How to change your behavior for the better
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0:01 - 0:02Hi.
-
0:03 - 0:05You might have noticed
that I have half a beard. -
0:06 - 0:08It's not because I lost a bet.
-
0:08 - 0:11Many years ago, I was badly burned.
-
0:11 - 0:13Most of my body is covered with scars,
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0:13 - 0:15including the right side of my face.
-
0:15 - 0:17I just don't have hair.
That's just how it happened. -
0:17 - 0:20It looks symmetrical, but almost.
-
0:20 - 0:23Anyway, now that we discussed facial hair,
-
0:23 - 0:26let's move to social science.
-
0:26 - 0:32And in particular, I want us to think
about where is the potential for humanity -
0:32 - 0:33and where we are now.
-
0:34 - 0:36And if you think about it,
there's a big gap -
0:36 - 0:39between where we think we could be
and where we are, -
0:39 - 0:41and it's in all kinds of areas.
-
0:41 - 0:43So let me ask you:
-
0:43 - 0:47How many of you in the last month
have eaten more than you think you should? -
0:47 - 0:49Just kind of general. OK.
-
0:49 - 0:53How many of you in the last month have
exercised less than you think you should? -
0:53 - 0:56OK, and for how many of you
has raising your hands twice -
0:56 - 0:58been the most exercise you got today?
-
0:58 - 1:01(Laughter)
-
1:02 - 1:05How many of you have ever
texted while driving? -
1:06 - 1:10OK, we're getting honest.
Let's test your honesty. -
1:10 - 1:12How many people here in the last month
-
1:12 - 1:14have not always washed your hands
when you left the bathroom? -
1:15 - 1:16(Laughter)
-
1:16 - 1:17A little less honest.
-
1:17 - 1:21By the way, it's interesting how we're
willing to admit texting and driving -
1:21 - 1:23but not washing our hands,
that's difficult. -
1:23 - 1:25(Laughter)
-
1:25 - 1:27We can go on and on.
-
1:27 - 1:29The problem, the topic is
that there's lots of things -
1:29 - 1:32when we know what we could do --
-
1:32 - 1:35we could be very, very different,
but we're acting in a very different way. -
1:35 - 1:37And when we think
how do we bridge that gap, -
1:37 - 1:41the usual answer is, "Just tell people."
-
1:41 - 1:44For example, just tell people
that texting and driving is dangerous. -
1:44 - 1:46Did you know it's dangerous?
You should stop doing it. -
1:46 - 1:49You tell people something
is dangerous, and they will stop. -
1:49 - 1:51Texting and driving is one example.
-
1:51 - 1:53Another very sad example
is that in the US, -
1:53 - 1:57we spend between seven
and eight hundred million dollars a year -
1:57 - 1:59on what's called "financial literacy."
-
1:59 - 2:02And what do we get
as a consequence of that? -
2:02 - 2:06There was recently a study that looked
at all the research ever to be conducted -
2:06 - 2:09on financial literacy --
what's called a meta-analysis. -
2:09 - 2:11And what they found is that
when you tell people, -
2:11 - 2:13you teach them financial literacy,
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2:13 - 2:16they learn and they remember.
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2:16 - 2:19But do people execute? Not so much.
-
2:19 - 2:21The improvement is about
three or four percent -
2:21 - 2:23immediately after the course,
-
2:23 - 2:25and then it goes down.
-
2:25 - 2:26And at the end of the day,
-
2:26 - 2:30the improvement is about 0.1 percent --
-
2:30 - 2:34not zero, but as humanly close
to zero as possible. -
2:34 - 2:36(Laughter)
-
2:36 - 2:38So that's the sad news.
-
2:38 - 2:40The sad news is, giving
information to people -
2:40 - 2:43is just not a good recipe
to change behavior. -
2:43 - 2:44What is?
-
2:44 - 2:47Well, social science
has made lots of strides, -
2:47 - 2:51and the basic insight is that
if we want to change behavior, -
2:51 - 2:53we have to change the environment.
-
2:53 - 2:57The right way is not to change people,
it's to change the environment. -
2:57 - 3:00And I want to present a very simpleminded
model of how to think about it: -
3:00 - 3:02it's to think about behavioral change
-
3:02 - 3:05in the same way that we think about
sending a rocket to space. -
3:06 - 3:08When we think about
sending a rocket to space, -
3:08 - 3:10we want to do two main things.
