In pursuit of beautiful behavior

Coming from a fine arts background I enjoy the application of the philosophy of aesthetics to pretty much anything. I mean, don’t you want to live in a beautiful world, full of beautiful ideas, and beautiful ways of doing things? I do. So I like this concept of behavioral aesthetics. It may seem a little sticky though. What does it mean, what is beautiful or artful behavior?

Empathy? Compassion? Gratitude? Grace? Humor? Joy?

The list of items that could embody a behavioral aesthetic is potentially infinite. For now, I'll focus on what it means to me. In my mind choosing to live in an artful way is reflected in choosing actions that are thoughtful, intentional, and respectful. It means living mindfully and doing right by yourself and your surroundings. It involves relaxing judgement and considering alternate ways of seeing.

As I think about the potential trajectory of this course and the art of behavior change, I hope to be able to keep these concepts in mind. Personally, I have a bit of a hard time with the idea of behavior change and intervention. Thinking about working to change the behavior of someone else seems like saying, “You’re doing it wrong. I know better than you.” Or curating actions in a covertly manipulative manner, undertaking a form of social puppeteering. I realize this is taking a harsh outlook, but it seems difficult to say that any point of view, behavior, or action is all good or all bad or that what I think is somehow better than what you think. This becomes even more challenging when considering the way individuals behave in the context of environmental issues. These issues are broad and complex. People are emotionally tied to their outlook on these issues. These are the issues where we often want to say, “You’re doing it wrong. I know better than you.”

This is where I know that I need to take a beat. I need to remember that living artfully means helping yourself and others live well and make choices that encourage collective well-being. This is why I want to keep in mind that behavior change need not be subversive, manipulative, or implicit that one knows best. It should not be approached contentiously or cynically. It can be beautiful. It should be artful. It should start small and build into durable, meaningful choices.

To this end, working toward an Art of behavior change, toward interventions that are thoughtful, intentional, and respectful of the participants and outcomes will remain my goal. I understand that this means not assuming that there is any one-size-fits-all approach. It means learning the models and finding the ways in which they complement each other. It means looking beyond what has already been tried and attempting new, creative ways of communicating and inviting participation. It means trying to find the beauty in the way we do things and finding ways to engage others in the pursuit of beauty. 

How do other professionals view strategies for behavior change? 

    I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about the "art" of behavior change. It came to my mind as I 

listened to a researcher question the ability of communications professionals to interpret 

hard science for the rest of us. “Cut out the middle man,” the researcher said. “The best way to ensure that your message isn’t misinterpreted is to deliver it directly to your audience yourself.” This advice 

was offered at the close of a dense lecture, where statistical interpretations were offered at the speed 

of light. The goal of this researcher was to shed light on the impacts of climate change, and help policy makers at all levels of government. The art of behavior change came to my mind again as I listened to the director of an environmental non-profit talk about their plans to reduce the spread of non-native invasive plant species. “If we can get more information directly to the sellers of invasive plants used for landscaping, then we can tackle this issue at one of the sources,” the executive director said. 

    It’s true that the basic environmental education model (proposed by Ramsey & Rickson in 1977) suggests that by increasing knowledge, we make people more aware of environmental issues and cause them to become more concerned. By being more aware and concerned, people become more likely to act in environmentally responsible ways (DeYoung, 2016).  Thirty years after the introduction of basic model, environmental educators have a greater appreciation for the complexity of behavior change and its motivators, which extend beyond simple awareness of an issue. 

    To many people, I think the concept of behavior change (through communication 

and education) is as simple as being an energetic speaker or producing a flashy 

pamphlet. In reality, the process of behavior change is a much more delicate process that involves 

knowing your audience and relying upon them to aide you in identifying what matters and motivates them. Future colleagues may not recognize that behavior change is an "art" and that requires collaboration between communicators/educators and their audience. As students of environmental behavior, our job may be not only to foster environmentally responsible behaviors among communities, but to foster awareness among our colleagues of the complexities and collaborative nature of behavior change, as well.

New Year's Resolutions, New Year's Solutions

Last week as we introduced ourselves I hadn't realized how crafty it was of me (go me!) to plant the question about New Year’s Resolutions amongst the rest of the getting-to-know you milieu.  In a course about the psychology of behavior change, New Year's resolutions are kind of a unique example of people's willingness, and even enthusiasm, to voluntarily adopt changes to current patterns of behavior.  Why are we motivated to make these goals?  And what is different about this time of year, as opposed to the middle of June?  Wood et al.’s Habit Discontinuity Hypothesis (Wood, Witt, & Tam, 2005) suggests that when the usual context that surrounds habitual behavior is disrupted, the behavior is similarly disrupted because of the missing situational cues.  Now I’m far from a behaviorist and prefer to believe human behavior is the product of much more complicated processes than sets of stimulus-response scenarios.  In fact, the intentional decision to make a change in behavior as part of a resolution suggests a kind of intentionality and awareness that I don’t think is well represented in the Habit Discontinuity Hypothesis.  However, there is a common sense to this theory that applies to New Year’s Resolutions.  What is it about the end of the calendar year that prompts this looking back and looking forward, this willingness to change old habits and adopt new patterns of living?  On one hand, the first of January is just a regular day, literally just one of 364 other 24-hour chunks of time as we circle around the sun.  But on December 31, there’s this hoopla – worldwide celebrations, gatherings with loved ones, big plans, maybe even fancy clothing and later bedtimes – that make this particular day so qualitatively different than the 364 other days that surround it.  The culmination of the winter holidays and transition to writing a new year on our checks provides an opportunity-ripe moment to harness this disruption in our habits and interject a little intentionality about how we craft our behaviors. 

