To achieve something, you need to set a goal, break it down into tasks, set deadlines … This is how millions of books, articles and coaches teach. But is it right? It would seem that what could be wrong with systematically moving towards the goal? Helen Edwards, head of the Skolkovo business school library, argues.
Owain Service and Rory Gallagher, authors of Thinking Narrow. Surprisingly simple ways to achieve big goals ”and researchers from the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), working for the UK government:
- Choose the right target;
- Show perseverance;
- Break down a big task into easily manageable steps;
- Visualize the specific required steps;
- Connect feedback;
- Get social support;
- Remember the reward.
BIT is studying how to use nudges and the psychology of motivation to «encourage people to make better choices for themselves and society.» In particular, it helps to make the right choice when it comes to healthy lifestyle and fitness.
In the book, the authors cite a study by psychologists Albert Bandura and Daniel Chervon, who measured the results of students who exercised on exercise bikes. The researchers found that “students who were told where they were in relation to the goal more than doubled their performance and outperformed those who received only the goal or only feedback.”
Therefore, the numerous applications and fitness trackers available to us today allow us to move towards a variety of goals more efficiently than ever. Several companies have introduced fitness programs and distributed pedometers to employees to encourage them to take 10 steps a day. As expected, many began to gradually set a higher goal, which was perceived as a great success.
However, there is another side to goal setting. Psychologists who deal with unhealthy exercise addiction see the phenomenon quite differently.
They denounce fitness trackers, stating that they are “the most idiotic thing in the world… people who use such devices fall into the trap of continuous escalation and continue physical activity, ignoring stress fractures and other serious injuries, in order to get the same rush.” endorphins, which a few months ago was achieved with a much lighter load.
The digital age is far more addictive than any previous era in history.
In a book with the eloquent title “Irresistible. Why do we keep checking, scrolling, clicking, looking and can’t stop?” Columbia University psychologist Adam Alter warns: “We focus on the benefits of goal setting without paying attention to the downsides. Goal setting has been a useful motivational tool in the past as people prefer to spend as little time and energy as possible. We cannot be called intuitively hardworking, virtuous and healthy. But the pendulum has swung the other way. Now we are so eager to get more done in less time that we forget to pause.”
The notion of the need to set one goal after another actually exists relatively recently. Alter argues that the digital age is far more prone to behavioral addictions than any previous era in history. The Internet has introduced new targets that «arrive, and often uninvited, in your mailbox or on your screen.»
The same insights that governments and social services use to build good habits can be applied to keep customers from using goods and services. The problem here is not a lack of willpower, just «there are a thousand people behind the screen whose job is to break the self-control that you have.»
Products and services are designed to make it easier to keep using them than to stop, from Netflix, where the next episode of the series is automatically downloaded, to World of Warcraft marathons, during which players do not want to be interrupted even for sleep and food.
Sometimes fleeting social reinforcements in the form of “likes” lead to the fact that a person begins to continuously update Facebook (an extremist organization banned in Russia) or Instagram (an extremist organization banned in Russia). But the feeling of success quickly fades. As soon as you reach the goal of gaining a thousand subscribers on Instagram (an extremist organization banned in Russia), a new one appears in its place — now two thousand subscribers seem to be a worthy benchmark.
Alter shows how popular products and services maximize engagement and minimize frustration by interfering with goal setting and reward mechanisms. All this greatly increases the risk of developing addiction.
Using the achievements of behavioral science, it is possible to manipulate not only how we relax. Noam Scheiber in The New York Times describes how Uber uses psychology to get its drivers to work as hard as possible. The company does not have direct control over the drivers — they are more independent businessmen than employees. This means that it is extremely important to ensure that there are always enough of them to meet the demand and growth of the company.
The director of research at Uber comments: “Our optimal default settings encourage you to work as hard as you can. We do not require this in any way. But those are the default settings.
For example, here are two features of the app that encourage drivers to work harder:
- «advance allocation» — drivers are shown the next possible trip before the current one ends,
- special cues that direct them where the company wants them to go – to meet demand, not increase the driver’s income.
Particularly effective is the setting of arbitrary targets that deter drivers and the assignment of meaningless insignia. Scheiber notes, “Because Uber organizes all driver work through the app, there is little to stop the company from pursuing game elements.”
This trend is for the long haul. The rise of the freelance economy could lead to «psychological leverage eventually becoming the mainstream approach to managing working Americans.»
About the expert: Helen Edwards is the head of the library at the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management.