Brief Summary
This TEDx Talk explores the ineffectiveness of fear-based tactics in motivating behavioural change and introduces a new approach based on positive reinforcement. The talk highlights how people tend to filter information, favouring positive news over negative, and how this tendency affects their ability to learn from warnings. It presents three key principles for driving behavioural change: social incentives, immediate rewards, and progress monitoring, illustrating their effectiveness with real-world examples such as handwashing in hospitals and tax compliance in Britain. The speaker advocates for capitalising on the human tendency to seek progress and control, suggesting that positive strategies are more effective than threats in achieving lasting behavioural change.
- Fear-based warnings have limited impact on behaviour due to our tendency to avoid negative information.
- People are more receptive to positive information, especially when it confirms their desired self-image.
- Social incentives, immediate rewards, and progress monitoring are effective principles for motivating behavioural change.
The Problem with Fear-Based Warnings
The speaker opens by noting that everyone has behaviours they want to change and desires to help others change theirs. She introduces research that questions the common strategy of using fear to induce change. Warnings and threats are frequently used in health campaigns and policies under the assumption that they will prompt action. However, scientific evidence suggests that warnings have a limited impact on behaviour. For example, graphic images on cigarette packets do not effectively deter smokers; in fact, some studies indicate that such images may even reduce the priority of quitting.
Why Warnings Don't Work
The resistance to warnings stems from a natural human response to fear, which often leads to shutting down and avoiding negative feelings. People use rationalisations to dismiss threats, sometimes even feeling more resilient as a result. This avoidance behaviour is evident in various aspects of life, such as people avoiding checking their stock market accounts when the market is down. The speaker illustrates this point with data showing that people log in to check their accounts more frequently when the market is high and avoid doing so when it is low, unless the situation becomes unavoidable, like during the 2008 financial collapse.
The Brain's Bias Towards Positive Information
Research from the speaker's lab reveals that people tend to selectively absorb information, favouring positive news over negative. In an experiment where participants estimated the likelihood of negative events and then received expert opinions, they adjusted their beliefs more towards the positive opinions. This bias is consistent across different age groups, from children to the elderly, although the ability to learn from negative news fluctuates, being lowest in children and the elderly. The speaker argues that this tendency to favour positive information means that traditional methods of teaching and mentoring, which often focus on highlighting negative aspects, are ineffective because the brain tends to distort negative images to maintain a positive self-perception.
The Power of Positive Strategies: Handwashing Example
The speaker transitions to discussing how aligning with the brain's natural tendencies can be more effective. She uses the example of handwashing in hospitals, where compliance was initially low despite awareness of the importance of hygiene. An intervention involving an electronic board that displayed staff handwashing rates led to a dramatic increase in compliance, reaching 90%. This intervention worked because it incorporated three key principles: social incentives, immediate rewards, and progress monitoring.
Three Principles for Motivating Change
The speaker elaborates on the three principles that drive behavioural change. Social incentives leverage the human desire to conform and compete with others, as demonstrated by the British government's success in increasing tax compliance by highlighting that most people pay their taxes on time. Immediate rewards are more valued than future benefits, and rewarding positive actions immediately can bridge the temporal gap and create lasting habits. Progress monitoring focuses attention on improvement, and highlighting progress rather than decline can be more effective in motivating change.
Real-World Application and Conclusion
The speaker shares a personal anecdote about an electricity bill that effectively used social incentives, immediate rewards, and progress monitoring to encourage energy efficiency. The bill compared her energy use to that of her neighbours, provided a smiley face as an immediate reward, and showed her progress throughout the year, giving her a sense of control. The speaker concludes by emphasising that while communicating risks is important, motivating change requires rethinking traditional approaches. She advocates for using positive strategies that capitalise on the human tendency to seek progress, as the thrill of a gain is more likely to induce action than the fear of loss.