For me, my habit-discontinuity moment came on a drive from Texas to Minnesota, in the middle of the night, two days before we welcomed the New Year.  As we drove across the country, my husband and I enjoyed being wrapped up in the kind of silence you only get when you’re driving cross-country at night with three sleeping kids and a dog in the backseat.  And what did we do with this silence?  We talked.  The past year for us was about survival – keeping our heads above water.  I often felt like I was constantly being pulled in the direction of the tide, unable to get to the top of the water and direct myself to a new path.  So after over a week of visiting family and making our way back north, we both noticed a shift in how we were feeling about our present and our future.  Those last two weeks of the year were about that survival chapter closing and a new chapter beginning: thriving.  Our theme for 2016 is Intentionality, which means that rather than being pulled by every tide, we anticipate, plan for and consciously pursue behaviors that are aligned to our goals and values.  (The umbrella resolution of Intentionality includes a lot of things: self-care and compassion, health, reading more for fun, submitting papers to be published, deepening relationships – to name a few.)

Without thinking about it, our first step was to write down our resolutions for the New Year.  My 4-year-old calls these “our solutions,” which I don’t correct, because it’s fitting.  In blue crayon on brown construction paper, this written commitment (Katsev, 1996) has already served as a daily reminder of the goal-setting (Becker, 1978) we did as a family in Dovray, Minnesota (population: 57 by the way) on New Year’s Day.  This is usually about as far as my “resolutions” get – seemingly earnest goals that are faded from focus by the end of February.  By this point, the novelty has worn off, the mental fatigue of returning to the school grind has accumulated and I’m often too exhausted to do anything but succumb to older habitual behaviors.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Ray's notion of Behavioral Aesthetics: crafting a life worth living, one that is meaningful, and one that at the end of the day I can say, “Wow, that was a good day.”  To me, that’s what this resolution of Intentionality is about.  So what makes 2016 different?  What will support this year’s goals towards durable behavior change (De Young, 1993)?  Here’s a glimpse of what I’m/we’re doing so far:

Priming the Way through Attention Restoration –

If I hadn’t known it before, last year gave me intimate knowledge of how difficult it is to make and follow through with goals when you’re mentally and physically fatigued.  Being able to accomplish our personal and professional goals largely depends on our mental capacity to focus and to remain dedicated to these tasks, even when they are less convenient.  First solution:  I’m 33 years old and I, once again, have a bedtime that I follow every night (during the week).  Secondly, I’ve finally embraced the wise management technique of taking micro-restorative breaks (Kaplan, 2001) throughout the day in order to rest my directed attention capacity.  Right now I’ve been enjoying small breaks to be a child again and color:

Implementation Intentions (Holland, Aarts, & Langendam, 2006) –

In the past, we might have said we wanted to commit to a morning routine, but do little more to accomplish this goal than setting the alarm, which inevitably would be hit until a baby or two or three woke us up anyway.  This year, we’ve outlined concrete steps to establish our morning routine.  We get up at the same time every day.  We lay out all the kid’s clothes the night before.  We take care of the same responsibilities every morning.  I make the coffee, baby bottles and day care bags.  My husband changes diapers, makes breakfast and takes out the dog.  Having almost turned these implementation intentions into positive habitual behaviors, I no longer find the mornings to be as mentally draining, which reinforces my ability to more intentionally pursue other goals throughout the day.

Social Problem Solving (Staats, Harland, & Wilke, 2004) –

Lastly, my husband and I are both working towards similar personal and professional goals.  We’ve committed to regularly checking in with one another about our goals, providing opportunities for feedback, informal brainstorming, and creative problem solving.  And although we’re a small community of 2 adults in our household, the accountability each of us feels to the “rest of the community” is strong.

If you’ve stuck it through with this post, which became way too long, THANK YOU.  And I welcome you to be part of the community of people who helps to support me in these New Year’s “Solutions.”  Ask me how I’m doing.  I’m happy to do the same for you!