-
3:10 - 3:12The first one is to reduce friction.
-
3:12 - 3:15We want to take the rocket
and have as little friction as possible -
3:15 - 3:17so it's the most aerodynamic possible.
-
3:17 - 3:21And the second thing is we want
to load as much fuel as possible, -
3:21 - 3:25to give it the most amount
of motivation, energy to do its task. -
3:25 - 3:28And behavior change is the same thing.
-
3:28 - 3:30So let's first talk about friction.
-
3:31 - 3:34In this particular case study
I'll tell you about, -
3:34 - 3:37there's a pharmacy, an online pharmacy.
-
3:37 - 3:39Imagine you go to your doctor.
-
3:39 - 3:41You have a long-term illness,
-
3:41 - 3:44your doctor prescribes
to you a medication, -
3:44 - 3:46you sign up for this online pharmacy
-
3:46 - 3:49and you get your medication
in the mail every 90 days. -
3:49 - 3:52Every 90 days, medication,
medication, medication. -
3:52 - 3:56And this online pharmacy
wants to switch people -
3:56 - 3:58from branded medication
to generic medication. -
3:59 - 4:01So they send people letters, and they say,
-
4:01 - 4:04"Please, please, please,
switch to generics. -
4:04 - 4:07You will save money, we will save money,
your employer will save money." -
4:07 - 4:08And what do people do?
-
4:09 - 4:10Nothing.
-
4:10 - 4:12So they try all kinds of things
and nothing happens. -
4:12 - 4:15So for one year, they give people
an amazing offer. -
4:15 - 4:17They send people a letter, and they say,
-
4:17 - 4:21"If you switch to generics now,
it will be free for a whole year." -
4:21 - 4:23Free for a whole year. Amazing!
-
4:23 - 4:26What percentage of people
do you think switched? -
4:27 - 4:28Less than 10 percent.
-
4:29 - 4:31At this point, they show up to my office.
-
4:31 - 4:33And they come to complain.
-
4:34 - 4:35Why did they pick me?
-
4:35 - 4:38I wrote a couple of papers
on the "allure of free." -
4:38 - 4:41In those papers, we showed
that if you reduce the price of something -
4:41 - 4:44for, let's say, 10 cents to one cent,
nothing much happens. -
4:44 - 4:47You reduce it from one cent to zero,
now people get excited. -
4:47 - 4:48(Laughter)
-
4:48 - 4:51And they said, "Look, we read these
papers on 'free,' we gave 'free.' -
4:51 - 4:53Not working as we expected.
-
4:53 - 4:54What's going on?"
-
4:54 - 4:57I said, "You know, maybe
it's a question of friction." -
4:58 - 4:59They said, "What do you mean?"
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4:59 - 5:01I said, "People are starting with branded.
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5:01 - 5:03They can do nothing and end with branded.
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5:04 - 5:07To move to generic, they have to choose
generic over branded, -
5:07 - 5:09but they also have to do something.
-
5:09 - 5:11They have to return the letter."
-
5:11 - 5:13So this is what we call
a "confounded design." -
5:13 - 5:15Two things are happening at the same time.
-
5:15 - 5:17It's branded versus generic,
-
5:17 - 5:20but it's doing nothing
versus doing something. -
5:20 - 5:22So I said, "Why don't we switch it?
-
5:22 - 5:26Why don't we send people a letter
and say, 'We're switching you to generics. -
5:26 - 5:28You don't need to do anything.
-
5:28 - 5:31If you want to stay with branded,
please return the letter.'" -
5:31 - 5:32(Laughter)
-
5:32 - 5:33Right?
-
5:33 - 5:35What do you think happened?
-
5:37 - 5:38Lawyers, lawyers happened.
-
5:38 - 5:42(Laughter)
-
5:44 - 5:46It turns out, this is illegal.
