BEHAVIOUR CHANGE: PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS AND POLICY - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module seeks to contextualise behaviour change science, policy and practice. Students are introduced to the policy-making process, how behaviour change strategies are designed, implemented and evaluated among the general public, and the political philosophy of behaviour change science, practice, and policy-making. We critically discuss applied case studies of policy initiatives that have drawn on behavioural science theories and evidence, and external influences, such as the political environment, that can cause policy to deviate from theory or evidence. The module helps students to recognise the tacit assumptions that are made when attempting to change behaviour ‘for the greater good’, and the challenges and counterarguments that often limit the acceptability, feasibility or effectiveness of implementing behaviour change strategies in real-world settings. An overarching purpose of the module is to encourage students to move outside of the academic context and see the ‘bigger picture’ regarding the role of behavioural science and practice for tackling pressing problems in modern societies.

Module provider

Psychology

Module Leader

TIMOTIJEVIC Lada (Psychology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

The module covers four core content areas surrounding behaviour change and policy-making:

• The philosophical assumptions underlying behaviour change and policy-making


• Introduction to policy (e.g., the policy cycle, evidence-based policy-making)


• Risk governance (e.g., risk communication)


• Applied case studies

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their awareness of the social, political and cultural contexts that frame the design, implementation and evaluation of behaviour change policies and initiatives. Summative assessment for the module consists of two coursework pieces:

• a risk communication poster with supporting documentation. This individual assignment builds on small group work in which students design evidence-based risk communication strategies to change a given behaviour. The poster is accompanied by an individual written piece in which students critically reflect on how the poster draws on the module content to inform the risk communication strategy. (This assignment addresses learning outcomes 1-6.)


• a policy briefing, in which students draw on behaviour change theory and evidence, and demonstrate their awareness of the social, political and cultural contexts surrounding policy-making, by offering credible, evidence-based recommendations to policymakers regarding why and how to address a pertinent behaviour change issue among the general public. (This assignment addresses learning outcomes 2-4 and 6.)

 

Formative feedback:

Lecture-based seminars and discussions focus on the application of module content to real-world policy development, and through these, students will receive verbal feedback on their emergent ideas on both assignments from peers and teaching staff.

Students also complete formative tasks, including small group work, and dialogue with staff, which provide students with the opportunity to generate and discuss, in their groups, ideas for their risk communication assignment with their peers. Verbal feedback received from peers, and written formative feedback from teaching staff, is intended to be used by students to inform both assignments.

Module aims

• To develop critical awareness of political and philosophical assumptions underpinning attempts to change behaviour in real-world settings through policy
• To develop understanding of the process through which behaviour change policy is designed, implemented and evaluated in practice, and the role of behavioural science in influencing this process and creating impact
• To develop understanding of dominant frameworks informing current policy development
• To develop awareness of the role of social, political, and cultural factors in the policy-making process, and how these may affect the translation of behavioural science insights into policy or practice
• To equip students with the skills to anticipate, reflect on and constructively engage with potential social, political, and cultural factors that may challenge the feasibility or acceptability of an evidence-based, population-level behaviour change intervention
• To provide students with critical awareness of the role of psychological and social science frameworks, theories and evidence in public policy development
• To provide students with opportunities to be effective communicators with the diverse audience through the development of skills of communicating in visual, oral and written formats

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy includes a combination of lectures, teacher- and student-led discussions and group work in class. Lectures and discussions support students to understand and critically engage with the key concepts, and workshops encourage students to work together to develop and evaluate novel evidence-based behaviour change strategies, and receive peer feedback on their ideas

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: PSYM159

Other information

The School of Psychology is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the development of the following capabilities:

 

Employability: By exploring the fundamental assumptions underlying behaviour change policy and practice, this module encourages students to recognise and critically engage their own often-implicit assumptions that shape their communication with other people. Being able to reflect on and question one’s own assumptions is a key skill for employers, and is needed to ensure agile adaptation to the changing nature of work. The module also trains students in transferrable skills, such as: working independently; collaborating flexibly with others in small groups; synthesising and applying theory and evidence to real-world problem-based settings, to develop understanding of a problem, and generate potential solutions; and critically reflecting on their work.

 

Digital Capabilities: This module encourages students to critically reflect on how digital technology has been and can be used to shape, deliver and evaluate the effectiveness of behaviour change policy. Students must engage with multiple digital skills throughout the module, such as using: the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (SurreyLearn) to access course materials and key content; online search engines to identify appropriate sources for their assignments; and software for appropriate communication and presentation of ideas (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, Prezi).

 

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Global and cultural contexts are key to this module. The module is designed to highlight the sociocultural factors underlying behaviour change policy and practice in Western contexts, and to recognise that these factors may not generalise to other cultural contexts. The module encourages students to consider the sociocultural factors that shape behaviour change initiatives and responses to them, and in so doing, supports students to adopt a more overarching, global perspective on behaviour change.

 

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The module develops resourcefulness through the opportunity given in both assignments to decide which theories and evidence to draw on to help formulate, understand and address a policy problem. Students must work equally well independently and in small groups, which requires them to apply skills of collaboration, social influence and co-creation. Students are supported to develop resilience in multiple ways. The module encourages students to reflect on the fundamental assumptions that underpin their own attitudes, beliefs and values regarding behaviour change policy and practice, and students must show resilience to resolve any tensions that may arise from confronting these assumptions. Students also demonstrate and apply resilience to revise their work, and potentially adapt their thinking, in light of formative feedback from teaching staff and their peers. Together, these activities should instil students’ confidence in their own abilities, and their beliefs and values.

 

Sustainability: Promotion of sustainability is central to this module. The module focuses on understanding and addressing the pressing global challenges of our era, which are the focus of current policy making. Assignment topics have been chosen based on their links to UN Sustainable Development Goals. For the policy briefing assignment, for example, students can choose to focus on problems such as reducing food waste (which relates to the Responsible Consumption and Production goal, and the Zero Hunger goal), water conservation (which relates to Responsible Consumption and Production, and has indirect links to the Life Below Water goal), and reducing meat consumption (which relates to Responsible Consumption and Production, and Life On Land goals). The risk communication assignment focuses on encouraging uptake of vaccines, which speaks to the Good Health and Well-Being SDG. Students are encouraged to tackle these assignments from the perspective of diverse target audiences, including those that may be distrusting of behaviour change policy or policymakers.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.