Using Neuroscience to Influence Behavior

USING NEUROSCIENCE TO INFLUENCEHUMAN BEHAVIOR “Come on now, who do you think you are? Bless your soul, you really think you’re in control?” - Gnarls Barkley

Welcome to the experiment

Assignments• Today - Time provided to meet with team, discuss and post to Coursework• Tuesday - Meet with team after class to build Desire Engine for group assignment.• Wednesday - Work on team and individual assignments.• Thursday - Time provided to meet with team, discuss and post to Coursework• Friday - Presentations. Present individual assignment (5 min each) or group assignment (15-20 min) (but only if entire team agrees)

The nature of behavior

One brain, two minds• Elephant = impulsive mind• Rider = Rational mind• Path = the environment Willpower is the strength of the rider

Where the elephant lives• “Primitive” parts of brain• Basal ganglia • Storage of instinctual habitual behaviors• Nucleus accumbens • Center of reward system • Wants immediate gratiﬁcation / satiation

Where the rider lives• “Newest” part of brain• Pre-frontal cortex (PFC) • Executive function • Controls impulses and higher level thinking

Think of your behaviors• What are the routines, habits, skills, addictions in one’s life?

Amateur behaviors Amateur DoResistdoing Low High Self-Control Required

What deﬁnes amateur behaviors?• The rider and elephant are in sync• Easy to do, but also easy to forget• Reward, process motivated, “for the love”• Long-term

Amateur behaviors

How did you createyour amateur behavior?

Creating amateur behaviors• Create a path for the elephant• Make it simple, easy• Placing well-timed cues• “Baby steps”

Skillful behaviors Skillful DoResistdoing Low High Self-Control Required

Skillful behaviors

What deﬁnes skillful behaviors?• Rider is steering the elephant• Outcome, goal driven• Hard work, grit

How did you createyour skillful behavior?

Creating skillful behaviors• Deliberate practice• Focus on ﬁxing failures• Grit and persistence• Often with coaching

Skillful behaviors

Running Amateur Skillful - Casual - Goal driven enjoyment - Win a- Jog into old age marathon

Habitual behaviors Do HabitualResistdoing Low High Self-Control Required

Habitual behaviors

What deﬁnes habitual(negative) behaviors?• The rider tries to control the elephant• Constant temptation• Struggle with desire

How did you stop your habitual behavior?

Resisting habitual behaviors• Mindfulness• Surﬁng the urge, creating space (ex - 10- minute rule)• Reminder of purpose• Self-compassion

Addictive behaviors Do AddictiveResistdoing Low High Self-Control Required

Addictive behaviors

What deﬁnes addictive behaviors?• The rider has lost control and the elephant is charging• Self-destructive• Extremely hard to resist

Resisting addictive behaviors• Reigning in the elephant• Abstinence, removal of cues• Physical detoxiﬁcation• Social support• Root cause analysis

Behavior types Amateur Skillful Do Habitual AddictiveResistdoing Low High Self-Control Required

Matching behaviortypes with change methods

Change with right toolBehavior type Change method

Change methods Create Train the Do rider to push the path the elephant Train theResist Reign the rider to pulldoing elephant the elephant Low High Self-Control Required

Does the method match the type?• “No pain, no gain”• “Never quit”• “Set strict goals”• “Hold yourself accountable”

Healthy lifestyle• Over a lifetime• Do (amateur behaviors): • Physical activity • Eating healthy foods• Resist doing (habitual behaviors): • Eating unhealthy foods • Overconsumption

Beating yourself up hurts• The worse a drinker feels about how much they drank the night before, the more they drank the next night. (Muraven et al 2005)• Gamblers who feel most ashamed by losses, most likely to “chase” the loss and keep gambling. (Yi and Kanatar 201)• Students who feel the worst about procrastinating, put off studying the longest for next exam. (Wohl, Pychyl, Bennett 2010)• Addicts who feel most guilt about a minor relapse, were most likely to have a major relapse. (Stephens et al 1994)Source: Kelly McDonigal, “The Willpower Instinct”

The “what-the-hell” effect• Dieters and non-dieters asked to drink a milkshake as part of “taste perception study”• Then asked to sample as much ice cream as “needed” for taste test.• Dieters ate more than non- dieters after drinking the milkshake• Showed increased activity in nucleus accumbens Source: Kelly McDonigal, “The Willpower Instinct”, Heatherton & Wagner, 2011

One size does not ﬁt all Amateur Skillful - Goal driven - Path driven Do - Long-term - Grit - Hard work - Self-directed - Coaching Habitual AddictiveResist - Abstinence - Surﬁng urge - Physical detoxdoing - Mindfulness - Root cause - Self-compassion - Social support Low High Self-Control Required

In summary• Rider, elephant and path• Before changing a behavior: • Identify behavior type • Match with appropriate change method

Take a break and a survey www.OpinionTo.us(and take your stuff)

Why inﬂuence behavior?

