Tag: video

What Does “Behaviour Change Science” Study?

Matti TJ Heino6 Comments

This is an introductory post about this paper. The paper introduces to the object of study in “behaviour change science”, i.e. complex systems – which include most human systems from individuals to communities and nations.

In a health psychology conference many years ago (when we still travelled for that sort of thing), I wandered into the conference venue a bit late, and the sessions had already started. There was just one other person in the hallways, looking a bit lost. I was scared to death of another difficult-to-escape presentation cavalcade about how someone came up with p-values under 0.05, so I made some joke about our confusion and ended up preventing his attendance, too. Turned out he was a physicist recently hired in a behavioural medicine research group, sent to the conference to get his first bearings about the field. Understandably, he was confused with a hint of distraught: “I don’t understand a word about what these people talk about. And I’ve been to several sessions already without having seen a single equation!” (nb. if you don’t think this is funny, you’re probably not a social scientist.)

Given that back then I was finding my first bearings on network science, we had a lot to talk about during the rest of the conference. I don’t remember much about the conference, but I remember him making an excellent point about learning: The best way to learn anything is to talk to someone who’s just learned about the thing. While not yet mega-experts, they still have an idea of where you stand, and can hence make things much more understandable than those, who already swim in a sea of concepts unfamiliar to you.

In a recent paper about behaviour change as a topic of research, we tried to do exactly this. I know I’m crossing the chasm where I’m not yet the mega-expert, but am already losing the ability to see what people in my field find hard to grasp. I presented the paper in a research seminar and people found it quite challenging, but on the other hand, I’ve never seen such ultra-positivity from reviewers. So maybe it’s helpful to some.

This impeccably written manuscript provides a thorough, state-of-the-art review of complex adaptive systems, particularly in the context of behavior change, and it does an excellent job explaining difficult concepts.

– Reviewer 2

Here’s a quick test to see if it might be valuable to you. Have a look at this table, and if you think all is clear, you can skip the piece with good conscience:

I also made a video introduction to the topic. If you’re in a rush, you can just run through a pdf of the slides.

If you’re in an even bigger rush, the picture below gives a quick synopsis. To find out more, check out this post. You might also be interested in What Behaviour Change Science is Not.

The Complexity Matters Vodcast

Matti TJ HeinoLeave a comment

On Fred Hasselman‘s initiative, we started a new show where we host a live-streamed discussion on complexity topics. I will gather a list of episodes with synopses in this post.

Note: The next episode is scheduled to take place on 12 January at 12:30 CET, when we interrogate Travis Wiltshire on issues regarding team dynamics!

S01E01: Complexity in psychological self-ratings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bhsEUTBT4Y&feature=youtu.be

We discussed Merlijn Olthof’s new paper Complexity in psychological self-ratings: implications for research and practice. Links are found in video comments on the YouTube page, but here are some extras:

Additional resources:

Interaction is not interaction: An interview with Fred Hasselman

Matti TJ Heino1 Comment

I had the opportunity to interview Fred Hasselman, the main architect of casnet: An R toolbox for studying Complex Adaptive Systems and NETworks. We spoke of how compatible the complex systems perspective is with some methods widely used in social sciences.

A few notes:

  • Multilevel models (and what you put in those) come in many varieties – and some are useful
  • Interaction is not interaction
    • Interaction (1): Two variables are intertwined – or “coupled” – in such a way, that they cannot be separated without severing the phenomena arising from their interplay.
    • Interaction (2): A multiplicative, instead of additive, relationship in a linear regression model, where you can partial out variance and get nice beta weights for each variable to determine their individual impacts.
    • The two meanings presented above are logically inconsistent: See #36 in Scott Lilienfield’s “Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid“
  • Interdependence means you can’t use the regular statistics which social scientists know and love.
    • … because you lose additivity.
  • “Don’t infer causality, observe it.”
    • When the system you’re looking at is an individual instead of e.g. the society, you’re in the quite happy position, that lab studies are possible (if you’re smart about them).
  • An excellent paper from Merljin Olthof: Complexity in psychological self-ratings: implications for research and practice
  • Additional resources:
    • A symposium we held on complexity in behavioural science, evidence and policy.
    • A workshop by Fred Hasselman (scroll to the end for an extensive reading list).
    • University of Helsinki course by Matti: CARMA – Critical Appraisal of Research Methods and Analysis.

Because every post needs an image, here’s Julia Rohrer‘s (2017) Theory of Regulation of Empty Theories (TROETE)

Complexity methods for behavioural sciences: YouTube channel and resources

Matti TJ Heino4 Comments

In 2019 I attended an exciting summer school; Complexity Methods for Behavioural Science: A Toolbox for Studying Change. Later, we – that is, the University of Helsinki Behaviour Change and Wellbeing Group – had the opportunity to invite Fred Hasselman, who devised the course, to Finland. He gave an overview talk as well as a 3-day workshop, which I recorded with varying success. This page collates resources regarding the course.

