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.

Professor Paul Aveyard is a Professor of Behavioural Medicine with the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.

This talk is being held as part of the Introduction to Study Design and Research Methods module which is part of the MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care. This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.