-
5:46 - 5:49(Laughter)
-
5:51 - 5:54By the way, for brainstorming
and creativity, -
5:54 - 5:57doing things that are illegal
and immoral, it's fine, -
5:57 - 6:00as long as it's just
in the brainstorming phase. -
6:00 - 6:02(Laughter)
-
6:02 - 6:04But this was the purity of the idea,
-
6:04 - 6:08because the initial design was
the branded had the no-action benefit. -
6:08 - 6:12In my illegal, immoral design,
generic had the no-action benefit. -
6:12 - 6:15But they agreed to give people
a T-intersection: -
6:15 - 6:16send people a letter and say,
-
6:16 - 6:18"If you don't return this letter,
-
6:18 - 6:21we will be forced
to stop your medications. -
6:21 - 6:25But when you return the letter,
you could choose branded at this price, -
6:25 - 6:26generic at this price."
-
6:27 - 6:29Now people had to take an action.
-
6:29 - 6:31They were on even footing. Right?
-
6:31 - 6:33It wasn't that one had
the no-action benefit. -
6:33 - 6:35What percentage do you think switched?
-
6:36 - 6:38The vast majority switched.
-
6:38 - 6:39So what does it tell us?
-
6:39 - 6:42Do people like generics,
or do we like branded? -
6:42 - 6:44We hate returning letters.
-
6:44 - 6:46(Laughter)
-
6:46 - 6:51This is the story of friction:
small things really matter. -
6:51 - 6:54And friction is about taking
the desired behavior -
6:54 - 6:57and saying: Where do we have
too much friction -
6:57 - 6:59so it's slowing people down
from acting on it? -
6:59 - 7:02And every time you see
that the desired behavior -
7:02 - 7:03and the easy behavior are not aligned,
-
7:04 - 7:06it means we want to try and realign them.
-
7:07 - 7:09That's the first part.
We talked about friction. -
7:09 - 7:11Now let's talk about motivation.
-
7:11 - 7:12In this particular study,
-
7:12 - 7:16we were trying to get very poor people
in a slum called Kibera in Kenya -
7:16 - 7:19to save a little bit of money
for a rainy day. -
7:19 - 7:22You know, if you're very, very poor,
you have no extra money, -
7:22 - 7:23you live hand to mouth,
-
7:23 - 7:26and from time to time, bad things happen.
-
7:26 - 7:30And when something bad happens,
you have nothing to draw on, you borrow. -
7:30 - 7:36The Kibera people can borrow at sometimes
up to 10 percent interest a week. -
7:36 - 7:39And then, of course,
it's really hard to get out of it. -
7:39 - 7:41You live hand to mouth,
something bad happens, -
7:41 - 7:44you borrow, things get worse
and worse and worse. -
7:44 - 7:47So we wanted people to keep
a little bit of money for a rainy day. -
7:48 - 7:51And we thought about
what is the motivation, -
7:51 - 7:53what is the fuel that we need to add?
-
7:53 - 7:55And we tried all kinds of things.
-
7:55 - 7:58Some people, we texted them
once a week and said, -
7:58 - 8:02"Please try to save 100 shillings" --
about a dollar -- "this week." -
8:03 - 8:07Some people, we sent a text message
as if it came from their kids. -
8:07 - 8:11So it said, "Hi Mom, hi Dad,
this is little Joey" -- -
8:11 - 8:13whatever the name of the kid was --
-
8:13 - 8:16"Try and save 100 shillings this week
for the future of our family." -
8:17 - 8:20Right? I'm Jewish, a little bit
of guilt always works. -
8:20 - 8:22(Laughter)
-
8:22 - 8:23Some people got 10 percent.
-
8:23 - 8:26"Save up to a hundred shillings,
we'll give you 10 percent." -
8:26 - 8:28Some people got 20 percent.
-
8:28 - 8:31Some people got also
10 percent and 20 percent, -
8:31 - 8:33but they got it with loss aversion.
-
8:33 - 8:34What is loss aversion?
-
8:34 - 8:37Loss aversion is the idea
that we hate losing -
8:37 - 8:39more than we enjoy gaining.
-
8:39 - 8:41Now, think about somebody
who is in a 10-percent condition -
8:41 - 8:43and they put 40 shillings in.
-
8:43 - 8:46They put 40 shillings,
we give them four more, -
8:46 - 8:47they say thank you very much.
-
8:47 - 8:49That person gave up six.
-
8:49 - 8:51They could have gotten six more
if they gave a hundred, -
8:52 - 8:53but they don't see it.
-
8:53 - 8:56So we created what we call pre-match.
-
8:56 - 8:58We put the 10 shillings in
at the beginning of the week. -
8:58 - 9:00We said, "It's waiting for you!"
