Duncan Gotobed

Behaviour Affects

It's been almost a week since I embarked on using 'persuasive technologies' to help me lose weight. I'm delighted to say that I have beaten this week's StickK target by 2.0 kg.

I've had to change my eating habits - I followed Paul Dolan's advice and downsized my dinner plate; cut down on carbohydrates, drank more water and ate less fats/sweets. While I have felt healtheir - my changed behaviour has had a knock on effect on my wife, who plays a key role in the whole process. Afterall, she can support or sabatage it - thankfully she supports it, despite having a sweet tooth.

However, it does bring home the fact, that when we ask people to change their behaviour - it will have a knock on effect on the people around them. If they see the value of the new behaviour they'll support it, if they don't they'll find cunning ways to hinder it. 

Make it easy

As I'm doing more cycling, I decided to get some cycling kit and I have found it has made all the difference.

It has also highlighted the importance of making things as easy/comfortable as possible, particularly if you want to carry on doing something.

Image 'Cycle Path' by  amandabhslater

Tracking progress

I have been tracking my weight loss progress with iFitOne, a smartphone application.

"The basic concept of iFitOne is: Eat the good, stay away from the bad, and get exercise.  Simple, effective, nothing fad about it.  The more good and healthy foods you eat and the less you indulge in the junk food will help you make your weight loss goals a reality.  Add in exercise and you'll speed things along even faster and feel even better."

I have found it useful in three main ways:

1. By easily tracking what I eat I am more aware of what I should be eating  
2. I can plan what exercise I need to do to burn my weekly calorie targets
3. Seeing my overall progress, helps me stay motivated on 'slow' days

The power of loss

Kahneman and Tversky’s famous dictum that losses loom larger than gains implies that people perceive greater value to a given item when they give it up than when they acquire it.

StickK.com uses this simple observation with powerful effect.

I recently signed up to a weight loss contract with StickK, which means that I need to lose 0.5 kg each week for the next year to get down to a target weight. If I don't hit my weekly target or neglect to regulalrly report on it $10 is automatically debited from my credit card.

It's not a lot but it's enough to motivate me to watch what I eat and cycle more. My wife has also complained that after 9 years of marriage it takes a website to get me to cook a healthy meal.

Being persuaded

I have been reading BJ Fogg's Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do (Interactive Technologies) and I have found it extremely thought provoking.

He describes how technology can be used to influence other people's behaviour. For example, he explains how computers can:

• make target behaviour easier to do 
• lead people through a process
• perform calculations or measurements that motivate
• allow people to explore cause and effect relationships
• provide people with motivating experiences
• help people rehearse a behaviour
• reward people with positive feedback
• model a target behaviour or attitude
• provide social support 

He makes a good case and over the next few weeks I'm going to put various forms of  'persuasive technology' to the test to see if it can help me lose weight. I'll post how I get on and my thoughts about the technology and its effectiveness in this blog.

Healthy choices

The RSA recently held a fascinating panel discussion on influencing people’s behaviour involving Andrew Lansley MP, Paul Dolan, Theresa Marteau, Dr Ben Seymour and Matthew Taylor.

Both Paul Dolan and Theresa Marteau illustrated the case for moving away from influencing people’s thinking, which is generally ineffective in changing habits, to unconsciously affecting people’s behaviour.

See the panel discussion here.