From Bad Habits to Positive Actions

Ever wonder what really drives your behavior and how you can change it for the better? Join Deepika as she unravels the mysteries behind our actions using Bandura's social cognitive theory and the theory of planned behavior. Learn how self-efficacy, outcome expectations, self-control, and observational learning can be your secret weapons in transforming bad habits into positive routines. This episode promises practical tips to break down goals, leverage incentives, and shape your environment for lasting change.

We'll also navigate through the theory of planned behavior, emphasizing the role of personal motivation, social pressure, and perceived behavioral control in shaping our intentions and actions. Discover how to foster positive attitudes and align societal norms to boost your intention for change. Whether it's about eating healthier, exercising more, or kicking a bad habit, this episode is packed with actionable insights to guide you on your journey toward better habits and behaviors. Tune in and take the first step towards a better you!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Hi there, I am Deepika, and welcome to the next episode on behavior change. Why do we behave the way we do? Can the answer to this question help us change our less desirable behaviors? Changing them can help individuals, communities and our environment. However, behaviors can be highly ingrained and become habits we perform automatically without thinking. This poses a significant challenge to changing these behaviors. Last time we spoke about the various theories of behavior change. Let's look at them and see how they can help us make the right changes.

Speaker 1: 0:46

First we have the social cognitive theory. Bandura's social cognitive theory proposes that people are driven not by inner forces, but by external factors. This model suggests that human functioning can be explained by a triadic interaction of behavior, personal and environmental factors. This is often known as reciprocal determinism. Environmental factors represent situational influences and environment in which behavior is performed, while personal factors include instincts, drives, traits and other individual motivational forces.

Speaker 1: 1:27

Several constructs underlie the process of human learning and behavior change. These variables may also intervene in the process of behavior change, like self-efficacy, that's, the judgment or one's ability to perform the behavior. If you keep telling yourself I can't change, I don't think I can make such a big sacrifice or change my life so drastically, you probably will not be very successful. Next, you have the outcome expectations. Here the judgment of the likely consequences of behavior will produce. The importance of these expectations may also drive behavior. If you know eating healthy will give you a healthier life, a longer lifespan, more time with your family, more quality time spent with your family, maybe you will make the right changes. Self-control this is the ability of an individual to control their behaviors. Really hard but still doable. External reinforcements emotional coping and observational learning also influences. External reinforcements is the outside motivation, maybe the social structure you have around you, the people encouraging you, giving you material, you coming across media. Emotional coping is how you're able to deal with the emotional stimuli. And finally, observational learning. You're looking at the people who have made changes around you and trying to make the same changes within you. Now how can these be applied in practice To increase self-efficacy?

Speaker 1: 2:58

Break down your final desired behavior into smaller steps, something I always recommend everybody to do when you're writing your goals you want to work out every day. Start with going for a walk two days a week for 10 minutes, or maybe warming up in your room while watching TV. Next you have to ask why do you want it? What's the incentive? Incentive can be a really strong influence. Keeping your site on the reward you will get by making the set change is very, very important. Finally, shaping your environment. We don't realize how much this can affect us. If you want to make lasting changes, social support is extremely important. If you want to eat healthy but your family members or your friends tend to order in often it's not going to work out very well for you.

Speaker 1: 3:49

That was about our first model, the next theory of planned behavior. In the theory of planned behavior, it suggests that behavior is dependent on one's intention to perform the behavior. Intention is determined by an individual's attitude, which is beliefs and values about the outcome of the behavior. Intention is determined by an individual's attitude, which is beliefs and values about the outcome of the behavior, and subjective norms, which means beliefs about what other people think the person should do, or general social pressure. Behavior is also determined by an individual's perceived behavioral control, defined as the individual's perceptions of their ability or feelings of self-efficacy to perform behavior right.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Pretty much similar points come back here again. How do we apply it? First, intention has to be shown to be the most important variable in predicting behavior change. What is your intention, suggesting that behaviors are often linked with one's personal motivation. This suggests that may be important to present information to help shape positive attitudes towards behavior and stress the subjective norms or opinions that support the behavior. If you are somebody who is going to be influenced by what is considered to be normal to be expected in a society, maybe remind yourself that you have to have personal motivation with the positive attitude towards the behavior change you want to make. Next, for perceived behavioral control to influence behavior change, much like with self-efficacy, a person must perceive that they have the ability to perform the behavior. Now, perceived control over opportunities, resources, skills is needed and is an important part of the change process, as said by Griselle. Now, this is really, really important. We're seeing this again. Something so important is our self-belief that we can do this. Honestly, all of us can do it, no matter what it is. It's just about finding right ways, right steps to go forward to it.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Finally, we have the trans-theoretical model, or stages of change, something most behavior coaches, including I, use, and this is one of the easiest ways to break down and understand one's space or position at where you are at, to make the right behavior change. Now, the trans-theoretical model proposes a change as a process of six stages. Pre-contemplation is the stage in which person are not intending to make a change in the near future. You aren't even aware you need to make the change. It's not at all in your thought process. Contemplation is your next step is the stage where people intend to make the change within the next six months. Right, you know I need to start working out, I really need to start eating healthy, I should sleep early. So these are just thoughts that you know. You are aware you need to make the change, but you haven't really put it in action. People in this stage are aware of the pros of changing, also can identify the cons. So you know there are reasons you don't want to make the change.

