I found an interesting video that talks about how to motivate people to change their behaviour. Dr. Tali Sharot, a neuroscientists from University College London, discovered from her research, that actually people do not respond that well to bad news, i.e. giving threats to people to change their behaviour is not that effective. Instead, there are other ways that can help people in changing their behaviour by using more positive strategies
In summary, there are three things that we need to do:
- Social incentives
- Immediate rewards
- Progress monitoring
I want to reflect this on my own experience in running. Previously I hated running, but prefer swimming instead. But seeing my friends at work using an app and sharing their running records, this motivates me to do the same thing. Also this motivates me to do a little more than I’m used to. I never think I can run those running events, even for a 5K. but guess what: I ran 5K a few times! I think this experience has the immediate rewards aspect as well, where I get appreciated by the app, however far I ran. Also that feeling when you share your run to your friends and get their likes! 😀 Then it has progress monitoring as well. Back when I first run, I only do 2-3K at one time. Knowing this number, I want to try to slowly beat my own record. Once I did, I felt thrilled by my own progress.
I think this can be applied in so many situations. I think this is good when we design a digital solution to encourage behaviour change. I’m thinking to apply this strategy to motivate teaching in the classroom. I have a few ideas in mind. What do you think?