Reminders, Cues, or Prompts

BEHAVIOR CHANGE TACTIC

Reminders, Cues, or Prompts

Reminders, cues, and prompts are simply methods to cause someone to perform a behavior by calling their attention to it with a timely message. People have limited attention and memory, so these types of influences can be very effective when done skillfully. The cue need not consist of written or spoken language; for example, it could be a certain melody, symbol, or pattern of lights on a connected home device. It might also be a bracelet or pattern of vibrations from a wearable device. Provided the cue or prompt is associated with the behavior, almost any sensory stimuli that is reliably perceived and interpreted may be used. That said, verbal reminders can be effective since they may be personalized with additional semantic information related to the person's context or leverage other effects (e.g. identity priming or framing effects).

Studies involving Reminders, Cues, or Prompts

PAPERS

Effects of a self-determination theory-based mail-mediated intervention on adults' exercise behavior.

BEHAVIOR

Physical Activity

PAPERS

Motivational counselling and SMS-reminders for reduction of daily sitting time in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a descriptive randomised controlled feasibility study.

BEHAVIOR

Sedentary Behaviors

TACTICS

Reminders, Cues, & Triggers, Coaching or Counselling

PAPERS

Source Dispensers and Home Delivery of Chlorine in Kenya

AUTHORS

C Casarotto, S Asman

TACTICS

Reduce Friction or Barriers, Reminders, Cues, & Triggers

PAPERS

The Personal Side of Relationship Banking

AUTHORS

A Schoar

BEHAVIOR

Loan Repayment

TACTICS

Reminders, Cues, & Triggers

PAPERS

Potential follow-up increases private contributions to public goods

AUTHORS

E Yoeli, J Ternovski, Todd Rogers

BEHAVIOR

Voting

TACTICS

Implementation Intentions, Identity Priming, Reminders, Cues, & Triggers

PAPERS

The Impact of Text Message Reminders on Adherence to Antimalarial Treatment in Northern Ghana: A Randomized Trial

AUTHORS

JR Raifman

BEHAVIOR

Adherence (Medication or Treatment)

TACTICS

Reminders, Cues, & Triggers

PAPERS

Don’t Blame the Messenger: A Field Experiment on Delivery Methods for Increasing Tax Compliance

AUTHORS

C Scartascini, D Ortega

BEHAVIOR

Taxes

TACTICS

Framing Effects, Reminders, Cues, & Triggers

PAPERS

Text Messages as Mobilization Tools: The Conditional Effect of Habitual Voting and Election Salience

AUTHORS

Ali Adam Valenzuela, Melissa Michelson, Neil Malhotra, Todd Rogers

BEHAVIOR

Voting

TACTICS

Reminders, Cues, & Triggers

PAPERS

Individual- versus group-based financial incentives for weight loss: a randomized, controlled trial

AUTHORS

JT Kullgren

BEHAVIOR

Physical Activity, Diet & Nutrition

TACTICS

Micro-Incentives, Group Incentives

Related behavior change tactics

AI or Chatbot

TACTICS

AI or Chatbot

Using a chatbot or simulated conversational interaction.‍

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

TACTICS

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT is a therapeutic approach originalled developed by Steven Hayes. It borrows from previous concepts like cognitive behavioral therapy and Morita therapy. The principles of ACT are fairly systematic and lend themselves well to program design, finding empirical support in adaptations like 2morrow's smoking cessation and pain management interventions.‍

Active Choice

TACTICS

Active Choice

Active choice, sometimes referred to as enhanced active choice or forced choice, refers to removing default options and often increasing the salience of potential decisions through emphasizing the consequences of one or more of the options. Coined by Punam Anand Keller and colleagues in 2011, it was originally intended to address concerns around paternalistic nudging for use in situations where forcing the default option may be considered unethical. In one of the original studies, CVS customers were given the choice to enroll in automatic refills of medications via delivery. The choices they were presented were ""Enroll in refills at home"" vs “I Prefer to Order my Own Refills.”‍

Automation

TACTICS

Automation

Automation refers to having another person, group, or technology system perform part or all of the intended behavior. A prominent example is Thaler & Bernartzi's Save More Tomorrow intervention, which invested a portion of employees' earnings into retirement funds automatically and even increased the contribution level to scale with pay raises. Other examples include automatically scheduling medical appointments so the patient needn't do it themselves and mailing healthy recipe ingredients to the person's home to reduce the burden of shopping.‍

Behavior Substitution

TACTICS

Behavior Substitution

Behavior substitution refers to attempting to eliminate a problematic behavior by replacing it with another one. Often, the substituted behaviors are intended to have similar sensory qualities (e.g. drink flavored sparkling water instead of soda). The goal is typically to disassociate the original behavior from its cue, enabling the more positive behavior to be triggered automatically.‍

Behavioral Activation (BA)

TACTICS

Behavioral Activation (BA)

Behavioral activation is a therapeutic approach that typically pairs activity scheduling with either monitoring tools or goal-setting. For example, someone might aim to balance activities they "should" do but underperform, like self-care behaviors, with activities they enjoy. Users of this technique may also track which activities cause certain cognitions or affective states, like those associated with depression.‍