Elsewhere I have looked at the rising importance of less direct approaches to behaviour change; where a specific behavioural outcome is a corollary of the intervention; as an alternative to more traditional directly targeted behavioural interventions. I have also looked at the concept of Obliquity , similar in many ways to Systems Thinking, which states that in a complex system, the factors involved are too numerous and too intricately connected to be easily understood. Therefore, just as we cannot be sure that long-range weather forecasts won't be affected by some unforeseen influence, we cannot be sure that single-mindedly striving for a single behavioural change is most likely to lead to desired outcome. In any case, it is increasingly recognised that some of the challenges of public policy are also too intractable for top down solutions, hence the current Big Society debate in seeking to tackle them in different ways. In developing a wider palette of approaches, I argued in the earlier posting that social networks are something that may underpin obliquity.
Rather than also seeing these various approaches as being different or in conflict with each other, perhaps the better analogy is the difference between Web 1.0 which is of course still exists in the form of static websites and the addition of the more complex, socially interactive Web 2.0.
The more directly targeted interventions of "Behaviour Change 1.0" should still be applied and evaluated and no doubt may build a proven track record. However a more networked Obliquity based intervention of "Behaviour Change 2.0" could also strengthen local community cohesion, resilience and social norms and thus contribute to the success of a range of more direct interventions.
We cannot simply make or impose new social networks. They have to evolve. However In order to understand and support the development of better social networks a number of things might help:
1. A Values Based `multiple psychological index' built on internationally recognised research such as the World Values Survey. Just as the Multiple Deprivation Index helps us better appreciate the wider picture of needs, a `multiple psychological index’ helps us better appreciate the wider picture of individual and community level motivational triggers. These may cross a whole number of public policy issues and make us all think in terms of a much wider, perhaps more indirect, approach. This measure of psychological values is something academic and market research may need to include far more in its studies, along with traditional measures of demographics such as occupational class. Increasingly old classifications are proving inadequate to the task as society gets more complex and old social demarcations dissolve in the light of globalisation and technological change.
2. An oblique approach to informal interventions that concentrates on identifying a wider range of people who might be able to contribute within the community. Once identified the aim would then be to support and expand their role so they make the individual connections to build stronger local networks within their community. We have commented before, how too often when one "Googles" the postcode of a poor community, one finds lots of information on outside public bodies and not on people actually living within the community. Local support could then assist with the building of local local social capital at a personal and social level rather than just at a structural and institutional one, as has often been the case in public policy in the recent past. This sort of intervention could then contribute more broadly to reducing negative social behaviours, through perhaps creating new local social norms. In this case the approach might also be built through a wider mix of individual, public and private sector funding (perhaps also through secondments, mentoring and training) along with voluntary sector and individual involvement at a local level. The emphasis might then be on "helping local people to help their community, themselves and to help others" rather than just the direct public interventions of the past.
Just like in Web 2.0, the elements for the approach described above are potentially already around. The real challenge is how to combine them effectively. That is why hopefully the Public Health White Paper will not just allow experimentation, but also incentivise it and invest in at least some of the innovation risks.
Making it happen
The development of these new approaches is at a very early stage. In order to make this happen we next need:
1. More research into the operation of social networks and also the deeper relationships within them. Paul Ormerod's very recent RSA essay on the types of social network seems to be a way forward in defining the various types for further research.
2. A wider shared approach to psychological measurement, building on the common typology developed in the World Values Survey.
3. Deeper insight and communications and a values based language to address communities that enables one to more effectively intervene obliquely.
To understand any social network we clearly need to understand the individual relationships within it, so perhaps there is also a more "emotional" and empathic approach to behaviour change as well. I will explore that aspect more in another posting.
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