Where Do You Keep Your Running Shoes?The Influence of Perceived Control and Self-Nudging on Health Behavior
Year: 2021
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: In the Covid-19 crisis, people from all over the world were forced to spend a lot of time at \nhome. For many, this meant having to come up with new strategies to create a home \nenvironment supportive of a healthy diet and exercise. This study aims to predict at-home \nhealth behavior by using a combination of nudge theory and the theory of planned action. \nSpecifically, this study investigates whether three self-nudge types (visibility, accessibility, \navailability) and perceived control can be used as predictors of healthy eating and exercise. In \nthis context, perceived control is defined as the estimation of how difficult or easy the \nexecution of the behavior is going to be, based on both external resources and internal \nfactors. To test the hypothesis of a covariate interaction between nudge and perceived \ncontrol, an online 55-item survey regarding health habits and home arrangements was \nadministered to 100 participants aged 17-73. The responses were analyzed using two multiple \nlinear regressions, one for healthy eating and one for exercise. The results pointed towards a \ncovariate interaction between nudge visibility and perceived control for healthy eating but not \nexercise, where the only significant predictor was perceived control. These results suggests \nthat the most effective strategy to implement healthy eating is a combination of heightened \nperceived control and an increase in the visibility of healthy eating self-nudges in the home \nenvironment. Concretely, this means that healthy eating habits can be promoted by fostering\na ‘can-do’ attitude and by heightening the salience of the healthy eating nudges already \npresent in our living spaces.
Author: C. Campisano
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3194523167