Last week's seminar - as it happened

The live Twitter feed from last week's behaviour change seminar from our @bchangeseminars account.

Timestamp	Text
21/09/2015 12:36	And we begin! Dr Tim Chatterton has kicked off proceedings #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:37	Tim is talking about his work on the 4 dimensions of behaviour. Easier to fill out a tax return than get a bus to work every day #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:38	Focus tends to be on small issues like carrier bag use rather than fossil fuels etc #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:40	Are people individual or social in their behaviours? #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:41	Might want to apply different theoretical tools to different types of behaviour change #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:42	E.g. individual behaviour change is important in terms of health, but not necessarily in terms of sustainability #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:43	Why focus on changing particular people when a lot of them won't be here in 2050 or are yet to be born at all? #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:46	We've made people behave more like individuals rather than a society over time. E.g. Changes in communities, work, social identity #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:47	Transport - the more vehicles, the less social connectivity #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:52	Putting all individual action within a social context is very important #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:52	Thatcher: no such thing as society, there are only men, women and families #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:54	Questions from the floor now. Discussing models for sustainable behaviour #esrc4
21/09/2015 12:55	Enjoy! RT @JMAGarrett: Taken the afternoon off to attend @ESRC @BChangeSeminars - looking forward it to! #ESRC4
21/09/2015 12:56	Tim C - doesn't dismiss the importance of looking at individuals, but thinks there should be a pushback #ESRC4
21/09/2015 12:57	Tim C - what is important is that we try to do SOMETHING rather than nothing about climate change #ESRC4
21/09/2015 12:58	Syrian crisis is an example of a compassionate driver in action. Compassion is a useful motivator for sustainable behaviour #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:00	Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh is now up #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:01	Talking about work on behavioural spillover. Behavioural change or lifestyle change? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:02	After decades of information campaigns individuals aren't really changing behaviours #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:03	Problem is that there is a focus on individual behaviour or consumer behaviour #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:04	We need to understand behaviour across contexts, not just specific individual behaviours #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:04	Attempts to link up behaviours across contexts are often missed #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:06	Where behavioural spillover comes in. Catalyst effect - one behaviours leads to another and hopefully overall lifestyle change #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:07	How consistent are people across 'green' behaviours? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:08	Consistent green behaviours within certain contexts, e.g. In the home #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:09	People are only moderately consistent in their behaviours at best #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:12	Effects of spillover in the real world. The Welsh carrier bag charge - did it effect other green behaviours? No significant change #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:14	How can we produce spillover? Can we make it happen? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:15	Get people to think like they are a 'green' person. #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:16	A lot of potential in spillover research, but difficult to produce. May just be related to small behaviours - we don't know yet #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:17	Lorraine Whitmarsh concludes her talk #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:23	RT @IanBarrettSW: "New ways of encouraging green behaviours that can match the scale of the.. challenge are needed" @lwhitmarsh #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:23	RT @BexMcIntosh: Stoked to be in Bristol again listening to the best brains on #behaviour change @ESRC #esrc4
21/09/2015 13:24	RT @JMAGarrett: Is it impossible to achieve social change in an individualist nation with a right wing government? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:26	Q&A done - Dan Welch is now the last speaker before the break. #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:26	Dan is a critical advocate of social practice theory #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:27	Theories of social practice offer novel perspective to solve the kind of problems that behaviour change deals with #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:28	Social practices are organised and recognisable, socially shared bundles of activity #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:30	Practices are socially recognisable things, have a history and a trajectory #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:31	Practices become a unit of intervention rather than the values we attribute to them #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:32	The portfolio model. Assumes behaviour is driven by something else. Eg norms, attitudes, values etc #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:33	Behaving means selecting from this portfolio. This fundamentally overestimates the role of choice in practices #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:33	Also underestimates constraints #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:34	From a practice perspective the suggestion is to look to the dynamics of social practices to see how we can change things #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:35	A matter of constraints, conventions, infrastructure etc #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:37	Need a new evidence base about the synchronising of practices #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:38	If we intervene at a level of meaning rather than through infrastructure (or vice versa) we are far less likely to be successful #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:38	It's difficult to model the processes of change #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:39	Systemic change not behaviour change? Whose behaviour needs changing? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:40	Demand reduction is very important. Also there is a link between inequality and sustainability #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:40	Bigger income tends to mean a bigger carbon footprint. We need to strongly link the inequality to sustainability #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:40	Dan welch concludes his talk #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:41	RT @IanBarrettSW: Dan Welch says understanding social practice puts "collective social change over individual behaviour change" #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:42	RT @Natalie_Horne: Great talk on spillover #behaviourchange by Prof Whitmarsh. Carrier bags and cupcakes post:  #ESRC4
