Designing for Future Behaviors

Despite the prevalence of theories and interventions related to behavior change, our knowledge on how intention for a target, or planned behavior, changes over time remains limited. This hinders our ability to consider the temporal aspect in our designs to support behavior change. To understand the effect of temporal distances on planned behaviors, we conducted two studies, building on the Theory of Planned Behavior and Constual Level Theory. We found that attitude about the target is more salient the further away the event, as people focus on the why of a behavior. On the other hand, perceived behavior control can influence intention in both near and far future. When the target is in the near future, people generally focus on the feasibility, or the how of the behavior. In the far future, people may also consider factors related to behavior control, if they are motivated to do so (i.e., hold a strong attitude towards the action). Findings help advance the Theory of Planned Behavior and offer strategies for designers and event organizers to motivate planned behaviors that are in the near and far future.