Unlocking Behaviour Change Podcast Episode 28: What are 'ontologies' and why they will be at the heart of behavioural science?

02/12/2025 27 min Episodio 28
Unlocking Behaviour Change Podcast Episode 28: What are 'ontologies' and why they will be at the heart of behavioural science?

Listen "Unlocking Behaviour Change Podcast Episode 28: What are 'ontologies' and why they will be at the heart of behavioural science?"

Episode Synopsis

Robert was fed up with asking for a flat white and getting heaven knows what, so with the help of his AI friend, Claude, he created an 'ontology' of milk-containing coffee drinks! Claude and Robert got carried away and ended up writing a Substack article about the power of ontologies as a way of clarifying meaning - something that is sorely needed in behavioural and social sciences. https://robertwest100.substack.com/p/a-flat-white-by-any-other-name
This episode of the Unlocking Behaviour Change podcast may seem a bit technical at first but we hope it gives listeners a glimpse into what can be achieved when we use ontologies as a way for humans and computers to share knowledge and understanding - to take HI (human intelligence) and AI to the next level.
Robert mentions a few links in the podcast, so here they are:
The Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology (BCIO): https://www.bciontology.org/
This has lots of resources and tools to help you understand ontologies and their uses.
The Smoking Cessation Intervention Prediction Tool: https://www.humanbehaviourchange.org/prediction
This demonstrates what can be achieved when we use ontologies to capture features of studies evaluating behaviour change interventions, their target population and settings, and use machine learning to predict outcomes in never-before-seen interventions.
Want more? Check out our latest books:  
Energise: The Secrets Of Motivation: https://shorturl.at/bbA7y 
React: Harness Your Animal Brain: https://shorturl.at/yiFQ9  
Sign up to Robert’s Substack: https://robertwest100.substack.com/  
Subscribe to the UBC YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@unlockingbehaviourchange  
 

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