I’m prompting you, behavior changers: Think before you prompt!

As we have discussed in class, “prompts” (short, simple reminders to perform a desired behavior, presented in close proximity to the desired behavior) are all around us. We constantly see signs telling us to “turn off the lights” and we receive emails reminding us to “pay your bill!” While prompts are relatively cheap, easy to implement, and have been shown by various studies to have a considerable effect on behavior, other studies have shown negligible impacts (Katzev & Johnson, 1987). Given the unreliability of prompts, should behavior change practitioners be more cautious of utilizing and recommending the use of prompts?  

Given the age of information overload that we live in, how well can prompts really compete for our attention against other information like advertisements (some of which may be prompts themselves), and other environment-related prompts? Do you think we might be more successful in at least combining prompts with other tactics, such as leveraging social norms, feedback, modeling and commitment? For example, in the Aronson & O’Leary (1983) study, prompting alone was only half as effective at increasing water conservation behavior than prompting combined with modeling. Should we also take greater care in considering the influence of various characteristics of prompts, such as whether the prompt is also normative or not? (“Recycle your cup: 80% of the students in this dorm do it!”)

My point is not to say that prompts do not work (there is evidence that they can), or that we should abandon prompts entirely. However, I think it is important to periodically “prompt” ourselves, as current or future behavior change practitioners, to carefully consider whether a prompt (and what kind of prompt) is appropriate in any given situation. We shouldn't simply adopt prompts in general as our “weapon of choice” or always encourage colleagues to use prompts. We must carefully consider the specific situation.

A few tips to help us critically analyze whether a prompt is the appropriate intervention tool for the given situation:

• Are we indeed trying to change a behavior, rather than an attitude or value?
•  Is the desired behavior one that someone might otherwise forget to do? Is the desired behavior relatively easy to do and non-demanding?
• Is the prompt specific in its requested behavior and easy to understand?
•  Can the prompt be placed in a noticeable position close to the point of behavior (both physically and temporally)?

If you answered yes to these questions, a prompt might indeed be an effective intervention tool for your situation. However, due to the overwhelming amount of information (especially visual information) that people are faced with everyday, I would still encourage you to think critically about your audience and whether your specific prompt will be able to rise above the noise that your target is faced with every day. What is your audience motivated by? What is important to them? Can you combine your prompt with other techniques like normative information or portray a messenger in your prompt that your audience trusts and respects?

What are some examples you have seen of prompts that you think are appropriate (or not)? What other characteristics are included in the prompt message that might also make it more effective (or not)? How can we ensure that prompts are not over-utilized to the point where they become too common and thus ineffective?

References:
1) Katzev, R. D. & T. R. Johnson (1987). Antecedent communications: Prompts. (Chapter 2). Promoting Energy Conservation: An Analysis of Behavioral Research. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
2) Aronson, E. & M. O’Leary (1982W1983). The relative effectiveness of models and prompts on energy conservation: A field experiment in a shower room. Journal of Environmental Systems, 12: 219W224.