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It’s easy to make a pledge to do better: to exercise more, study harder, eat healthier food or make responsible financial decisions. But making these changes stick – for a week, a month and, ideally for a lifetime – is a thorny problem that has confounded both average folks and scientists alike.
With the recently launched Behavior Change for Good Initiative, University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Angela Duckworth and Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions Katherine Milkman are hoping to come up with strategies for change that actually stick. Working with a team of scientists from different disciplines, they’re conducting some of the largest social science experiments ever in an effort to create easy, affordable tools that help people make better daily and long-term decisions about their health, education and savings.
One of their first efforts is focused on helping people establish regular exercise habits. In partnership with 24 Hour Fitness, which has more than 400 gyms and nearly four million members across the U.S., they have launched a program called StepUp. Duckworth and Milkman are hoping to recruit hundreds of thousands of current and new members of the chain to sign up for the program. Those who do will become part of a large-scale tournament in which scientists have developed 57 different paths they hope will lead to positive behavior change.
“A flip of a coin will determine which of the 57 different paths participants will take,” Milkman said. “We want to see which ideas truly yield the biggest changes in behavior, not just during the course of the program, which is 28 days, but in the year following it.”
“We want to see which ideas truly yield the biggest changes in behavior, not just during the course of the program, which is 28 days, but also in the year following it.”–Katherine Milkman
Milkman and Duckworth discussed the study and the Behavior Change for Good Initiative during a recent appearance on the Knowledge@Wharton show on SiriusXM channel 111. (Listen to the full podcast using the player at the top of this page.)
‘Massive Scale’ and Robust Data
One of the things that separates the StepUp program from similar efforts is the scale – the partnership with 24 Hour Fitness gives the researchers a pool of millions of possible participants with diverse demographics. Milkman noted that with smaller-scale studies, it’s difficult to compare the outcomes for different groups, such as men vs. women or new gym members vs. veterans.
“The massive scale will allow us to slice the data in these different directions and still have lots of people left to give robust answers,” she said.
Members of 24 Hour Fitness can sign up through a website (https://24go.co/stepup) and will receive all communications via personalized text messages. Milkman noted that it was important to develop a program that reached participants with tools where they are already spending time.
“The reason this problem hasn’t been solved before and remains a really interesting area for inquiry is that there are so many competing channels for your attention. That’s something we’ve struggled with as we figure out the best way to build solutions,” Milkman said. “We’re trying to cut a lot of the noise out of the way so we can quickly iterate and build better prototypes.”
The StepUp program is just one of the large-scale social experiments being launched by the Behavior Change for Good Initiative, which was partly inspired by the discussions Milkman and Duckworth had when they walked to the Penn campus each morning.
They realized during those chats that there was great value in the points of view that Milkman, as a behavioral economist, and Duckworth, a psychologist, brought to the problem of creating lasting behavior change, and that a lot of progress could be made by bringing an interdisciplinary group together to study it.
“It’s not the power of one mind or even the power of two minds, Katy plus Angela,” Duckworth said. “It’s really the power of a network of world-class scientists from very different backgrounds: some are neuroscientists, some are economists, some are psychologists, and more. We don’t know which ideas are actually going to be more effective than others. We’re going to let the data tell us.”
The project’s main focus areas are health, education and savings, but Duckworth noted that we find ourselves in dozens of situations every day where “the thing that’s good for you and good for other people isn’t always the easiest thing and isn’t always the most fun thing to do in the moment. I think that’s what all of these problems have in common.”
The root of the problem isn’t a knowledge gap: Most of us know that we should eat more fruits and vegetables or that we need to start studying for an upcoming final. Rather, we fail to make connections between how every “eat this/not that” or “studying vs. Netflix” decision adds up cumulatively over time.
“We don’t know which ideas are actually going to be more effective than others. We’re going to let the data tell us.”–Angela Duckworth
“If I don’t take my heart medication today, will anything happen to me today? Probably not. If I don’t go to the gym today, will anything happen to me today? Probably not,” Duckworth said. “But things do eventually happen…. The gap between my daily decisions and my ultimate outcomes is a fundamental part of the psychological problem.”
Duckworth and Milkman noted that studies have shown that about 40% of premature deaths come as a result of behavior that could have been changed. “If we could get everyone to exercise regularly, quit smoking, drink responsibly, eat a healthy diet, get the recommended cancer screenings, we’d be able to wipe all sorts of deaths off the map and reduce medical costs dramatically,” Milkman said.
They don’t expect it to be an easy problem to solve. “It’s the holy grail; I won’t trivialize it,” Duckworth said. But both researchers say that they hope this approach will represent a significant step forward in coming up with solutions that are effective and easy to implement no matter what the situation or the financial resources a person or organization has available.
“What I don’t expect in 2018 is to solve the problem of enduring behavior change. It’s too hard,” Duckworth said. “I don’t expect it to happen in 2019. I do expect immediately to start learning. It’s a long, hard road ahead to unraveling the problem of human behavior change and figuring out why some people adopt good habits and then so many are failing right next to them. But I’m 100% confident that if we stick with it and see what the data has to tell us, we’ll make progress.”
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2 Comments So Far
Santosh Kumar Sharma
This is one discussion which could carry on till eternity.
