How we change behaviour and what to do to support it: lessons from randomised controlled trials and other research

Professor Paul Aveyard, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences gives a talk on behavioural change in evidence based medicine. In our society, we tend to view motivation, the state of 'wanting it' as a prime mover of behaviour. However, research calls this into question both directly and by showing that, even among people with lukewarm motivation, we can enable behaviour change. Using randomised data mainly from randomised trials and other research, we will examine what these forces are and show how they can be harnessed to change behaviour, even when people have seemingly strong preferences.