Helping people do what they want to do.

Persuasive products Amateur Skillful Do Habitual AddictiveResistdoing Low High Self-Control Required

pref· er· ence /ˈpref(ə)rəns/ Noun, Def:A greater liking for one alternative overanother or others.

be· hav· ior /biˈhāvyər/ Noun, Def:The way in which an animal or person actsin response to a particular situation orstimulus.

rou· tine /ro͞oˈtēn/ Noun, Def:A sequence of actions regularly followed; aﬁxed program.

hab· it /ˈhabit/ Noun, Def:An behavior that has become nearly orcompletely involuntary, without cognition.

ad· dic· tion /əˈdikSHən/ Noun, Def:A persistent, compulsive dependence on abehavior or substance.

Are customer habits good for business?• Higher life-time value• Greater price inelasticity, can charge more• Word-of-mouth brings down cost of acquisition = Higher ROI

Why is this graph “smiling”? Source: Inc. magazine, Dec. 2011

StackOverﬂow• Largest technical QA site• Alexa rank 93• 5,000 questions are answered per day• FT Staff: 66

Holding on to customers by forming habitsSource: Amy Jo Kim, “Community Building on the Web”

To build habits need...

Au· to· ma· ta· city Noun, Def:The ability to do things without occupyingthe mind with low-level details, allowing itto become an automatic response pattern.

What is automaticity good for?• Ability to learn• Helps us decide• Saves energy• Allows multitasking

Impairment of habit system • Trouble performing tasks requiring multi- step behaviors or where emotion is deciding factor. • With “elephant” out, the “rider” tries but fails. • Making simple decisions. (which pen?) • Ignoring insigniﬁcant details. (reading faces) • Inability to act quickly “from the gut.” Source: Antonio Demasio via Lehrer "How We Decide"

Decision fatigue• “Rider” gets tired and lazy because decision making requires effort.• Prisoners appearing for parole hearings early in the morning granted parole 70% of the time.• However, those appearing late in the day, when judges were more tired, paroled less than 10% of the time.• So, making more decisions through habit instead of logic, can leave more resources for important decisionsSource: Levav and Danziger, 2011

How to buildautomaticity?

Frequency and utility

How do we get users to come back?

Building desire through engagement Low Highengagement engagement

The Desire Engine

Remember: A TARIA - A Desire Engine has 4 parts:T - TriggerA - ActionR - RewardI - Investment

In summary• Habits can be good for business.• Habits require automaticity - action without cognition.• Leaves us with more “decision making reserve.”• Creating automaticity is a function of utility and frequency.• Frequency from creating desire.

Triggers

Habits aren’t created, they are built upon

Where are you sitting?• Who is sitting where they sat before break?• Why did you sit there?• What told you to sit?• Where did you learn this behavior?

Triggers External Internal Alarms EmotionsCalls-to-action Routines Emails Situations Stores Places Authority PeopleWhat to do next What to do next is inis in the trigger the user’s head

Triggers External Internal Alarms Emotions Advertising RoutinesCalls-to-action Situations Emails Places Stores People AuthorityWhat to do next What to do next is inis in the trigger the user’s head

Negative emotions arepowerful internal triggers Dissatisﬁed Fear of loss Indecisive Bored Lost Lonesome Tense Confused Fatigued Powerless Inferior Discouraged

Internally triggered technologies When I feel... ... I use Lonely Facebook Hungry Yelp Unsure Google Anxious Email Lost GPSMentally fatigued ESPN, Glam

Emotional triggersShiv x-framework Content Excited Bored Stressed

People with depression check email more.Source: Kotikalapudi et al 2012,Associating Depressive Symptoms in College Students with Internet Usage Using Real Internet Data

Habits form from frequent problem/solution ﬁt.

