Taken together, the results suggest that habits may serve to define who we are, in particular when these are considered in the context of self-related goals or central values. When habits relate to feelings of identity this comes with stronger cognitive self-integration, higher self-esteem, and a striving toward an ideal self. Linking habits to identity may sustain newly formed behaviors and may thus lead to more effective behavior change interventions.

Create trauma-informed content that builds trust and prevents retraumatisation—in real time Rembrandt Editor helps you write accessible, inclusive content that works for everyone, including the 16-25% of people with disabilities. Get real-time feedback to make your writing more considerate and empathetic.

The false consensus effect is usually studied at the individual level. But what I’m describing is a class-wide and industry-wide version. It’s not just that any one journalist overestimates how representative her experience is; it’s that an entire class of professionals shares a similar set of experiences, confirms those experiences with each other on the same platforms, and then produces a body of public knowledge that reflects those experiences as though they were the norm. And even when people from nontraditional backgrounds join the fray, they are incentivized to conform through social media, company cohesion, editorial norms, and the normal human urge to get along with your peers and be taken seriously by the people you respect.

However, engaging people in research can sometimes become a source of re-traumatisation or activation for the people participating in the research. So being a trauma-informed content designer means not only focussing on the outcomes that designers produce, but also on the process that designers use to arrive at those outcomes. This means considering trauma-informed design research as the collective responsibility of anyone involved in making it happen, from design researchers to content designers and others.

The traditional focus of work on personality and behavior has tended toward “major outcomes” such as health or antisocial behavior, or small sets of behaviors observable over short periods in laboratories or in convenience samples. In a community sample, we examined a wide set (400) of mundane, incidental or “every day” behavioral acts, the frequencies of which were reported over the past year. Using an exploratory methodology similar to genomic approaches (relying on the False Discovery Rate) revealed 26 prototypical acts for Intellect, 24 acts for Extraversion, 13 for Emotional Stability, nine for Conscientiousness, and six for Agreeableness. Many links were consistent with general intuition—for instance, low Conscientiousness with work and procrastination. Some of the most robust associations, however, were for acts too specific for a priori hypothesis. For instance, Extraversion was strongly associated with telling dirty jokes, Intellect with “loung[ing] around [the] house without clothes on”, and Agreeableness with singing in the shower. Frequency categories for these acts changed with markedly non-linearity across Big Five Z-scores. Findings may help ground trait scores in emblematic acts, and enrich understanding of mundane or common behavioral signatures of the Big Five.

ife events have been theorized to elicit personality trait changes. However, the empirical evidence for event-related personality development remains inconclusive. Even comprehensive reviews and meta-analyses are limited by the availability of effect sizes, the control for relevant confounders, and the way time is treated in the analyses. To overcome these limitations, we conducted a coordinated data analysis and examined event-related personality changes across seven large-scale panel studies (Ntotal = 196,256). Furthermore, we investigated corresponding event-related changes in life satisfaction and self-esteem as benchmarks for the interpretation of effect sizes. Integrating the results across panel studies, we found several consistent changes in the Big Five personality traits in response to life events. For example, new employment predicted increases in conscientiousness and emotional stability, whereas marriage predicted a decrease in openness. However, event-related changes in the Big Five personality traits were small (average bstd = 0.05), with effect sizes similar to those of event-related changes in self-esteem but smaller than corresponding changes in life satisfaction. Building on these findings, future research should focus on the life events with replicable effects on personality development and examine how these life events lead to personality changes.

A team at the Nutrition Council is working on a new initiative: get more leafy greens on people’s plates. They have worked on and tracked many initiatives over the years, about topics ranging from added sugars to vitamins. They gather information about leafy greens consumption in the population, interview nutrition experts, farmers, and professional chefs. This time, they also have a set of thinking styles from a study they did using Data Science that Listens.

What actually works in practice Forget the academic models for a minute. Here’s what I’ve found genuinely works when creating content for vulnerable people:

Two studies investigated associations between habits and identity, in particular what people consider as their “true self.” Habit-identity associations were assessed by within-participant correlations between self-reported habit and associated true self ratings of 80 behaviors. The behaviors were instantiations of 10 basic values. In Study 1, significant correlations were observed between individual differences in the strength of habit-identity associations, measures of cognitive self-integration (prioritizing self-relevant information), self-esteem, and an orientation toward an ideal self. Study 2 further tested the assumption that habits are associated with identity if these relate to important goals or values. An experimental manipulation of value affirmation demonstrated that, compared to a control condition, habit-identity associations were stronger if participants explicitly generated the habit and true self ratings while indicating which values the behaviors would serve. Taken together, the results suggest that habits may serve to define who we are, in particular when these are considered in the context of self-related goals or central values. When habits relate to feelings of identity this comes with stronger cognitive self-integration, higher self-esteem, and a striving toward an ideal self. Linking habits to identity may sustain newly formed behaviors and may thus lead to more effective behavior change interventions.

