Hi All!
Here’s your weekly dose of “On-Track” advice, a list of tips & tricks to stay on top of your goals. As always, I’ve included a digest version of this week’s article in the second part of this message.
1. Always trust your instincts? Your survival instincts can fool you.
There are many examples of hard-wired human instincts that help us survive, with a well-known one being the fight-flight-freeze response. Today, many of us don’t get in situations where this response is necessary. Yet, our brains continue to signal for danger in everyday life: at home, work, or school. When you feel anxious, stressed, or worried, ask yourself “How can I tell the story about this fear differently?”
2. As a species, we love the unexpected. Variable rewards keep a behaviour going.
You come across variable rewards when you receive an unexpected mental or physical prize in return for a behavior. For example, when you pull the lever on a slot machine, you might get lucky and win the jackpot—an unexpected, variable reward. Unpredictable rewards result in higher levels of dopamine and can therefore lead to the formation of a habit. Here are a few examples:
- Gambling: The gambling industry exploits variable rewards to make otherwise irrational behavior habit-forming. If I asked you for a dollar and promised 90 cents in return, you probably wouldn’t do it.
- Social Media: App designers integrate variable rewards into their user experience to keep users engaged. Think about how much time we spend scrolling down our social media feeds, only to come across a piece of content that stimulates us.
Your Weekly Digest: Addictive Products
Your brain has been in the making for billions of years. It’s incredibly useful because it helps you stay alive by signaling for food, safety, and belonging. Consumer psychologists know how the brain works and take advantage of our primitive needs to hooks us on their products and services.
In this week’s article, “How Are Products Habit-Forming? And What Leads to the Formation of a New Habit?”, I discuss how the world’s most profitable businesses leverage our primitive needs to hook us.
One of the examples I mention is social media. We feel encouraged to post, comment, and like because we crave validation and belonging. Evolutionary scientists hypothesize that we become hooked on social platforms because our hunter-gatherer ancestors were more likely to survive in groups. It’s easier to fight off predators and hunt for food when you’re part of a tribe.
To make social media even more addictive, product designers implement variable rewards. The Facebook timeline, for example, is filled with variable rewards; We feel encouraged to scroll through our news feed because we are looking for posts, pictures, and videos that stimulate us.
Until next week,
Mike van der Poel
Previous: Stay on Track: Progress, Incentives, and Loyalty Card Psychology — Jun. 18, 2021
There are many ways that people motivate us to behave a certain way. Some provide us with incentives, such as salary raises or promotions, while others …