To ﬁnd the problem, know the narrative• Need to ﬁnd the existing behavior to attach to.• Find the behavior that occurs just before.• “Every time you (verb), use (product).”

Jack Dorsey on narrativeshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acMXhhdWylQ

The “Instagram moment”

Instagram triggers External Internal- FB and Twitter - Fear of loosing- App notiﬁcations the moment . . . - Bored, lonesome, curious...

Your turn• Pick an “amateur” behavior you’d like to turn into a new routine in your life.• Brainstorm with the person next to you for 5 min each about potential triggers.• Describe the narrative of both external and internal triggers.• Write this down and be prepared to share.

Form teams and complete Coursework assignment (see syllabus) Debrief with team: - What resonated with you? - What stimulated new thinking? - Ideas for personal and professional growth? - Ideas for new ventures?- What intrigued you, either by creating new questions or by kindling a quest for more? 30 min discussion 15 min post to Coursework

Triggers External Internal Alarms EmotionsCalls-to-action Routines Emails Situations Stores Places Authority PeopleWhat to do next What to do next is inis in the trigger the user’s head

Pharma triggers External Internal What to do next What to do next is in is in the trigger the user’s head(Designer controls)

Actions

whendoing < thinking = action Creating the path

Fogg Behavior Model B = m.a.t.motivation triggers Source: Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University ability

Fogg Behavior Model B = m.a.t. triggermotivation (SUCCESS!) trigger (FAIL!) Source: Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University ability

mo· ti· va· tion /mōtə vāSHən/ Noun, Def:The psychological feature that arouses anorganism to action toward a desired goal.

Motivators of Behavior Seek: Avoid: Sensation Pleasure Pain Anticipation Hope Fearmotivation Social Cohesion Acceptance Rejection Source: Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University

a· bil· i· ty /əˈbilitē/ Noun, Def:The capacity to do something

How increase capacity to do something?Source: Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University ability

Factors of ability Time Money Physical effort Brain cycles Social deviance Non-routineSource: Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University ability

Simplicity“Simplicity is a Factors of abilityfunction of your Timescarcest resource Moneyat that moment.” Physical effort Brain cycles- BJ Fogg Social deviance Non-routine Differ by person and context

What move ﬁrst?

Move ability before motivation motivation triggers Source: Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University ability

Focus on ability and triggers before motivation

Which has fewer calories?

Motivated people know healthier optionSource: (Chernov et al. 2011; Chandon & Wansink 2007)

America the obese 2010Source: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Centers for Disease Control

Twitter homepage 2009

The evolution of Twitter2009 2010 2012

Behaviors to actions with cross-functional teams= marketingmotivation triggers = interface design ability = product

Your turn• Take out your behavior from yesterday or pick a new one.• Rate your ability to do your behavior. (1 is not at all able, 10 is very able, easy)• Rate how motivated you are to do your behavior. (1 is not at all, 10 is very)• Share with your partner.• Brainstorm how to increase your partner’s ability (considering your scarcest resource) and / or increase motivation? !! Crazy ideas are encouraged !!• Write this down and be prepared to share.

Factors of ability Time Money Physical effort Brain cycles Social deviance Non-routine Motivators of Behavior Seek: Avoid: Sensation Pleasure Pain Anticipation Hope Fear Social Cohesion Acceptance RejectionSource: Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University

Bi· as /ˈbīəs/ Noun, Def:1. A tendency or inclination; a prejudice2. A lever to increase motivation or ability

A well-studied bias

Classical biases• Rational• Can articulate, “I’d buy it if it were cheaper.”• Predictable (for the most part)

Cognitive Biases• Rational or irrational• Unable to articulate• Predictable

Scarcity• People value cookies more in a nearly empty jar than in a full jar.Source: Worchel, Lee, and Adewole (1975)

Value attribution• Wine actually tastes better if you believe it’s more expensiveSource: Plassmann, O’Doherty. Shiv, and Rangel, 2008

Remember this?Source: (Chernov et al. 2011; Chandon & Wansink 2007)

The halo effectSource: (Chernov et al. 2011; Chandon & Wansink 2007)

Which car owners? • Are involved in more collisions. • Receive 65% more trafﬁc tickets. • Drive 25% more miles than other drivers. • Are a more costly risk to insure than other vehicles in its class.Source: Data from insurance analytics company Quality Planning, reported in “Mitchell Industry Trends Report” 2010

Moral licensing• We tend to reward ourselves with the freedom to be “bad” when we’re acting “good.”