But sometimes it can be hard to find the time (and motivation) to exercise. So, what's the least amount of exercise you can get away with doing while still seeing these benefits? That answer depends on how fit you are to begin with. Here's some good news: the lower your starting point is in terms of fitness, the less you have to do to see a benefit.

The Choctaw Nation drives were first launched in 2020, born from community feedback. Lacey Callahan, grants operation manager for the behavioral health center, explains that their original approach — hour-long formal presentations — wasn’t working. “What we heard from our community is that (the presentations) did not feel safe,” Callahan said. “What felt safer to them was to discreetly come through on their terms, when it was convenient for them, receive a smaller training just on how to use it, and not have law enforcement present.” The tribe now strategically places these drives based on precise data analysis. Mason Emert, an epidemiologist with the Choctaw public-health department, studies statewide overdose information collected in a federally developed program called the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP), where users enter overdose data into a cross-jurisdictional database.

Changing health information to match specific cultures can improve health outcomes. However, there are no government rules to make health information fit different cultures. We made a cultural tailoring score to test health materials. Graduate students from the target cultures tested it on COVID-19 vaccine ads. The score showed that cultural elements made the ads work better and helped people understand health messages. We suggest testing the score more to give researchers a simple tool for creating better health materials.

Fundamentals of Inclusive Research Presenter(s): Cherish Boxall, Heidi Green, Frances Sherratt, Shaun Treweek decorative image to accompany text This guide provides four approaches to making research more inclusive. Groups of people, such as those from minoritised/racialised ethnicities, impaired capacity, and those experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, generally experience poorer health outcomes than groups of people with more societal privilege. In parallel, these groups have been historically underserved in health research. This situation means that the findings of health research might not be transferable to the people who stand to benefit most, potentially allowing health inequalities to continue and most definitely not contributing to solving the problem of inequity. There are many historical and current reasons for under-representation in research. The most common reasons include a lack of trust and ease of access (e.g., small visit windows, cover for dependants). Although different groups might face unique barriers, this practical resource will provide a starting place to help research be more inclusive through a broad suite of approaches. The four pillars of the fundamentals of inclusive research are access, relevance, trust and recognition. > Download the workbook PDF with a check guide to get started on inclusive practice and community engagement.

Personalized nudging (PeN) promises greater intervention effectiveness, especially for heterogenous populations. However, developments in PeN are hindered due to a lack of conceptual clarity and high methodological variability. We present a framework for PeN to tackle these challenges. We argue that personalization is contingent on personal data availability and choice environment malleability. Applying these factors to a nudge’s content, design, and underlying mechanism, we suggest that various levels of PeN exist, from simple name changes to more technologically sophisticated adaptive approaches. These levels highlight various novel methodological considerations, which we split into theory-driven (top down) and data-driven (bottom up) approaches. Finally, we discuss how our framework supports practitioner goals and reveals future research directions.

A psychiatrist couldn’t keep up with the demand for mental health care. So he hired grandmothers. He asked himself a simple question: who do people already trust with their problems? The majority said it was grandmothers. They are wise, respected and embedded in the community. He trained them in basic therapy for common mental health disorders and gave them benches in public spaces. The results speak for themselves : → Thousands sought support → Depression symptoms dropped → A randomised trial showed it worked better than standard primary care

This session explores how Harmony Labs and Earth Alliance collaborated to identify and engage audiences missing from the climate conversation, blending together in one pilot project groundbreaking behavioral media research with influencer partnerships and media testing and iteration. Harmony Labs Executive Director Brian Waniewski shares key research findings and showcase how these findings informed an influencer media strategy to connect with untapped audiences, offering climate communicators new pathways for engaging diverse communities. (04:29–06:55) They created content with 60 creators through co-productions and a creators fund—rather than scripted ads—with two goals: engagement and transporting audiences toward awareness, pro-climate futures, and participation. (07:26–09:14) Using their Narrative Observatory, they tracked media behavior from half-million US panelists, mapping how people move through media and which values shape their consumption. (09:14–13:07) Identified a key overlooked group: the “If You Say So” audience—online, culture makers who avoid news—so they tailored content to their values (autonomy, fun), not traditional activist messaging.

Furthermore, Gen Z is rejecting traditional advertising which paints a picture of a happier, more beautiful, successful life. For them, it’s about identity. If your content doesn’t make Gen Z say “That’s so me,” then it’s not worth their time.

