The main objective of this project is to study human motivation through the lens of Self-Determination theory. We aim at developing design guidelines to inform the development of apps and services aiming at supporting users towards a healthier lifestyle. We will conduct several experiments to measure the effectiveness of a diverse range of technological interventions in increasing physical activity.
Agon App is the latest study where we tested different combinations of Basic Psychological Need Features. This study brought inspiring results with respect to which feature combination increased the physical activity of our participants.
See the promotional video.
Alumni: Gabriela Villalobos-Zúñiga, Ph.D.
PhD students: Alessandro Silacci.
UNIL Collaborators: Marc-Olivier Boldi.
External collaborators: Maurizio Caon (School of Management, Fribourg)
Publications
- G. Villalobos-Zúñiga (2022). In the Quest for the Motivation App: Designing Effective Behavior Change Apps Through the Lens of the Self-Determination Theory (Doctoral dissertation, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland). Retrieved from https://serval.unil.ch/en/notice/serval:BIB_8244DB29B6DA
- G. Villalobos-Zúñiga, I. Rodríguez, A. Fedosov, M. Cherubini. “Informed Choices, Progress Monitoring and Comparison with Peers: Features to Support the Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness Needs, as suggested by the Self-Determination Theory”. Proceedings of The ACM International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction (MobileHCI) 2021. DOI: 10.1145/3447526.3472039
- G. Villalobos-Zuñiga, M. Cherubini. 2020. Apps That Motivate: a Taxonomy of App Features Based on Self-Determination Theory. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS). Volume 140, August 2020, 102449. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102449
- M. Cherubini, G. Villalobos-Zuñiga, M.-O. Boldi, and R. Bonazzi. 2020. The Unexpected Downside of Paying or Sending Messages to People to Make Them Walk: Comparing Tangible Rewards and Motivational Messages to Improve Physical Activity. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact (ToCHI). 27, 2, Article 8 (March 2020), 44 pages. DOI: 10.1145/3365665
- Poster. G. Villalobos-Zuñiga, M. Cherubini, M.-O. Boldi, and R. Bonazzi. 2019. The Unexpected Downside of Paying or Sending Messages to People to Make Them Walk: Comparing Tangible Rewards and Motivational Messages to Improve Physical Activity. 7th International Self-Determination Theory Conference, Amsterdam.
