5 ms·

Top Mistakes in Behavior Change

62 points by gnufied 16y ago

rednum 16y ago
Previous discussion on HN concerning the same slides (minus the guys comments): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2106553 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2106553 tldr: start small, don't set bullshit goals, it acually is hard. much harder than you think
- gnufied 16y ago
  Aha, I did not see that. Thanks for pointing out. I liked and appreciate MenTaLguY's commentary anyways.
  - Datasta 16y ago
    I missed this the first time around, so I'm glad it got popular again. Good presentation.
- praptak 16y ago
  "it acually is hard. much harder than you think" Actually "assuming that behavior change is difficult" is listed as the tenth mistake.
  - joe_the_user 16y ago
    Ah, "It's hard but it can't be difficult"... Paradoxes like this always frustrated me so I worked-out a more concrete model for these change systems: You've got "area of behavior" which you've got good conscious control over and where you can plan and work hard. You've got another "another area of behavior" where you don't have much conscious control and you tend to screw-up in. You want to work hard within the area you do control to create a framework where things are relatively easy for you in the area you don't control. You don't want to just throw a lot of effort at the area you don't control, you don't want to discourage yourself concerning the area you don't control. You want to have clearly understandable goals in the area you don't control. And so you want the "heavy lifting" to be within the area you do control. Now, "hard" is for the work in creating your framework. "not difficult" is for the experience you have within the framework. Make sense?
    - praptak 16y ago
      Definitely. I think that it applies to their method too - setting up the triggers and making the behaviour easier is the "hard" part within your control.
code_duck 16y ago
I was hoping this was going to be about UI behavior change.
TheSOB88 16y ago
If anyone wants to read a book on behavioral change, try "Switch" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. It's sooooo goooood.
- bobf 16y ago
  Indeed. For me, one of the key takeaways was that to successfully implement lasting change, you must appeal to emotion. Logic is not enough.
dmethvin 16y ago
A related BJ Fogg post from 2004 that would be useful for startups, "Ten Ways Computers Manipulate People." The only place I could find it was at archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20041204095306/http://captology.stanford.edu/notebook/archives/000078.html http://web.archive.org/web/20041204095306/http://captology.s...
ericlavigne 16y ago
The best part is the link to captology at the end. I especially like this video. (I replace "simple" with "easy", because I think it's a better description of what he's talking about.) http://vimeo.com/2094487 http://vimeo.com/2094487 The difficulty/easiness of an action has six components: time, money, physical effort, brain cycles, social deviance, and non-routine. Thus, the overall difficulty/easiness of an action depends on the resource profile of the person performing that action. That profile varies wildly from person to person, as well as according to context. Awareness of your own resource profile is important for self-control, and awareness of other people's resource profiles is important for persuasion. The captology site also discusses using triggers to tilt the odds in your favor. The most effective variety of trigger depends on both difficulty and motivation level. http://captology.stanford.edu/projects/behaviordesign.html http://captology.stanford.edu/projects/behaviordesign.html

62 points by gnufied 16y ago

Previous discussion on HN concerning the same slides (minus the guys comments): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2106553 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2106553 tldr: start small, don't set bullshit goals, it acually is hard. much harder than you think

gnufied 16y ago
Aha, I did not see that. Thanks for pointing out. I liked and appreciate MenTaLguY's commentary anyways.
- Datasta 16y ago
  I missed this the first time around, so I'm glad it got popular again. Good presentation.
praptak 16y ago
"it acually is hard. much harder than you think" Actually "assuming that behavior change is difficult" is listed as the tenth mistake.
- joe_the_user 16y ago
  Ah, "It's hard but it can't be difficult"... Paradoxes like this always frustrated me so I worked-out a more concrete model for these change systems: You've got "area of behavior" which you've got good conscious control over and where you can plan and work hard. You've got another "another area of behavior" where you don't have much conscious control and you tend to screw-up in. You want to work hard within the area you do control to create a framework where things are relatively easy for you in the area you don't control. You don't want to just throw a lot of effort at the area you don't control, you don't want to discourage yourself concerning the area you don't control. You want to have clearly understandable goals in the area you don't control. And so you want the "heavy lifting" to be within the area you do control. Now, "hard" is for the work in creating your framework. "not difficult" is for the experience you have within the framework. Make sense?
  - praptak 16y ago
    Definitely. I think that it applies to their method too - setting up the triggers and making the behaviour easier is the "hard" part within your control.

code_duck 16y ago

I was hoping this was going to be about UI behavior change.

TheSOB88 16y ago

If anyone wants to read a book on behavioral change, try "Switch" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. It's sooooo goooood.

bobf 16y ago
Indeed. For me, one of the key takeaways was that to successfully implement lasting change, you must appeal to emotion. Logic is not enough.

dmethvin 16y ago

A related BJ Fogg post from 2004 that would be useful for startups, "Ten Ways Computers Manipulate People." The only place I could find it was at archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20041204095306/http://captology.stanford.edu/notebook/archives/000078.html http://web.archive.org/web/20041204095306/http://captology.s...

ericlavigne 16y ago

The best part is the link to captology at the end. I especially like this video. (I replace "simple" with "easy", because I think it's a better description of what he's talking about.) http://vimeo.com/2094487 http://vimeo.com/2094487 The difficulty/easiness of an action has six components: time, money, physical effort, brain cycles, social deviance, and non-routine. Thus, the overall difficulty/easiness of an action depends on the resource profile of the person performing that action. That profile varies wildly from person to person, as well as according to context. Awareness of your own resource profile is important for self-control, and awareness of other people's resource profiles is important for persuasion. The captology site also discusses using triggers to tilt the odds in your favor. The most effective variety of trigger depends on both difficulty and motivation level. http://captology.stanford.edu/projects/behaviordesign.html http://captology.stanford.edu/projects/behaviordesign.html