A New Year Of Behaviour Change – The Molt – Casting A New Self

Just as we were thinking about the message for the New Year, we had quite good timing on discovering a large Molt while Exploring the Shore, the ocean always inspires, and we thought this would be a great subject to make ourselves and the world a better place.

Discovering the Crab Molt made us think about the psychology of behavior change and so here are some thoughts about linking the well-established knowledge within the Marine and Ocean environment as to how we can make positive changes.

The Psychology Of Behavioural Change

As we are also part of Creative Ireland’s ‘Galway Bay Is Calling’ Project, we have had the opportunity to reflect on our experiences of behavior change with Dr. Joao Frias of ATU Galway.

During the ‘Galway Bay Is Calling’ Project we also learned about COM-B

• Capability / Opportunity / Motivation —> Behaviour Change
• Increase Capability by learning about what you would like to change!
• Finding Opportunities to participate in Change linked to what you want to do.

And, finally, MOTIVATION finds the Anchor to help you in your Behavioural Change Journey.

According to psychologists, this last step of behavioral Change is the Anchor, either joining a group (for instance to work out, clean beaches, etc.), or sharing a commitment with someone, can make a big difference between changing the behavior or not.

While New Year resolutions always fail due to them being too ambitious, we are focused on the little changes we can make COM-B using the Crab Molt as the subject.

What Is The Molt?

One day while walking along the seashore you might see a Crab like the image above and think oh no it’s a dead crab that’s so sad. Well, let us tell you about the amazing Crab Molt!

A Molt Is Defined as;

Crabs (and other crustaceans) cannot grow in a linear fashion like most animals. Because they have a hard outer shell (the exoskeleton) that does not grow, they must shed their shells, a process called molting.

When we discover these molts, we usually explain it this way.

“Grab your left arm and gently pull your skin. As we have an internal skeletal system, the skin will stretch as we grow! Unlike Crabs and other crustaceans, their skeleton is outside the body, so when they need to grow, they must ‘Molt’ or shed the skeleton.

This explains the molt, but how can we link this process to behavioural change?”

Why Do Crabs Molt?

We can see the molt in two ways, one it’s a natural process in the Growth Cycle. From early development the molts happen early and with regular change, gradually slowing down as it reaches maturity…. they do not need to molt anymore.

The second way or reason to molt, (and this is what we link to behavioral change) is multifaceted, so it will molt to be bigger and stronger, to eat much larger prey, and thrive within its environment.  

This casting off the original and GROWING with INTENT is a key motivator is behavioral change!

In 2024, we don’t believe in making a Grand Gesture, but we do announce we are going to do many little things to reach our chosen goal.

Much like the Crab Molt it is still the same Crab, just slightly bigger and it has INTENT, based on the growth it has chosen. I think this small but gradual change is KEY. There is no reason a small crab cannot grow to quadruple size, but it knows the stages it needs to be at for a particular environment.

So, like the Crab, we must make small changes, and be confident that these will add up to achieve the goal that we want.

Example

In 2024, the Aquarium wants to Explore The Shore and identify and Record 200 species!

We could probably do this in one day, however the results would not be representative of the species on the shore, plus it would be a huge load on resources.

However, we think a monthly Explore Your Shore would offer a better baseline and be much easier to resource. By the end of 2024, we will hopefully reach our goal (but if not, who cares, as we are showing commitment and motivation). COM-B

For behavioral Change to work, we must know, and have a goal, but we cannot forget the motivators which would be the people who follow and like our images. So as we are recording and sharing the species on the shore, we get great MOTIVATION by showcasing these wonders….a cycle or habit is hard to break!

Finally, we hope that you achieve your own New Year Resolution, and hope that you get inspired by the sea to help you reach your goals. Best Of Luck.