Anchoring• We tend to rely too heavily on just one trait of a decision.• We overvalue things on sale Jockey only! 3 for $29.50 5 for $34 so, 6 for $44.25 Unit cost = $6.80 Unit cost = $7.38

Completion • Motivation • 8 car wash, get one increases the free closer get to a goal • 8 blank squares vs. • “Endowed progress 10 squares with 2 free punches effect” • 82% higher completion rateSource: Nunes and Drèze, The Endowed Progress Effect: How Artiﬁcial Advancement Increases Effort, 2006

Sequencing• Tendency to complete complex behavior if parsed into smaller steps

Many more...• Social proof, framing, reciprocity, relevance, status quo, loss aversion, familiarity bias, regret aversion, peak-end effect, money proxy, authority bias ...

Your turn• Pick one of the “Mental Notes” cards.• How could you make use of a cognitive biases to increase your partner’s behavior?• Brainstorm with the person next to you for 5 min each. !! Go for lots of ideas !!• Write this down and be prepared to share.

Take a break and a surveywww.OpinionTo.us

Variable rewards

The brain and rewards WatchSource: Olds and Milner, 1945

What triggers the reward system?• Stimulation of brain’s reward system activates new behaviors• “Awakening the elephant” is possible through probes or drugs• What stimulates the brain naturally?

Dopamine triggers

Were Olds and Milnerstimulating pleasure? (not exactly)

“I like pleasure spiked with pain, it’s my aeroplane”- The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Ann’s story• Sufferers from Parkinson’s• Treatment includes dopamine boosters• Becomes a compulsive gambler• Why?

The promise of reward • Dopamine system activated by anticipation of reward • And dampened when reward achievedSource: Knutson et al 2001

To supercharge the “stress of desire” ... add variability.

We crave predictability• Variable rewards drive us nuts• Compulsion to make sense of cause and effect• Dopamine system drives the search

Curious by nature

“I can’t get no satisfaction” - The Rolling Stones

The search for rewards the Tribe the the Hunt Self

Search for Social Rewards the - Acceptance - SexTribe - Power

Rewards of the tribe

Search for Resources the - Food - Money Hunt - Information

Rewards of the hunt:search for resources

Rewards of the hunt:search for information

Dare you not to scroll

Rewards of the hunt:search for resources

Search for Sensation - Mastery the - Consistency Self - Competency - Purpose

Rewards of the self:Search for competency and mastery

Rewards of the self:Search for control

Fish bowl technique• Addiction Recovery Study (Petry 2006)• Patients earned opportunity to draw a ticket out of a bowl every time they passed a drug test.• Half of the tickets said “Keep up the good work.” The rest won the patient a nominal prize worth $1 to $20 but one ticket was worth $100 prize.• 83% of ﬁsh bowl patients stayed in treatment for full 12 weeks (vs 20% of standard-care patients).• 80% of ﬁsh bowl patients passed all their drug tests (vs. 40% of standard-care patients).• Fish bowl group less likely to relapse.• Technique worked better than paying patients for passing drug tests.

Rewards Decay• As rewards become predictable, they become less novel Finite Variability Inﬁnite Variability - Single-player games - Multi-player games - Consumption of - Creation of content media - Communities - Finishing a race - Running for pleasure or competition

Who gets hooked? • Pathological gamblers and non-pathological placed in MRI. See images of win, lose, and “near-miss.” • Pathological gamblers experienced more “excitement” from seeing win. • Gamblers brain saw near-miss as near-win. • Non-pathological experienced near-miss as near-loss. • Unknown if gambler’s brain is different at birth or if caused by repeated exposure.Source: Habib, 2010

Variable reward levers• Type (Tribe, Hunt, Self)• Frequency• Amplitude Keep ‘em guessing

Your turn• How could you use variable rewards to increase your partner’s behavior?• How can you add an element of mystery, the unknown, or surprise?• Consider the search for rewards of the tribe (social), hunt (resources), self (mastery, control) !! Crazy is ok !!• Brainstorm with the person next to you for 5 min each and prepare to share.

Investments

Investment • Where user does a bit of “work.” • “Pays” with something of value: time, money, social capital, effort, emotional commitment, personal data ...

Investment is about future rewards that makes thenext action more likely.

