Often we make a vow to ourselves that from Monday we will start playing sports or quit smoking. It turns out that promises in the form of the question “Will I play sports tomorrow?” more efficient.
Researchers have long noted the existence of the so-called “behavioral effect of the question.” “By asking a person if they plan to take some actions in the future, we can change the likelihood that they will take them,” says David Sprott, Senior Associate Dean at the Carson School of Business at the University of Washington (USA) . He, along with several co-authors, conducted a so-called meta-analysis, collecting and analyzing the results of more than 100 studies affecting this effect.
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The essence of the “question effect” is quite simple. It is assumed that by asking a person, for example, about whether he is going to hand over garbage for recycling, we evoke a psychological reaction in him, which may ultimately induce him to do so. The question reminds him that recycling is important for protecting the environment, if he does not take the garbage, he may have psychological discomfort that he wants to get rid of, which will eventually encourage him to care more about the environment.
Analysis of the research results showed that this simple technique is surprisingly effective and capable of producing significant and lasting changes in human behavior. For example, it can be used to encourage people not to cheat on exams, to play sports and, in fact, to hand over garbage for recycling.
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“We found that this effect works best to encourage a person to change something in their lifestyle – for example, start eating healthier food or volunteering. But it also applies to advertising and marketing,” says study author Eric R. Spangenberg, dean of the School of Business at the University of California, Irvine (USA).
“It’s not difficult to ask a question, and there are many ways to do it, including advertising, posters, the Internet and personal communication,” adds David Sprott.
Researchers have found that the “behavioral effect of a question” is most pronounced when questions are asked as part of a questionnaire (whether computer or paper) and a person answers them with “yes” or “no”. They also found that the technique worked better when the question did not specify the specific time period to which it refers.
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As for promises, the authors advise to translate them into an interrogative form, like “Will I go in for sports next year?”. However, when it comes to giving up bad habits, everything is not so simple – according to some studies, the “question effect” here can even be counterproductive.
Подробнее см. Е. Spangenberg et al. «A meta-analytic synthesis of the question-behavior effect», Journal of Consumer Psychology, December 2015.