Response: One Size Does Not Fit All: Applying the Transtheoretical Model to Energy Feedback Technology Design

Summary

The focus of the paper is to motivate change in individuals' behaviors to be more energy sustainable to help against Global Warming. However, the current techniques that available technologies employ to motivate such changes are heavily generalized, "one-size'fits-it-all", and only informs rather than motivate.

The paper defines motivation as an internal condition, such as needing or wanting, that activates or energizes behavior.

They use The Transtheoretical Model, TTM, to identify the different stages of how behavior change occurs. The stages are:

1. Precontemplation - a person does not have any knowledge to change behaviors.
2. Contemplation - a person acknowledges that their behavior is a problem but may not be committed into changing it yet.
3. Preparation - a person is committed to change and take action.
4. Action - a person modifies their behavior intently.
5. Maintenance, relapse, recycling - a person tries to maintain the action or relapses back to an earlier stage.

In conjunct to TTM, they use MI or Motivational Interviewing, a client-centered counseling style, to facilitate behavioral change.

From here, the paper talks about different persuasive energy feedback technology and how they design for general consumption and tend to persuade people in different stages of behavioral stage and thus are not so effective.

To solve this, they propose a motivational framework based on TTM and gives goals, recommendations, and rationale for each stage of behavior change.

Precontemplation - “Plant the seed” to acknowledge problematic unsustainable behaviors

Contemplation - “Tip the balance” in favor of change

Preparation - Develop a plan that is acceptable, accessible and effective.

Action - Positively reinforce sustainable action and develop intrinsic motivations

Maintenance - Maintain durable behavior change

They then discuss a scenario and how their framework handles it through the different stages of behavioral change.

Reflection

While I was reading the different types of stages TTM states, I was actually thinking "What if a person is actually in different stages?" Having tried to have change a behavior of mine, I believe that a person may actually be in different stages or may even skip some of them.

I was also thinking that they should use a different form of visualization rather than plain text.

Then the paper puts these in the discussion/future-work section.

I personally agree with this paper about how feedback techniques are so generalized that they may are do not affect anyone as much as they could. Having a system that meets needs in individual units to a certain degree as far more potential to be effective.