How to motivate yourself to change your behavior | Tali Sharot - Deepstash
Mood Boosters: Put Yourself in a Happy Mood

Learn more about motivationandinspiration with this collection

The power of gratitude and positive thinking

Ways to improve your mood

Simple daily habits for a happier life

Mood Boosters: Put Yourself in a Happy Mood

Discover 137 similar ideas in

It takes just

18 mins to read

Brief Summary

Brief Summary

This TED talk discusses the limitations of using warnings and threats to change behavior. The fear induced by warnings often leads to people shutting down and rationalizing instead of acting. People tend to seek out positive information and ignore negative information, which can make them resistant to warnings. Sharot's research found that people tend to change their beliefs towards a more positive opinion, even if it's not supported by evidence. Understanding how people process information and beliefs can help individuals and policymakers create more effective behavior change strategies.

33

458 reads

TALI SHAROT

"The science shows that warnings have very limited impact on behavior...warnings and threats never work, but what I'm saying is, on average, they seem to have a very limited impact. And so, the question is: why?"

TALI SHAROT

32

415 reads

Warning & Threats

Warning & Threats

Warnings and threats are commonly used to scare people into changing behavior. When you induce fear in an animal, the most common response you will see is freezing or fleeing; fighting, not as much. And so, humans are the same. Research shows that warnings have limited impact on behavior because humans tend to shut down and try to eliminate negative feelings when scared. 

Rationalizations and avoidance are some common reactions to fear-inducing messages.

33

341 reads

Rationalizations & Avoidance

Rationalizations & Avoidance

Rationalizations and avoidance are some common reactions to fear-inducing messages. People tend to seek positive information and avoid negative information. 

Rationalizations can make people feel more resilient, while avoidance can lead to a boomerang effect. This behavior is evident in people's stock market activity, where they check their accounts more frequently when the market is high and avoid checking when it's low. This behavior is common as long as people can reasonably avoid bad information.

31

301 reads

Belief Change

Belief Change

People tend to avoid worrying about negative events that might happen in the future. People tend to change their beliefs towards a more desirable opinion when given positive information, even if it contradicts their initial beliefs.

People of all ages take in information they want to hear more than information they don't want to hear. Kids and teenagers are the worst at learning from bad news, and the ability to learn from bad news deteriorates again around midlife. Vulnerable populations, including kids, teenagers, and the elderly, are the least likely to accurately learn from warnings.

32

281 reads

How to Motivate with Less Fear Inducing

How to Motivate with Less Fear Inducing

Three ideas to motivate people to change their behavior  with less fear-inducing message:

  1. Social Incentives
  2. Immediate Rewards
  3. Progress Monitoring

35

336 reads

Social Incentives

Social Incentives

Social incentives can influence behavior. People care about what others are doing and want to conform.  There is a signal in the emotional center of the brain that can predict how likely someone is to conform based on the opinion of others.

The British government used this principle to encourage tax compliance by highlighting that "nine out of ten people in Britain pay their taxes on time". This simple sentence increased compliance by 15% and brought in 5.6 billion pounds.

32

270 reads

Immediate Rewards

Immediate Rewards

The second principle is immediate rewards, which we value more than rewards in the future. People tend to choose tangible and certain rewards in the present over uncertain rewards in the future.

However, studies show that giving immediate rewards for actions that are good for us in the future can help us form habits and lifestyles that benefit us in the long term.

This principle can be used to encourage behaviors such as quitting smoking and exercising regularly.

33

245 reads

Progress Monitoring

Progress Monitoring

The third principle is progress monitoring, which involves focusing people's attention on improving their performance.

The brain is better at efficiently processing positive information about the future than negative information. Highlighting progress rather than decline can be more effective in getting people's attention and motivating them to change their behavior.

For example, if someone wants to quit smoking, highlighting the positive effects on their health and athletic abilities could be more effective than emphasizing the negative effects of smoking.

32

221 reads

Conclusion

Conclusion

Fear is not an effective motivator for behavior change. Positive strategies that focus on gains and progress are more effective than threats.

The human tendency to seek progress can be capitalized on to motivate behavior change. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and that communicating risks is still important.

Positive strategies such as social incentives, immediate rewards, and progress monitoring can be used to motivate behavior change in ourselves and others.

34

234 reads

CURATED BY

benzherlambang

I read, I like, I share

CURATOR'S NOTE

Fear is not an effective motivator for behavior change. Positive strategies that focus on gains and progress are more effective than threats. This idea shares the three principles.

stash-superman-illustration

Explore the World’s

Best Ideas

200,000+ ideas on pretty much any topic. Created by the smartest people around & well-organized so you can explore at will.

An Idea for Everything

Explore the biggest library of insights. And we've infused it with powerful filtering tools so you can easily find what you need.

Knowledge Library

Powerful Saving & Organizational Tools

Save ideas for later reading, for personalized stashes, or for remembering it later.

# Personal Growth

Take Your Ideas

Anywhere

Organize your ideas & listen on the go. And with Pro, there are no limits.

Listen on the go

Just press play and we take care of the words.

Never worry about spotty connections

No Internet access? No problem. Within the mobile app, all your ideas are available, even when offline.

Get Organized with Stashes

Ideas for your next work project? Quotes that inspire you? Put them in the right place so you never lose them.

Join

2 Million Stashers

4.8

5,740 Reviews

App Store

4.7

72,690 Reviews

Google Play

Sean Green

Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.

Shankul Varada

Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.

Ashley Anthony

This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!

samz905

Don’t look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.

Laetitia Berton

I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!

Ghazala Begum

Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.

Giovanna Scalzone

Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.

Jamyson Haug

Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving & library

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Personalized recommendations

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates