Behaviour Change Techniques
Behaviour change techniques have been developed
from various behaviour change theories. BCTs are
commonly encountered in our context (you’ll hear
them discussed at conferences for example, or you
may be offered toolkits and project ideas that are
based on them) and it is relatively easy to make sure
that what you plan to do incorporates some BCTs.
Versions of these approaches suggest as many as 93
BCTs can be identified, but according to the handy RAC
Foundation guidance on this topic¹, there are 13 primary
groupings into which BCTs fall. These groupings are:
goals and planning, feedback and monitoring, social
support, shaping of knowledge, natural consequences,
comparison of behaviour, associations, repetition and
substitution, comparison of outcomes, reward and
threat, regulation, antecedents, identity, scheduled
consequences, self-belief, and covert learning. It is
possible to see evidence of the other theories we have
discussed in some of these categories.
Some BCTs may be more or less useful in a context
like ours, depending upon the target audience and
the way we choose to influence them (enforcement or
education for example). You will see later on in our Case
Studies that we have often suggested that the projects
we have met would benefit from engaging with BCTs in
some way.
For more information regarding Behaviour Change Techniques, the following sources may be useful:
• 1 Fylan, F. (2017). Using Behaviour Change Techniques: Guidance for the road safety community. RAC
Foundation. Available from: https://www.racfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Using_
behaviour_changetechniques_Guidance_for_the_road_safety_community.pdf
• Sullman, M. (2017). Young driver safety: A review of behaviour change techniques for future interventions. RAC
Foundation. Available from: https://www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/
downloadables/Young_driver_safety_a_review_of_behaviour_change_techniques_for_future_interventions_
MSullman_March_2017.pdf
• Fylan, F. and Stradling, S., 2014. Behavioural Change Techniques used in road safety interventions for young
people. Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology, 64(3),
pp.123-129.
• Michie, S., Van Stralen, M.M. and West, R., 2011. The behaviour change wheel: a new method for
characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation science, 6(1), pp. 6-42.
Both the TPB and dual-process models of behaviour, discussed previously, have been used to inform
behaviour change techniques.
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