Speaker 1: 6:56

Next you have the preparation stage. Stage three, which represents the stage where people have a plan of action and intend to take the action in the immediate future, which is usually within a month. You know, from Monday or from June 1st, I'm going to start working out regularly. I'm getting a gym membership, I have subscribed to a meal plan, I have this buddy I'm going to go for a walk with. So you are in the preparation stage.

Speaker 1: 7:22

Next stage four is action. This is a stage in which people make the behavior change. Stage five is maintenance, which represents the stage where people work to prevent lead relapse. So you've started going to the gym. That's your action stage Now. Maintenance is that you don't want to go back to your old ways, so you're making sure you have hired a coach, you're following a program, you are making other changes in your lifestyle, in your sleep, in your social circle, so that going to the gym or working out is a part of your lifestyle.

Speaker 1: 7:54

Finally, termination represents that stage where individuals have 100% efficacy and will maintain their behavior. This stage is the most difficult to maintain. So many people remain a lifetime in maintenance, including me. I think reaching a place where you know you're 100% in a behavior is a goal I don't think I even want to have, because I think it's really hard and not something that most of us can maintain, and a lot of us will go back and forth through these stages up and down over years, depending on lifestyle and the structures around us and our mental health and so many more factors that influence our decisions. So I think reaching the maintenance stage is a great place for us to be, for anybody to be, no matter what your goals are.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Now, how do we apply this? Without a planned intervention, people will remain stuck in the early stages due to a lack of motivation to move through the stages. So if there is not enough motivation, you are going to be stuck in the pre-contemplation or contemplation stage and probably not. You know, maybe in preparation but not really go into action. Now one is consciousness raising. How do we move through stages? Increasing awareness of the causes. So you know, look at educational materials, have some media. Maybe you know you're confronted by your family and friends about the kind of change that you need to make. That's going to raise your consciousness and probably help you move forward.

Speaker 1: 9:24

Then you have dramatic relief, which is producing an emotional experience which is followed by a reduced effect if some action can be taken, like personal testimonies, drama in life or otherwise. So that's something dramatic relief. Then you have self-re-evaluation inviting yourself to make cognitive and emotional assessments of your own self-image. So clarify values, look at healthy models, look at images that help you make these changes. So re-evaluate why you are where you are at and why you wanted to make that change, something we looked at earlier too. Why is a very, very important factor. Finally, environmental revaluation assessments of how the presence or absence of a behavior might impact one's social environment. Right, so maybe you can watch documentaries, maybe your family intervenes and tells you how your behavior is ruining things or affecting things in a negative way, or by making changes things can get better for everybody. Or, of course, personal stories coming across other individuals who have struggled like you and have made changes. Or, of course, always working with a coach who can give you a lot of resources and material and make mechanisms to go through these process and make the set change.

Speaker 1: 10:41

Now, no change is simple. Like we saw earlier, they can become habits, and habits are really hard to break and easy to make. Unfortunately, bad habits or I wouldn't call them bad habits, but not really helpful habits are easy to make because our mind is always focused on finding the easy way out, and usually easy way outs don't work really well for us. You know, ordering in is easier than planning your meal and cooking. You know something healthy, but ordering in and eating outside food on a regular basis is not going to work out well for you, but our brain is designed to go for it, so that habit is easy to make, but planning your meal and sticking to cooking something and eating something healthy every day is harder to maintain, and that's why it becomes so important to have somebody who's helping you go through these processes and giving you, you know advice and support to make these changes. Now that was all about the models that we need to know right now. Right, we looked at there were five models in the earlier podcast, but these three are enough for us to understand how we can make changes and what is psychology behind the changes we want to make.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Now what if attitude change, as opposed to behavior, is your goal? You know your attitude is the problem. My attitude is also sometimes a big problem, and not really the behavior. It's my outlook Now tune in next time to explore that. Thank you. If you like what you hear, subscribe and follow us on Spotify, itunes and Amazon Music. A new episode will come out every first and 15th of a month. You can also follow us on Instagram on the Inspired Life podcast. If you want to mail me to discuss some of the things we are talking here or have a story to share on this podcast, email me at theinspiredlifeindia at gmailcom. This is Deepika and I thank you for listening.