Changing health, social and environmental behaviours with the Question-Behaviour Effect.

The Question-Behaviour Effect (QBE) is a simple intervention whereby asking questions about a future behaviour increases the likelihood of that behaviour being performed. For example, people asked to predict their recycling behaviour in a survey recycled more than those who did not predict their behaviour (Sprott, Spangenberg, & Perkins, 1999), and people asked about their intentions to eat healthily choose a healthier snacking option than those who were asked about unrelated intentions (Wood et al., 2014). This effect has been widely replicated (see Wood et al., 2016 for a meta-analysis). However, research examining factors that could optimise the effectiveness of the QBE in promoting behaviour change is lacking, and there is also scope for further research on the mechanisms that drive the QBE. The PhD project would focus on maximising the impact of the QBE on behaviour change by exploring moderators and mediators of the effect, targeting behaviours in domains that interest the PhD candidate (e.g. health behaviours, social behaviours, environmental behaviours)