How to Change Other’s Habits

During the past four newsletters, we’ve focused on what habits are, the neurobiology of habits, how to develop habits, and how to change your own habits. In this newsletter, we’re going to focus on how to change other’s habits. There are a few books that are particularly influential for this: Nudge, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and Hooked.

Here’s how I think about it. If we ever get to the point where we’re thinking “why won’t they just do what I want them to do”, then we’ve already failed. I try to think about change as SEO - Self, Environment, and Other, in that order. Do everything possible to adapt to the situation; then try to change the situation itself; last, try to influence the other in the right direction.

I’m not talking about direct supervisor-subordinate relationships here, I’m talking about situations where you don’t have direct control over someone’s behavior, situations where influence is going to be more effective than control.

Instead of having to directly control someone else’s behavior, think about what Thaler and Sunstein call a “nudge” where you can influence someone’s behavior by making one choice easier than another. For example, having fruit readily available and candy less readily available will make it more likely that people will choose fruit. Another way to nudge people is to make the default option the one that they can opt out of. For example, Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently changed their policy to make buying a State Park Pass the default option that people can opt out of when they renew their vehicle license. The default is the desired output and opted out requires a bit of work. This will reduce the cost for everyone and increase funding to Colorado State Parks.

Nir Eyal writes about this as well when he says that it's more productive to reduce the effort for someone to perform the desired action than it is to try to control someone’s behavior. Make the desired outcome an easier choice, remove all obstacles for choosing the right option.

Some might argue that we’re still trying to control others’ behavior even if we’re only nudging that behavior. Thaler and Sunstein argue that we’re trying to influence a choice that the chooser would make when they’re in a state of minimal agitation. For example, we all know that we tend to make worse choices when alcohol is involved or when it’s late in the day and we’re tired. By encouraging the choice that someone would make in a calm and well-informed state, then we’re actually helping them make the choices that they want. This is not too far off from Carnegie’s statement about the best way to influence someone is to understand what the other wants and then show them how to get it.

Nudge by By Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein

A choice architect has the responsibility of organizing the context in which people make decisions.

People should be free to do what they like

… it is legitimate for choice architects to try to influence people’s behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and better. … In our understanding, a policy is “paternalistic” if it tries to influence choices in a way that will make choosers better off, as judged by themselves.

A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. … Nudges are not mandates. Putting the fruit at eye level counts as a nudge. Banning junk food does not.

As we will show, setting default options, and other similar seemingly trivial menu-changing strategies, can have huge effects on outcomes, from increasing savings to improving health care to providing organs for lifesaving transplant operations.

When choice is complicated and difficult, people greatly appreciate a sensible default.

The false assumption is that almost all people, almost all of the time, make choices that are in their best interest or at the very least are better than the choices that would be made by someone else.

It seems reasonable to say that people make good choices in contexts in which they have experience, good information, and prompt feedback--say, choosing among ice cream flavors.

The first misconception is that it is possible to avoid influencing people’s choices.

Libertarian paternalists [choice architects] would like to set the default by asking what reflective employee’s in Janet’s position would actually want.

When in a cold state, we do not appreciate how much our desires and our behavior will be altered when we are “under the influence” of arousal.

People become more likely to conform when they know that other people will see what they have to say. Sometimes people will go along with the group even when they think, or know, that everyone else has blundered.

Hooked by Nir Eyal

“As David Skok…points out, ‘The most important factor for increasing growth is ‘Viral Cycle Time.’ Viral cycle time is the amount of time it takes a user to invite another user…”

Even when we change our routines, neural pathways remain etched in our brains, ready to be activated when we lose focus.

[A habit is when not doing something causes a bit of pain]

The % of users creating content is proportionate to the ability to create content in platforms like (from hardest to easiest), c|net, blogger, yelp, facebook, twitter, tumblr, and pinterest

Influencing behavior by reducing the effort required to perform an action is more effective than increasing someone’s desire to do it.

… a product can decrease perceived value if it starts off as scarce and becomes abundant

The study revealed that what draws us to act is not the sensation we receive from the reward itself, but the need to alleviate the craving for that reward.

The magic rewards the researchers discovered? The phrase “But you are free to accept or refuse.”

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain--and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

So the only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.

What do you think? If you’ve been reading this far, thank you. I’d love to hear from you. What do you like or not like about these newsletters? What would you like to hear more about? Drop me a line at aaron@aaronmassecar.com

References

Link to Colorado State Parks Decision about Park Passes