v Marshall, upheld the 1752 treaty “which promised Indigenous Peoples the right to hunt and fish their lands and establish trade.”
We also acknowledge that we work and play in many unceded territories and ancestral homelands of Indigenous Peoples across North America, and respect the rights and traditions of the many First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples therein.
We are all Treaty People.