When the word ‘vulnerable’ is used as an adjective to describe people, such as ‘vulnerable consumers’ this risks causing harm (or more harm) to those experiencing vulnerability. We recommend that ‘vulnerability’ is used as a noun to describe the situation people experience, suchas ‘consumer vulnerability’ rather than as an adjective to modify a noun (see Macdonald et al.,2021). The use of person-first terminology is consistent with adopting a strengths-based approachto customer vulnerability (Raciti et al. 2022, Russell-Bennett et. al. 2023). This addresses one ofthe harm factors listed above by taking away the stigma incumbent with assigned labels. Forpolicymakers or practitioners who aim to focus on addressing those who are at a higher risk ofharm, we suggest the following term is optimal: “consumers experiencing heightened vulnerability” (CEHV). The shorter term to use outside this framework is “consumers experiencing vulnerability”.

What works better is grouping the reasons someone struggles with a service, rather than segmenting the people who experience those struggles. This is the basis of the Universal Barriers to Access approach. Over time, the Government Digital Service received thousands of calls from people unable to use parts of its services. By analysing this data, we identified 11 common barriers—recurring patterns that explain why services fail for users, regardless of their background or situation.

A new survey from The Verge and Vox Media addresses this moment of internet fragmentation.

When people feel positive, they are positive about advertising, so brands should be targeting – or, better yet, creating – moments of happiness and relaxation.

Starting from Cooper's approach for constructing personas, this paper details how behavioral theory can contribute substantially to the development of personas. We describe a case study in which Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is used to develop five distinctive personas for the design of a digital coach for sustainable weight loss. We show how behavioral theories such as SDT can help to understand what genuinely drives and motivates users to sustainably change their behavior.

You may remember from the MDA Framework that the authors listed 8 kinds of fun. These are: Sensation. Games can engage the senses directly. Consider the audio and video “eye candy” of video games; the tactile feel of the wooden roads and houses in Settlers of Catan; or the physical movement involved in playing sports, Dance Dance Revolution, or any game on the Nintendo Wii. Fantasy. Games can provide a make-believe world (some might cynically call it “escapism”) that is more interesting than the real world. Narrative. As we mentioned earlier in passing, games can involve stories, either of the embedded kind that designers put there, or the emergent kind that are created through player action. Challenge. Some games, particularly retro-arcade games, professional sports, and some highly competitive board games like Chess and Go, derive their fun largely from the thrill of competition. Even single-player games like Minesweeper or activities like mountain climbing are fun mainly from overcoming a difficult challenge. Fellowship. Many games have a highly social component to them. I think it is this alone that allows many American board games like Monopoly to continue to sell many copies per year, in spite of the uninteresting decisions and dull mechanics. It is not the game, but the social interaction with family, that people remember fondly from their childhood. Discovery. This is rare in board games, but can be found in exploration-type games like Tikal and Entdecker. It is more commonly found in adventure and role-playing video games, particularly games in the Zelda and Metroid series. Expression. By this, I think the MDA authors mean the ability to express yourself through gameplay. Examples include games like Charades or Poker where the way that you act is at least as important as what other actions you take within a game; Dungeons & Dragons where the character you create is largely an expression of your own personal idea; or open-world and sim video games like The Sims or Grand Theft Auto or Oblivion or Fable, which are largely concerned with giving the player the tools needed to create their own custom experience. Submission. A name that often has my students chuckling with their dirty minds, but the intent is games as an ongoing hobby rather than an isolated event. Consider the metagame and the tournament scene in Magic: the Gathering, the demands of a guild to show up at regular meetings in World of Warcraft, or even the ritualized play of games at a weekly boardgame or tabletop-roleplaying group.

The SHeLL Health Literacy Editor is an online browser-based software that gives you objective, real-time feedback on the complexity of health information.

n this essay, Sherine Guirguis and Michael Coleman tell the story of the lesson that shaped their careers. It was a lesson that occurred while navigating a particularly challenging set of circumstances—how to deliver polio vaccines to children in remote areas of Pakistan under Taliban control.

Audiopedia Academy GPT is an advanced AI-powered assistant built using OpenAI's GPT technology. Designed specifically to help Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), NGOs, government organizations, and individual stakeholders, this tool guides users through the EDUC method for creating meaningful and effective audio-based outreach campaigns. This interactive, empathetic, and resource-aware tool is now available at adp.ax/gpt.

Latinx is broadly unpopular among Latino adults who have heard of it, according to the survey. 75% of Latinos who have heard of the term Latinx say it should not be used to describe the Hispanic or Latino population, up from 65% saying the same in 2019.

Big five trait scores for 307,313 people from many different countries.

Should a person describe what they look like during a virtual meeting or webinar? Response # of respondents % of respondents Yes 363 31.8% No 779 68.2% The majority (68.2%) of respondents do not prefer descriptions of appearances in online meetings.

Could this guide us towards a structured approach for assessing the level of community involvement in SBC programmes? At the highest level, “Citizen Control“, communities independently lead programmes with full decision-making authority. “Delegated Power“ and “Partnership“ designate significant community influence on programme decisions, either through majority control or collaborative governance. In contrast, “Placation“, “Consultation“, and “Informing“ indicate lower degrees of participation, where community input may be sought but is not necessarily instrumental in shaping outcomes.