The value and experience-based model of behaviour change (VEM-BC)

Many societal challenges, for example in the health and sustainability domain, involve human behaviour. The problem is often that unhealthy or environmentally harmful behaviours are perceived as more attractive than their healthy and pro-environmental alternatives, and that experiences with new healthy or pro-environmental behaviours are not always immediately pleasant. Here, we take a value-based decision making perspective and present a new psychological model of behaviour change. First, we adapt the existing Value-based Choice Model of self-control to better align with the behaviour change domain by, for example, mapping key concepts of this domain (e.g., attitudes, goals) onto our model. Second, whereas the endpoint of other models of behaviour change is the choice for a specific behaviour, the Value and Experience-based Model of Behaviour Change (VEM-BC) incorporates an experiential component. Specifically, it acknowledges the crucial importance of affective experiences during behaviour execution for long-term behaviour change. One central recommendation of the VEM-BC is, therefore, that interventions should aim at creating positive experiences with the desired target behaviour. By integrating insights from different research areas such as decision making, reinforcement learning, affective processing, self-control, and behaviour change, the VEM-BC offers a unified perspective and generates novel predictions for promoting lasting behaviour change.