Foundational knowledge - Contemporary Behavior Change Theories

The Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model helps design and evaluate persuasive systems and describes what content and software functions may be found in the final product of an intervention (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009). The model suggests that when designing or evaluating persuasive systems, aspects from the following figure should be considered (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009).

Postulates behind PSD model (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009)

The PSD identifies three main areas of change: (1) forming a behavior or a cognition; (2) altering a behavior or a cognition; and (3) maintaining a behavior or a cognition (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009). The PSD model contains four key design features, each with a subset of components that can be used when designing behavior change interventions:

1. Primary task support includes reducing complex behaviors into simpler ones, tunneling experience, tailoring and personalization, self-monitoring, simulation, and rehearsal of the behavior (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009).

2. Dialogue support includes positive reinforcement (praise, rewards), reminders and suggestions, the similarity of actions, visual attractiveness (liking), and social role (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009).

3. Credibility includes trustworthiness, expertise, credibility, real-world resemblance, authority, verifiability, and third-party endorsements of the action (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009).

4. Social support includes social learning, social comparison, normative influence, social facilitation, cooperation, competition, and recognition (Oinas-Kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009).