Becker, L. J. (1978). Joint effect of feedback and goal setting on performance: A field study of residential energy conservation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63(4), 428–433. doi:10.1037//0021-9010.63.4.428

De Young, R. (1993). Changing Behavior and Making it Stick: The Conceptualization and Management of Conservation Behavior. Environment and Behavior, 25(3), 485–505. doi:10.1177/0013916593253003

Holland, R. W., Aarts, H., & Langendam, D. (2006). Breaking and creating habits on the working floor: A field-experiment on the power of implementation intentions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(6), 776–783. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.11.006

Kaplan, R. (2001). The Nature of the View from Home: Psychological Benefits. Environment and Behavior, 33(4), 507–542. doi:10.1177/00139160121973115

Katsev, R. D. (1996). The impact of commitment in promoting consumer energy conservation. In E. Monnier (Ed.), Consumer Behavior and Energy Policy: An International Perspective (pp. 280–294). New York, NY: Praeger Publishers.

Staats, H., Harland, P., & Wilke, H. a M. (2004). Effecting Durable Change: A Team Approach to Improve Environmental Behavior in the Household. Environment Behavior, 36(3), 341–367. doi:10.1177/0013916503260163

Wood, W., Witt, M. G., & Tam, L. (2005). Changing circumstances, disrupting habits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(6), 918–933. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.6.918

Making Issues Worthwhile and Solutions Simple

The other day I drove past a billboard that had two unchecked boxes, the kind of squares created next to action items on one's daily to-do-list. The statement next to one box said, "do nothing" and if my memory serves me correctly, the second box stated, "do something about global warming". This message stood out for several reasons. First, I don't think I can recall any other billboards surrounding climate change or environmental justice; the last environment related message I saw posted on a a massive rectangle beside the highway encouraged families to feed their children vegetables and fruits for snacks, which is not an entirely recent phenomena. Second, I was kind of in awe of it's simplicity - two boxes and less than ten words. Third, it took a large scale problem and targeted the individual, suggesting that taking action on global warming can be just as simple as crossing off purchased items on your grocery list. The message on this billboard highlights an essential component for increasing participation by conveying to people that their actions are needed and the solution is not as complex as we make it out to be. This advertisement might infer that people feel a sense of competence about global warming otherwise it fails to address another component of "being needed".  If that is the case, the words global warming might trigger feelings of confusion and hopelessness. I recognize that purpose of this billboard intervention may not be to increase competence, but I'm curious what existing interventions are effective at enhancing understanding regarding large scale problems such as global warming? Hopefully one exists that doesn't require acceptance into graduate school. 

Post written by: Hazel Shively, December 2015

Do We Care More About Floor Space than Our Neighbors?

We've learned that there is a psychological categorization of space (i.e. public, semi-public, semi-private, and private). One of the questions posed in the video above encourages to reflect on as a society whether we are "choosing floor space over friends and stuff over connection"? I wonder if our living spaces have the psychological categorization of private and how this feeling impacts social cohesion and our ability to enhance social recovery through meaningful connection. Ideally, our communities offer security, stimulation, and identity through the establishment and elimination of boundaries, sharing stories, and feeling needed. This video suggests that a breakdown of community  and extensive physical isolation contribute to the development of addiction. How will perceptions and feelings of security, stimulation, and identity be influenced by the rapid growing rate of our population? 

Post written by: Hazel Shively, December 2015

Wandering Minds and Adverse Childhood Experiences

Wandering minds and perceived stress predict shortened telomere cells according to the article "Wandering Minds and Aging Cells" by Epel et al. This study addresses an imperative issue surrounding the need for attentional restoration and significant impact of perceived stress, however I'm curious to see what the outcomes would be with a more diverse population. While their data is substantial and the study intentionally excludes traumatic stress, I also wonder if the development of a wandering mind is more prevalent among individuals who have a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)? Do you know your ACE score? The Adverse Childhood Experience Study was conducted in the mid to late 90's by Kaiser Permanente to assess the relationships between childhood maltreatment and family dysfunction with an individual's presenting health and behaviors. Findings of the study conclude that the greater number of ACEs a person has, the greater associated risk of negative physical and mental health outcomes. Interestingly, children who have a trauma history can be misdiagnosed with attention deficit disorders because of similar symptom presentation (i.e. impulsivity and poor emotional regulation). Are there specific populations who experience trauma and are also at risk for developing a wandering mind?

Post written by: Hazel Shively, December 2015

Can Yoga and Meditation Reduce Healthcare Cost?

Yoga is a form of deep restoration that encompasses all of the four essential components; being away, fascination, extent, and compatibility. Yoga not only restores attention capacity, researchers also find that it also decreases stress and anxiety, particularly due to the relaxation response the practice helps one to evoke and develop over time. Furthermore, the relaxation response positively impacts heart rate and blood pressure, leading a recent Harvard-affiliated research study to conclude that participating  in deep restorative practices like yoga and meditation can significantly curb health care cost by almost 50 percent. With the Affordable Care Act allowing for greater access to health care, I wonder what it would look like for yoga services to be covered by insurance companies? A one month yoga membership compared to a single doctor's visit without insurance is certainly less costly. Let's make yoga more inclusive and accessible to the general population!

Post written by: Hazel Shively, December 2015