How many times have you abandoned your New Year’s Resolution or given up on a goal that seemed unattainable? Are you looking for sustainable ways to actually achieve your goals? Well, there may be some new tricks to try. In this episode, EconTalk host Russ Roberts speaks with Katy Milkman, a behavioral psychologist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, about her book that suggests new ways to increase the probability of making successful, long-term changes in our lives.
Milkman’s book, How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, isn’t your typical self-help book. Instead of the guru style of traditional self-help books, Milkman takes a scientific approach to find strategies that actually help us reach the different types of goals that we have. From issues like going to the gym more, eating healthier, studying more, or saving more money, Milkman gives the audience advice on how to sustainably change certain aspects of our lives. Let’s hear what you think about the process of making change. Answer our questions in the prompts below, or use them to start a conversation with friends offline.
1- Milkman challenges Nike’s notion of “Just Do It.” Do you agree with her? Instead of this “pushing through” strategy, what are the other strategies that Milkman suggests? Have you used either of these strategies yourself? How successful were they?
2- To deal with the “willpower problem,” Milkman suggests that we come up with ways to incentivize ourselves to make certain decisions. What are some of the reasons that Milkman thinks these strategies will work? What do you think about Milkman’s “fresh start effect?” Have you ever used the fresh start effect to try to make changes to your life? Has it been successful? Roberts points out that our ability to achieve a goal is often independent of technique. What do you think he means by this? What does Milkman have to say in response to this?
3-Milkman discusses some of the issues with past psychology studies that are not able to be replicated. What are two of the studies that have been able to be replicated? What example does Roberts use to illustrate the longevity of this tactic being used by humans? Can you think of any other examples of this tactic?
4- Roberts makes a suggestion on the plausibility of studies in science being incorrect but then being used as placebo effects. What does Milkman have to say about using placebo effects? Do you think her example of housekeeping is accurate?
5- Roberts makes an important point that while it is good to want to make changes to our lives for the better, there also seems to be an urge in our culture to find the life hacks and algorithms that will solve certain problem for us and that this could hinder us from considering the bigger question of how to live. Do you agree with Roberts? Milkman responds that it is important to consider whether our goals will actually benefit us. Do you think there are some goals that aren’t as important as others? Explain.
READER COMMENTS
John Alcorn
Jun 25 2021 at 1:10pm
Audrey Sullivan, Welcome to EconTalk! Excellent questions. Let me try one.
1. At the outset of the conversation, Prof. Milkman says:
I would rephrase, to clarify a crucial distinction between ‘I’ and ‘we.’ When an individual struggles with weakness of will, she often can ease her task by keeping company with others who face a like challenge. This is why parents seek constructive peer groups for their offspring, and why persons who wish to overcome addiction participate in recovery groups. It is also how many college students “push through” to meet deadlines and to prepare for exams. Religious community plays a similar role. ‘Keeping company’ works for individuals who have some baseline motivation for self-improvement, but need peer support for discipline and confidence.
Towards the end of the conversation, Prof. Milkman touches on peer support (roommate match, women’s professional development groups). I suppose I place greater emphasis on this social dimension of willpower.
We should keep in mind that social sorting is sometimes a two-edged sword. Youths who fall outside the “push through” group, thereby have more interactions with people who don’t push through. See Bryan Caplan’s EconTalks about signaling, sorting, and human-capital formation in education.
John Alcorn
Jun 25 2021 at 4:39pm
2. Fresh starts
Attempts at self-improvement tend to cluster at conventional moments of fresh start; for example, New Year’s resolutions. This pattern complements the practice of ‘keeping company,’ which I mentioned above. Salient moments enable individuals to coordinate the need to keep company to push through difficult fresh starts.
By contrast, several proverbs say to start now. “Don’t leave to tomorrow what you can do today.” “If not now, when?” “A stitch in time saves nine.” “There is no time like the present.”
Clearly, individual bootstrapping, too, is a real thing.
Russ Roberts, thinking like an economist, wonders if individuals might have something like a psychological budget constraint in willpower.
Prof. Milkman, perhaps also thinking like an economist, points out that the action is at the margin. She counts as success a 5% or 10% improvement, via smart ‘technologies’ for self-help.
3. Replication issues in experimental psychology
Prof. Milkman notes two psychological phenomena that do replicate when scholars repeat experiments. One is “present bias.” The other is a positive effect of commitment devices.
Dr. Roberts notes that commitment devices have been understood and practiced since the beginning of civilization. They are the stuff of great literature; for example, the story of Ulysses & the Sirens in Homer’s Odyssey. I would add that commitment failure, too, is the stuff of literature!
“Burning one’s bridges to make it impossible to retreat” in strategic warfare is another standard example of a commitment tactic.
4. Placebo effects
If I understand Prof. Milkman correctly, placebo effects are real, but ephemeral. