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
Discover 137 similar ideas in
It takes just
18 mins to read
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
MORE IDEAS ON THIS
How to Motivate with Less Fear Inducing
Three ideas to motivate people to change their behavior with less fear-inducing message:
- Social Incentives
- Immediate Rewards
- Progress Monitoring
35
336 reads
"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
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 m...
32
281 reads
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 resista...
33
458 reads
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 enco...
32
270 reads
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 effecti...
32
221 reads
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 ...
33
341 reads
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 pe...
31
301 reads
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 futu...
33
245 reads
CURATED FROM
CURATED BY
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.
“
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.
I agree to receive email updates