(If you don't, stop reading this right now and seek professional help. You have a serious memory problem. And don't use those herbal cures you see at GNC shops. Those herbs will cause hair loss. Or else they grow hair on your feet, I can't remember which.)
Of course you remember. Okay, now the first time, did you use a condom? Have you ever used a condom? Do you know what a condom is?
Yeah, this is a real mixed bag. Some people have never even heard of a condom. Some people are interested and learning more about how effective they can be. Other folks are making plans; yeah the next time, stop by the pharmacy and pick up a pack. Some people are actually using them sometimes. And other people always use them. In other words different people are in different stages of change regarding condoms.
From a practical standpoint this little idea of stages of change has big implications. Some people know nothing about condoms while some people always use condoms. And then there are several flavors in between. These different stages define different kinds of people. And clearly you must use different persuasion tactics on people depending upon what stage they are in. Think about it.
Let's get more explicit about this idea of stages. We'll use the Transtheoretical Model (yes, really) as our guide. This model says that people are in one of five different stages. Here they are.
Updated October 1, 2008; Copyright © SBB, 2008