-
9:00 - 9:03And then if somebody puts 40 in,
we say, "Oh, you put 40 in, -
9:03 - 9:05we're leaving four,
and we're taking six back." -
9:05 - 9:08So in both cases, pre-match or post-match,
-
9:08 - 9:10people get 10 percent.
-
9:10 - 9:12But in the pre-match,
-
9:12 - 9:15they see the money they did not match
leaving their account. -
9:16 - 9:19So we have text, text from kids,
10 percent, 20 percent, -
9:19 - 9:20pre-match, post-match.
-
9:20 - 9:22And we had one more condition.
-
9:22 - 9:25It was a coin about this size,
-
9:25 - 9:27with 24 numbers written on it.
-
9:27 - 9:31And we asked them to put the coin
somewhere in their hut, -
9:31 - 9:34and every week, take a knife
and scratch the number for that week -- -
9:34 - 9:36week one, two, three, four --
-
9:36 - 9:39scratch it like a minus
if they didn't save -
9:39 - 9:41and scratch it up and down if they saved.
-
9:42 - 9:43Now, think to yourself:
-
9:43 - 9:46Which one of those methods
do you think worked the best? -
9:46 - 9:49Text, text from the kids,
10 percent, 20 percent, -
9:49 - 9:51beginning of the week,
end of the week, and the coin? -
9:51 - 9:54I'll tell you what
the average people think. -
9:54 - 9:56We've done these studies of prediction,
-
9:56 - 9:58both in the US and in Kenya.
-
9:58 - 10:01People think that 20 percent
will get a lot of action, -
10:01 - 10:0210 percent less,
-
10:02 - 10:04the rest of it will do nothing --
-
10:04 - 10:06kids, coin, doesn't matter.
-
10:07 - 10:10People think loss aversion
will have a small effect. -
10:11 - 10:12What actually happened?
-
10:13 - 10:15Sending a text reminder once a week
-
10:15 - 10:16helps a lot.
-
10:17 - 10:18Good news!
-
10:18 - 10:22This program lasted six months.
People forget. Reminding people is great. -
10:22 - 10:25Ten percent at the end
of the week helped some more. -
10:25 - 10:26Financial incentives work.
-
10:27 - 10:31Twenty percent at the end of the week --
just like 10 percent, no difference. -
10:32 - 10:34Ten percent in the beginning of the week
-
10:34 - 10:35helps some more.
-
10:35 - 10:36Loss aversion works.
-
10:36 - 10:38Twenty percent in
the beginning of the week, -
10:38 - 10:41just like 10 percent in the beginning
of the week, no difference. -
10:41 - 10:44And the text message from the kids
was just as effective -
10:44 - 10:47as 20 percent plus loss aversion --
-
10:47 - 10:49which is amazing, right?
-
10:49 - 10:52It's amazing how motivating
messages from kids were. -
10:52 - 10:56And one conclusion is
we don't use kids enough. -
10:56 - 10:58(Laughter)
-
10:58 - 11:03And, of course, I don't mean
in a child labor sense. -
11:04 - 11:06But if you think about
parents and their kids, -
11:06 - 11:09we are the best that we can for our kids,
-
11:09 - 11:11and we think about the future,
-
11:11 - 11:12and I think we should think
-
11:12 - 11:15about how to use that amazing
source of motivation -
11:15 - 11:18to get parents to behave in a better way.
-
11:19 - 11:22But the big surprise
of this study was the coin. -
11:22 - 11:25The coin basically doubled savings
compared to everything else. -
11:26 - 11:28And now the question is: Why?
What was it about the coin? -
11:29 - 11:32So I'll tell you how I started
thinking about the coin, -
11:32 - 11:33and then we'll come back to it.
-
11:33 - 11:36So you know, when I do research
on, let's say, buying coffee, -
11:36 - 11:39I don't need to go anywhere.
I can sit in my office. -
11:39 - 11:41I've bought enough coffee.
I know how it works. -
11:41 - 11:43The details, I'm familiar with.
-
11:43 - 11:46When you do research in some
of the poorest places in the world, -
11:46 - 11:48you have to go and visit
and see what's going on -
11:48 - 11:51and get some insight
about how the system works. -
11:52 - 11:53And on that particular day,
-
11:53 - 11:56I'm in a place called Soweto
in South Africa, -
11:56 - 11:59and I'm sitting in a place
that sells funeral insurance. -
12:00 - 12:04You know, in the US people spend
crazy amounts of money on weddings? -
12:04 - 12:06In South Africa, it's funerals.