Experimentation – both inside the labs as also in the field would probably never give out very accurate results. What is needed is to create a guinea pig out of an organization – larger the better – and then with a very thoughtfully choreographed plan move ahead with a time frame of six months, nine months and one year. If result is not appearing to fore in a timeframe of about a year, then carry out an appraisal/mid-course correction or change of the plan itself for one may the barking up the wrong tree.
I have seen that in one year people below begin to respond if the Leader’s strategy has been correct. It has been done. Most humbly, by me.
I lay out two examples here – one professional. And one just personal. Personal, because that is the main theme of discussion in the instant article.
An ex-Army Officer, a Brigadier in the Corps of Engineers in Indian Army, while posted as a Chief engineer providing works services to nearly four dozen military stations with over 15,000 people (mostly non-combatants), it has been made possible in about two years’ time.
Engineer works services are not very efficient and usually scoffed at by the troops. Reasons are many. But, somewhere deep within I realized that those providing works services might also be quite fed up of constant castration.
A suitable plan was put into action involving almost everyone through in detail letters giving out time frames and expected results. Stock was taken at regular intervals and everyone down to the last worker level was spoken to personally regards the planning to improve the system. And WHY.
It must be confessed that everyone including the troops being serviced rallied around the plan and in just eight-nine months, those who used to scoff at inefficient ways of my Services, began to applaud the efforts. In two years it became much better.
Similar efforts have been made by me even in my Private Sector jobs. People always rallied around the ideas sown to improve the system. A word of caution has always been to involve everyone, down to the last worker bt communicating to them in a language each level understands. And telling the WHY the effort was being made.
It can, thence, be fairly comfortably surmised that whilst it is possible to change/improve behavior even of a large body of people, with commitment and a workable plan.
It is my conviction that it is the Leaders who fail people, the followers usually do not.
Now to the personal issues.
Left the Army nearly 10 years ago. Worked in the Private Sector at fairly senior positions. Though kept very physically fit whilst in the Active Service, three to four years of ‘9 to 9’ job involving lots of travelling, both domestic as also overseas, saw me put on about 12 kilos. Then appeared those so called ‘life style’ issue of Blood Pressure, stress related issues (eruptions at the back of head), paining joints et el.
My elder sister living in the US instructing to go on a fruit-salad diet, something I entirely abhor, and so many other advices to improve my condition. Took medication for almost every ailment, to hardly any avail.
Then I took matters in my own hands. Got a homeopathic treatment for joint pain and stress related issues. After a minor research through the Internet, developed a Potion of my own, creating a guinea pig of myself at this age of 63-64 years and joined a close-by gym on the persuasion of my children. Above all began a regimen of walking at least 3-4 times a weak.
Over these past about 18 months, the results have been very encouraging. The six kilometer round of fast walk (4 miles an hour now) which took 85-90 minutes initially, am doing in 55 minutes flat now. Have shed about 10 kilos of excess baggage. Blood pressure which was barely kept just about normal with constant medication is about 118/70 now, though am still on BP pills (shall be requesting my Cardiologist to wean me off the tabs, if possible). The eruptions at the back of head have Pray-fully disappeared. The Potion of herbs and spices rich in Potassium, Manganese and Magnesium and other minerals is something I just love having in the morning. And the day I am not able to go for my walking trip, I feel, in General Patton’s words, Bilious. I have been keeping my routine fairly flexible but controlled.
In the meanwhile have been working real hard for my age and completed my eBook (available on my Website as also on Amazon) on a topic that was in my mind and heart for over 35 years. That has also acted as a stress reliever.
It is my humble conviction that it is well-nigh possible to change/improve behavior of people you work with as also one’s own if the commitment is total, intent clear and actions transparent. People tend to become lackadaisical only when they find results not commensurate with the efforts and the Leader himself not transparently committed to a cause, perhaps espoused by himself.
One would rather suggest that if one does desire to improve system anywhere – be that in a family or a large organization – the best way is to go whole hog but with a carefully laid out plan. Keep a constant watch on the outcomes. And be ready to modify/change or totally overhaul that plan, should the need so arise.
Lord Krishna has said in Shrimad Bhagvad Gita – Whatever footsteps great men leave, common men follow them.
People follow the Leader, if he has the faculties to show a path. I have seen it; both in Military services as also in the Private Sector world.
Jim Bozin
Interesting multivariate approach but a complete premise oversimplification. Lacks a clear definition of what “bad” behavior is, don’t do bad, do good? “Bad” is time, beholder, and context relative. “Bad” is too subjective a term for a “science” exercise. Merely arguing extending life quantity, without quality, does not qualify necessarily as a “good” thing. The “old age” “homes” are full of empty “waiting for god” types due to quest for artificial immortality life span increase. Position substantiation by statistical proof of subjective thoughts for what enhances quality is not necessarily a personal social problem, but it’s an investigator’s one. It’s a wishful magic bullet argument, do as I say, and butterfly effect approach. We have enough “I’m right, don’t do this or that” fringe groups. Caution: We have a whole generation of low “cholesterolites” because of statistical correlation proving causation thinking without fully understanding the problem.
“Progress” has reduced exercise out of the daily fight for life by substituting sedentary tasks and expended fuel energy for time “savings” and making more food more available without regard for consequences. Population density is also a driver. Your premise may require additional time savings to accomplish the habit change, so may have trade-off consequences and negative or unintended effects, aka vicious cycle.