Types of pledge
An ‘ open ’ pledge allows an individual to develop their own pledge that is personally relevant , and contrasts with the alternative where that wording is provided . Rather than simply being told how to behave , individuals who develop their own pledges are empowered to make decisions regarding their own behavioural choices and may therefore be more likely to adopt the action as a result of their involvement in that decision making process ¹.
However , left to their own devices , individuals are unlikely to develop focused , achievable targets for behaviour that are easy to ‘ stick to ’, and may be more likely to simply state pledges such as ‘ I pledge not to use a mobile phone while driving ’. Whilst this could be useful for those who feel able to achieve that promise , it is rather non-specific ( for example about what constitutes ‘ use ’) and potentially requires many behaviours to be identified and tackled simultaneously . A pledge to “ always put my phone in the glove
compartment when driving ” is less complex , clearer , easier to evaluate and arguably will be more effective .
In contrast , a pre-defined pledge potentially takes away the personal connection associated with developing your own pledge - and the wording of it may not be relevant to some of the intended audience . A compromise might be to supply a choice of pledges that are specific and relevant and allow individuals to choose between them , as well as allowing them to choose who they make a pledge to . This may offer an effective compromise between specificity and personalisation , so that we do not take away the element of empowerment that behaviour change research tells us is important for creating behaviour change ².
The idea of making a pledge ‘ from scratch ’ may put some people off if they have to do all the thinking . We need to nudge them into it by giving as much of a steer as we can , without taking away the personal relevance .
¹ Thomas , K . W . and Velthouse , B . A ., 1990 . Cognitive elements of empowerment : An “ interpretive ” model of intrinsic task motivation . Academy of management review , 15 ( 4 ), pp . 666-681 .
² RoSPA ( 2017 ). Designing evidence based road safety interventions . Available from : https :// www . rospa . com / rospaweb / docs / advice-services / road-safety / practitioners / evidence-based-intervention-guide . pdf
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