For all the recordings, see our YouTube channel. There are two playlists; one for short snippets and another one for full-length lectures. Here are some tweets on the course, with links to further resources. For additional slides, see here. See the end of the post for literature!

  • Lecture 0 (video, slides) – Overview of complexity science and its applications in behavioural sciences. Also see shorter snippets on ergodicity, interaction- vs. component-dominant dynamics, and my interview with Fred.
  • Lecture 1 (video, slides [1-25]) – Introduction to Complexity Science: Dissipative systems, Self-Organization, Self-Organised Criticality (SOC), Phase transition, Interaction Dominant Dynamics, Emergence, Synchronisation.
  • Lecture 2 (video, slides [26-74]) – Introduction to the mathematics of change: Logistic Map, Return Plot, Attractors. [The beginning of the lecture was cut due to camera problems; please find a great introduction to the logistic map here.]
  • Lecture 3 (video, slides) – Basic Time Series Analysis: Autocorrelation Function, Sample Entropy, Relative Roughness.
  • Lecture 4 (video, slides [34 onwards, see also this, this and this]) – Detecting (nonlinear) structure in time series: Fractal Dimension, Detrended Fluctuation Analysis, Standardised Dispersion Analysis.
  • Lecture 5 (video, slides [1-16]) – Quantifying temporal patterns in unordered categorical time series data: Categorical Auto-Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA).
  • Lecture 6 (video, slides [17-52]) – Quantifying temporal patterns in continuous time series data: Continuous Auto-Recurrence Quantification Analysis, Phase-space reconstruction.
  • Lecture 7 (video, slides [52-70]) – Recurrence Quantification Analysis in practice: Data preparation for RQA, “General recipe” (i.e. RQA workflow), lagged/windowed RQA, RQA in detecting cognitive phase transitions, RQA in neural imaging.
  • Lecture 8 (video, slides) – Multivariate Recurrence Quantification Analysis: Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis (CRQA), applications in interpersonal synchronisation dynamics (leader-follower behaviour), Diagonal Cross-Recurrence Profiles (DCRP).
  • Lecture 9 (video, slides) – Multivariate Time Series Analysis – Dynamic Complexity & Phase Transitions in Psychology: Self-ratings as a research tool, the importance of sampling frequency, dynamic complexity as an early warning signal in psychopathology.
  • Lecture 10 (video, slides [1-37]) – Introduction to graph theory, with applications of network science: Complex networks, hyperset theory, network-based complexity measures, small-world networks.
  • Lecture 11 (video, slides [38-80]) – Multiplex recurrence networks for non-linear multivariate time series analysis: Recurrence networks, change profiles of ecological momentary assessments as an alternative to raw scores. Also see this paper!

Matti spiral

Literature:

Three recent papers directly related to the course’s topics:

Hasselman, F., & Bosman, A. M. T. (2020). Studying Complex Adaptive Systems with Internal States: A Recurrence Network Approach to the Analysis of Multivariate Time Series Data Representing Self-Reports of Human Experience. Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fams.2020.00009

Heino, M. T. J., Knittle, K. P., Noone, C., Hasselman, F., & Hankonen, N. (2020). Studying behaviour change mechanisms under complexity [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/fxgw4

Olthof, M., Hasselman, F., & Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A. (2020). Complexity In Psychological Self-Ratings: Implications for research and practice [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/fbta8

An important complementary perspective to complexity basics:

Siegenfeld, A. F., & Bar-Yam, Y. (2020). An Introduction to Complex Systems Science and Its Applications. Complexity, 2020, 6105872. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6105872

More resources on complexity:

  1. Mathews, K. M., White, M. C., & Long, R. G. (1999). Why Study the Complexity Sciences in the Social Sciences? Human Relations, 52(4), 439–462. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016957424329 [INTRO COMPLEXITY SCIENCE]
  2. Richardson, M. J., Kallen, R. W., & Eiler, B. A. (2017). Interaction-Dominant Dynamics, Timescale Enslavement, and the Emergence of Social Behavior. In Computational Social Psychology (pp. 121–142). New York: Routledge. [INTERACTION-DOMINANCE]
  3. Molenaar, P. C., & Campbell, C. G. (2009). The new person-specific paradigm in psychology. Current directions in psychological science, 18(2), 112-117. [ERGODICITY]
  4. Kello, C. T., Brown, G. D., Ferrer-i-Cancho, R., Holden, J. G., Linkenkaer-Hansen, K., Rhodes, T., & Van Orden, G. C. (2010). Scaling laws in cognitive sciences. Trends in cognitive sciences, 14(5), 223-232. [SCALING PHENOMENA]
  5. Lewis, M. D. (2000). The promise of dynamic systems approaches for an integrated account of human development. Child development, 71(1), 36-43. [STATE SPACE, DYNAMICS]
  6. Olthof, M., Hasselman, F., Strunk, G., van Rooij, M., Aas, B., Helmich, M. A., … Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A. (2019). Critical Fluctuations as an Early-Warning Signal for Sudden Gains and Losses in Patients Receiving Psychotherapy for Mood Disorders. Clinical Psychological Science, 2167702619865969. [DYNAMIC COMPLEXITY]
  7. Olthof, M., Hasselman, F., Strunk, G., Aas, B., Schiepek, G., & Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A. (2019). Destabilization in self-ratings of the psychotherapeutic process is associated with better treatment outcome in patients with mood disorders. Psychotherapy Research, 0(0), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2019.1633484 [DYNAMIC COMPLEXITY]
  8. Richardson, M., Dale, R., & Marsh, K. (2014). Complex dynamical systems in social and personality psychology: Theory, modeling and analysis. In Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology (pp. 251–280). [INTRO COMPLEXITY SCIENCE – Social and personality psychology]
  9. Wallot, S., & Leonardi, G. (2018). Analyzing Multivariate Dynamics Using Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis (CRQA), Diagonal-Cross-Recurrence Profiles (DCRP), and Multidimensional Recurrence Quantification Analysis (MdRQA) – A Tutorial in R. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02232 [MULTIDEMINSIONAL RQA]
  10. Webber Jr, C. L., & Zbilut, J. P. (2005). Recurrence quantification analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems. In Tutorials in contemporary nonlinear methods for the behavioral sciences (pp. 26–94). Retrieved from http://www.saistmp.com/publications/spiegorqa.pdf [RQA]
  11. Marwan, N. (2011). How to avoid potential pitfalls in recurrence plot based data analysis. International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, 21(04), 1003–1017. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218127411029008 [RQA parameter estimation]
  12. Boeing, G. (2016). Visual Analysis of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems: Chaos, Fractals, Self-Similarity and the Limits of Prediction. Systems, 4(4), 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems4040037 [LOGISTIC MAP, DERTERMINISTIC CHAOS]
  13. Kelty-Stephen, D. G., Palatinus, K., Saltzman, E., & Dixon, J. A. (2013). A Tutorial on Multifractality, Cascades, and Interactivity for Empirical Time Series in Ecological Science. Ecological Psychology, 25(1), 1–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2013.753804 [MULTI-FRACTAL ANALYSIS]
  14. Kelty-Stephen, D. G., & Wallot, S. (2017). Multifractality Versus (Mono-) Fractality as Evidence of Nonlinear Interactions Across Timescales: Disentangling the Belief in Nonlinearity From the Diagnosis of Nonlinearity in Empirical Data. Ecological Psychology, 29(4), 259–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2017.1368355 [(MULTI-)FRACTAL ANALYSIS]
  15. Hawe, P. (2015). Lessons from Complex Interventions to Improve Health. Annual Review of Public Health, 36(1), 307–323. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031912-114421
  16. Rickles, D., Hawe, P., & Shiell, A. (2007). A simple guide to chaos and complexity. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 61(11), 933–937. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2006.054254. [INTRO COMPLEXITY SCIENCE – Public health]
  17. Pincus, D., Kiefer, A. W., & Beyer, J. I. (2018). Nonlinear dynamical systems and humanistic psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 58(3), 343–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167817741784.  [INTRO COMPLEXITY SCIENCE – Positive psychology]
  18. Gomersall, T. (2018). Complex adaptive systems: A new approach for understanding health practices. Health Psychology Review, 0(ja), 1 – 34. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2018.1488603. [INTRO COMPLEXITY SCIENCE – Health psychology]
  19. Nowak, A., & Vallacher, R. R. (2019). Nonlinear societal change: The perspective of dynamical systems. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(1), 105-128. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12271. [INTRO COMPLEXITY SCIENCE – Societal change]
  20. Carello, C., & Moreno, M. (2005). Why nonlinear methods. In Tutorials in contemporary nonlinear methods for the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–25). Retrieved from https://nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05057/nmbs/chap1.pdf [INTERACTION DOMINANCE, ERGODICITY]
  21. Liebovitch, L. S., & Shehadeh, L. A. (2005). Introduction to fractals. In Tutorials in contemporary nonlinear methods for the behavioral sciences (pp. 178–266). Retrieved from https://nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05057/nmbs/chap5.pdf [FRACTAL ANALYSIS]