21/09/2015 13:47	RT @JMAGarrett: To reduce resource demand, inequality must be strongly linked to sustainable practices: top earners are far more responsible
21/09/2015 14:18	The break is coming to an end (lovely pastries @wshed) #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:18	Adam Cooper is next up to talk #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:20	What is behaviour change? We need to get under the skin of what we're talking about #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:21	Within policy it's an intermediate outcome of interest, like education innovation or growth #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:21	It can almost be like a flag in the ground for policy - like social capital. #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:22	Essentially BC is not about people - it's about the brain, the bits of the brain that determine behaviour #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:23	Problematic - not really about behaviour but about choice #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:24	Promotes a 'standard model' of the human. It's the narrowing of social science input #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:26	Social sciences limit their interdisciplinarity with physical sciences. Negative consequences for policy outcomes #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:28	Bringing the social and the physical together: affordances. Objects shape what we do and how we behave #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:31	Material properties matter. Micro and macro infrastructure - engineers and social scientists both have a role to play #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:32	Deep interdisciplinarity with physical sciences - the material has important properties #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:33	To exploit this requires socio-technical designs and integration of social and physical methods #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:34	Need to move beyond standard policy levers. Recognise a lot of policy is about building infrastructure #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:35	Plan physical element with social science built in to it #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:36	Adam Cooper has finished his talk, questions from the floor now #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:44	Chris Holmes is now talking #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:45	Chris works in sustainability and health and will be talking about business building behaviour #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:46	RT @Clairemhopkins: #ESRC4 Dr Cooper calls for greater integration of social science with technical & infrastructure dev'mts.
21/09/2015 14:47	There is no shortage of need, and we know nudge works and also how it works, but still not making much progress #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:47	Apple iPhone has brought the most global behaviour change in recent times #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:50	Very few commercial organisations have read the theory and research behind behaviour change #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:51	Need to have more evidence based product development #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:53	Need to make it usable and something that people can interact with it. Science, art and design and economic contexts all important #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:55	Should we be in love with 'big data'? Probably only 1 or 2% of population are interested! #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:57	Big data - e.g. Nectar card incentivising people to buy products when the data tells them they've stopped buying them. #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:58	But doesn't tell you WHY they e stopped buying #ESRC4
21/09/2015 14:59	We need to build-on rather than re-build research design, develop consortia and add recognition and reward #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:03	Start funding concept rather than end product #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:05	Chris Holmes concludes his talk, now for some questions #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:06	Dr Chatterton wants clarification on Chris's theories in the specific context of sustainability #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:14	Adam Roberts from DECC is now speaking. #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:15	Nudging will remain part of the strategy at DECC - fits with the mission of more for less #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:18	Energy use behaviour is important. Only 40% of variation is explained by property type, income and tenure #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:19	Newcastle heating controls advice trials. Trusted messenger advice was welcome but no overall energy reduction #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:20	Difficult to change behaviour through advice and info alone #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:21	Energy is rarely consciously interacted with #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:23	Discussing current DECC led research, including Behaviours in Organisations (BIO) and Behaviour Change Endurance #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:24	Hoping to do more aspirational work soon at DECC. Should help them start chipping away at these topics #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:25	There is public concern about climate change, but little action. #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:26	Hoping to generate a compelling narrative about what a low carbon future will look like #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:29	What are the non-rational behaviours in society? Should we target them? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:30	Could a sociological approach inform macro behavioural change? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:30	RT @BexMcIntosh: "We don't have time to fail" @Tim_Chatterton on #behaviour change for #climatechange - why knowledge sharing is so important
21/09/2015 15:32	Questions for Adam now. Could pre-payment meters reduce energy use by making us more aware of what we're spending?
21/09/2015 15:37	Dr Spotswood - is it about just using the right buzzwords to get people to start listening? #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:40	RT @BexMcIntosh: In 5 yrs solar installation increased 100% and reduced costs by x5. Surely driven in part by action orientated policies
21/09/2015 15:43	Broader questions from the floor to the whole panel now. #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:48	Signing off now as the gadget battery life is failing us! Hopefully you have enjoyed today's tweets. More on the blog soon #ESRC4
21/09/2015 15:49	Thanks to all those who attended, and to all of our speakers today. See you at our next event in December #ESRC4