Design Guidelines to Increase the Persuasiveness of Achievement Goals for Physical Activity

Abstract: Achievement goals are frequently used to support behavior change. However, they are often not specifically designed for this purpose nor account for the degree to which a user is already intending to perform the target behavior. In this paper, we investigate the perceived persuasiveness of different goal types as defined by the 3x2 Achievement Goal Model, what people like and dislike about them and the role that behavior change intentions play when aiming at increasing step counts. We created visualizations for each goal type based on a qualitative pre-study (N=18) and ensured their comprehensibility (N=18). In an online experiment (N=118), we show that there are differences in the perception of these goal types and that behavior change intentions should be considered to maximize their persuasiveness as goals evolve. Next, we derive design guidelines on when to use which type of achievement goal and what to consider when using them