Social Marketing

Research 31
Behavioral Science
Embedded in this model are some important ideas:
• The environment shapes, maintains, and constrains behavior, but people are not passive in the
process, as they can create and change their environment. (For example, a group of people
might successfully push for a new regulation.)
• People need to know what to do and how to do it. (People may not know where CFLs can be
most useful.)
• People learn about what is expected through the experiences of others. (Someone who
bought a poor quality CFL might warn his buddies to avoid them.)
• Responses, both positive and negative, to a person’s behavior will affect whether or not the
behavior will be repeated. (That guy who bought the poor quality CFL? He’s not buying another
one. )
• Self-efficacy — the belief that a person can perform the behavior — is important. (A person
who doesn’t know much about light bulbs has to believe they can screw in a CFL like any
other light bulb. )
Stages of Change (or a way to segment audiences)
The stages of change theory, also called the transtheoretical model, helps explain how people’s
behavior changes. This theory was developed after studying how people quit smoking, and has
been used since to understand other complex behaviors, such as condom use.
Stages of change states that people go through a process, on their own time and in their own
way, of changing to a new behavior. At each stage, they may have unique needs. For example,
someone in the pre-contemplative stage may need information about a behavior but is not
ready to discuss how to integrate the behavior into his or her daily life.
A Behavior is more likely
to be adopted if:
• It is similar to and compatible
with what people are already
doing
• It is simple to do without
mistakes
• It is low cost
• It provides immediate reward
The five stages are as follows:
1. Precontemplative: People in this stage do not intend to
change their current behavior in the foreseeable future,
are unaware of the benefits of changing their behavior, or
deny the consequences of their current behavior.
2. Contemplative: People are aware that a change might be
good, are seriously thinking about changing their behavior,
but have not yet made a commitment.
3. Preparation/decision-making: People intend to take action
in the near future and may have taken some inconsistent
action in the recent past.
4. Action: People modify their behavior, experiences, or environment
to overcome the problem; the behavior change
is relatively recent.
5. Maintenance: People work to prevent relapse and maintain
behavior change over a long period.
Social Marketing Behavior A Practical Resource for Social Change Professionals