When we think about human behavior, we often think that people are motivated by big visions, but the reality Is that those things Influence are wishful thinking, but they rarely Influence are actual behavior. And because of that, there’s a gap between what we know what we should be doing and what we actually do. ” “Telling people what’s the right thing to do in principle is just not the right way to do anything. ” Present bias.
We are tempted on the moment and act on the moment. These are problems of trading now vs.. Later, and knowledge is really about later and is not really effective for now, because now we are driven by the environment in which we are being placed. “The future Is full of wonders, the problem Is that we never get to live In the future. We get to live In the present and In the present we fall time after time” “One of the interesting principles from behavioral economics is that environment in which you are being placed determines in high degree your behavior.
Solution 1 – Reward Substitution: Doing the Right Thing for the Wrong Reason Connect something you don’t want: exercising; with something you want: contributing to the team’s goal and Increasing your streak. The equation is not going to the gym for health and fitness, the equation is going to the gym for the immediate rewards. The effect of fitness Is delayed, the effect of the contribution and the streak game Is happening now. Solution 2 – Loss Aversion: Give something to people, and threat to take it back. – Lottery: Make it more exciting.
Regret: Happiness is not driven by where we are, is driven by a contrast between where we are and where we think we could have been. And if we think we could have been somewhere better we are miserable, and if we think we could have been somewhere worse, we are happy. How would you be more miserable, If you missed your flight by 3 minutes or 3 hours? 3 minutes because you can imagine that you could have made it, you can see the other reality. In the Olympics, the third place is happier than the second place.
Conclusion: The sad news Is that people don’t seem to behave as If we cared about UT long-term wellbeing; the good news Is that we don’t have to give up hope; we can actually reengineering the environment. The moment we understand that people are immediate rewards and how the environment around them is structured, we can get people to behave differently, we can get people to behave in the right way, even not always for the right reasons.
