Anyone charged with trying to shape or correct an individual’s way of doing things – therapists, parents, even pet owners – will tell you that changing the behaviour of others is no walk in the park. (No pun intended for the pet owners.)

Though the psychology of personality is complex and well beyond the scope of this discussion, the essential reason for behavioural change’s being difficult is not the stuff of dense theory. Put simply (if a little simplistically), you and I are creatures of habit. We resist change, especially when it’s externally imposed.

Which probably leads you to think, quite sensibly, that a belief in being able to change another person is fundamentally misguided. You would not be alone in this regard. For the most part, mainstream psychological literature still considers personality (and, by extension, its attendant behaviour) to be more or less fixed from young adulthood onwards.

So if that’s the case at the individual level, what about changing entire communities or societies? Logic dictates that it must be near impossible – surely?

Certainly, it’s not everyone’s bag. An agent of social change must offer more than just determination, or conviction, or altruism. To change the way a group of people think – which is, at least to some degree, a determinant of how they behave – requires a truly remarkable message. One that generates insight. One that forces people to question the status quo.

Eco-design consultants, Ecoinnovators, are trying to do exactly that with The Secret Life of Things project, a series of short, animated videos exploring the hidden environmental impacts of everyday things. Their first animated video, Life Psychl-ollogy, is featured below.

What we refer to in marketing speak as ‘cut-through’ or ‘a tipping point’ is what psychotherapists call a ‘breakthrough’: a rapid change in mindset after a period of resistance. Unfortunately, as psychotherapists will attest, these are exceptionally rare events. It may take years, even decades, of therapy before an insight of this magnitude is achieved. Sometimes it never happens at all.

So is this kind of change really possible on a macro scale? That is, does it represent profound insights and lasting behavioural shifts? Will the YouTube clip shown above result in real behaviour change? Do people like Al Gore have a rare gift for guiding whole sections of society towards a new way of thinking and doing? Or is their popularity just a passing fad that will lapse at the first sign of self-interest and human fallibility?

Are those who pursue social change a force for good – or just unrealistic zealots?

Ryan Wallman is Senior Writer at WellmarkPerspexa, a strategic communications and design agency that believes in the power of social marketing.

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