Supporting Behaviour Change - using research in cognitive and social psychology that has identfied strategies that improve the transition from an individual’s intentions and their actual behaviours

There are many areas of human activity where it is important to bring about a change in behaviour e.g., eating a healthier diet, taking more exercise. Research in this area often focuses on identifying the criteria for population-wide interventions that can help to change attitudes (from negative to positive) towards a particular behaviour e.g., eating more fruits and vegetables. However, even when these interventions are successful (i.e. someone decides to eat a healthier diet) they often fail to translate into positive behaviours. This project focuses on using research in cognitive and social psychology that has identfied strategies that improve the transition from an individual’s intentions and their actual behaviours e.g., prospective memory, implementation intentions, imagery etc. In this project you would select a particular target group (adolescents, young or older adults, a clinical population etc.) and explore ways of impoving their likelihood of completing their intentions in an area of importance for members of that target group.