Twitter (consumer)T A Facebook, friend, email ... Scroll Boredom, curiosityI R Information Follow (Hunt)

Twitter (creator)T A Mention, message Open app Boredom, curiosity, lonesomeI R Tweet or RT Social feedback (build following) (Tribe)

Labor is love The IKEA effectSource: Dan Ariely, Upside of Irrationality

People value their labor• Value own work almost as much as an expert’s.• Even if other’s don’t.Source: Ariely, Mochon and Norton, 2012

Labor increases motivation • People who pick lottery numbers more likely to play. • Assign greater odds.Source: Langer, 1975

Value labor done for usSource: Buell and Norton, 2011

Others’ labor increases value too • Search took same time. • People “seeing” the work perceived more value.Source: Buell and Norton, 2011

As we invest,we endow and tend to overvalue.

The endowment effect • When chimps given juice bar and peanut butter, 50/50 preference split. • When given PB ﬁrst, 80% chose to keep rather than exchange. • The “endowed” item was preferred • Only worked for foodSource: Brosnan et al 2007

Humans endow things• Endowed mugs vs pens worth twice as much (Kahneman, Knetsch & Thaler,1990)• Endowed ﬁnal four tickets worth 14 times more (Carmon and Ariely, 2000)• Employees worked harder to maintain a provisional bonus than a potential yet-to-be- awarded prize (Hossain and List, 2010)• Universal behavior across different populations and with different goods (Hoffman and Spitzer,1993) including children (Harbaugh et al, 2001)

Why do we endow?• Improved bargaining position in bilateral trades. If I act like I love it, maybe you will too. (Huck, Kirchsteiger & Oechssler 2005)• Loss aversion. Loosing feels twice as bad as the joy of gaining. (Kahneman and Tversky, 1984)• Need for consistency causes cognitive dissonance leads to rationalization.

Rationalization and commitment Jesse Schell, Professor of game design, Carnegie Mellon University

The preference cycle Investment: “Should I ‘spend’ on this?” Conﬁrmation: Rationalization: “Since I spent on it “Only an idiot wouldbefore, and I am not an have ‘spent’ onidiot, it must be good.” something not good.”

Little investments, big results Group 1: 17% accepted Group 2: 76% acceptedSource: Freedman & Fraser, 1966

Adaptive preference formation • Changing preferences to be more compatible with the situation. • We acquire preferences to serve our need to be consistent. • Relieve pain of cognitive dissonance.Source: Jon Esler, 1983

Acquiring taste• Think of the ﬁrst time you tried spicy food or alcohol.• Acquiring taste follows similar patterns of rationalization to avoid cognitive dissonance.• Change ourselves as we change our preferences.• “I’m a ____ drinker.”

Motivating through identity • Registered voters completed survey the day before or the morning of the election. • “How important is it to you to be a voter in the upcoming election?” (Noun) • “How important is it to you to vote in the upcoming election?” (Verb) • Tracked who actually voted. • How we see ourselves (the nouns) “the largest experimental effects shape what we do. ever observed on objectively measured voter turnout.”Source: Bryan, Walton, Rogers, and Dweck, 2011

In summary:• We over value the results of our labor (endowment effect)• But need to rationalize this irrational value (cognitive dissonance)• One way to do this is to change our taste (adaptive preference formation)• And behave in line with how we see ourselves (identity shaping)

Your turn• How could you use small investments and commitments to make your partner’s behavior more likely to occur?• Brainstorm with the person next to you for 5 min each.• Write this down and be prepared to share.

Desire Engines create routines Low Highengagement engagement- External - Internal triggers triggers - Low - Highpreference preference

Email T AIcon on phone Open unreadProcrastinate, anxiety, messagesthoughts of others.... I R Tribe, hunt and Write back self

Spectator sports T AEverywhere WatchMonday, boredom,anxiety ... I VR Identify self as fan Outcome (Self) Buy stuff Fandom - belonging (Tribe) Attend events Capturing the win (Hunt)

With more cycles Increase motivation and difﬁculty of action Greater loyalty, increased price inelasticity, greater satisfaction

Using neuroscience toinﬂuence human behavior• Preferences to behaviors.• Behaviors to routines.• Routines to habits.• Habits become who we are.

What are you going to do with this?• When is it right to “give people what they want?”• When are people really in control?• When is it ok to manipulate?

Use this for good.and take a surveywww.OpinionTo.us

Using Neuroscience to Influence Behavior

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Using Neuroscience to Influence Behavior