Evolutionary learning processes as the foundation for behaviour change

ABSTRACT

We argue that the active ingredients of behaviour change interventions, often called behaviour change methods (BCMs) or techniques (BCTs), can usefully be placed on a dimension of psychological aggregation. We introduce evolutionary learning processes (ELPs) as fundamental building blocks that are on a lower level of psychological aggregation than BCMs/BCTs. A better understanding of ELPs is useful to select the appropriate BCMs/BCTs to target determinants of behaviour, or vice versa, to identify potential determinants targeted by a given BCM/BCT, and to optimally translate them into practical applications. Using these insights during intervention development may increase the likelihood of developing effective interventions – both in terms of behaviour change as well as maintenance of behaviour change.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning processes
• evolutionary learning
• behaviour change
• methods
• techniques

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Francine Schneider for providing insightful feedback on an earlier draft of this article and Stefan Gruijters for his eye for detail.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Rik Crutzen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3731-6610

Gjalt-Jorn Ygram Peters http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0336-9589