-
12:06 - 12:11People spend up to a year
or two years of income on funerals. -
12:12 - 12:15And I sit in this place --
-
12:15 - 12:20by the way, before you judge the South
Africans as being irrational with this, -
12:20 - 12:21I just want to remind you
-
12:21 - 12:24that spending a lot of money
on funerals compared to weddings, -
12:24 - 12:27at least you know for sure
you only have one. -
12:27 - 12:30(Laughter)
-
12:36 - 12:41OK, so I sit in this place
that sells funeral insurance. -
12:41 - 12:45And this guy comes in with his son --
his son is about 12 -- -
12:45 - 12:48and he buys funeral insurance for a week.
-
12:49 - 12:51It will cover 90 percent
of his funeral expense -
12:51 - 12:54only if he dies in the next seven days.
-
12:54 - 12:58Right? These are very poor people,
they buy small amounts of insurance -
12:58 - 12:59and small amount of soap and such.
-
12:59 - 13:01And he gets that certificate,
-
13:01 - 13:04and in a very ceremonious way,
he gives it to his son. -
13:04 - 13:08And as he gives it to his son,
I think to myself, why the ceremony? -
13:08 - 13:09What is this father doing?
-
13:09 - 13:13Now, think about the breadwinner
that decides on that particular day -
13:13 - 13:16to direct some money
into insurance or savings. -
13:17 - 13:19What is the family going to see tonight?
-
13:20 - 13:22They're going to see less.
-
13:22 - 13:26Right? At that level of poverty, there'll
be less food, less kerosene, less water -- -
13:26 - 13:27something less tonight.
-
13:27 - 13:31And what his father was doing
and what our coin was trying to do -
13:31 - 13:33is to say, yes, there's less
food on the table, -
13:33 - 13:35but there's another activity.
-
13:36 - 13:40You see, what happened is, there are
many good, important economic activities, -
13:40 - 13:42like savings and insurance,
that are invisible. -
13:43 - 13:45And now the question is:
How do we make them visible? -
13:46 - 13:50So let's go back to our rocket model.
-
13:50 - 13:53We have to, first of all,
look at the system -
13:53 - 13:56and see where there's little things
we can fix, with friction, -
13:56 - 13:59where is there
that we can remove friction? -
13:59 - 14:03And then the next thing we want to do
is to think broadly about the system, -
14:03 - 14:06and say: What other motivations
can we bring in? -
14:06 - 14:08And that's a much more difficult exercise,
-
14:08 - 14:11and we don't always know
what would work best. -
14:11 - 14:13Is it going to be money?
Is it going to be loss aversion? -
14:13 - 14:15Is it going to be
something that is visible? -
14:15 - 14:18We don't know, and we have
to try different things. -
14:18 - 14:21We also have to realize that
our intuition sometimes misleads us. -
14:21 - 14:25We don't always necessarily know
what would work the best. -
14:25 - 14:27So if we think about this gap
-
14:27 - 14:29between where we could be
and where we are, -
14:29 - 14:33it's a really sad thing to see this gap
and to think about it. -
14:33 - 14:35But the good news is,
there's lots we can do. -
14:36 - 14:39Some of the changes are easy,
some of the changes are more complex. -
14:39 - 14:42But if we'll attack each problem directly,
-
14:42 - 14:45not by just providing
more information to people -
14:45 - 14:47but trying to change the friction,
-
14:47 - 14:48add motivation,
-
14:48 - 14:50I think we can ...
-
14:50 - 14:52Can we close the gap? No.
-
14:52 - 14:55But can we get much better?
Absolutely, yes. -
14:55 - 14:56Thank you very much.
-
14:56 - 15:00(Applause)
- Title:
- How to change your behavior for the better
- Speaker:
- Dan Ariely
- Description:
-
What's the best way to get people to change their behavior? In this funny, information-packed talk, psychologist Dan Ariely explores why we make bad decisions even when we know we shouldn't -- and discusses a couple tricks that could get us to do the right thing (even if it's for the wrong reason).
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:13
marialadias edited English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better | ||
Oliver Friedman approved English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for How to change your behavior for the better |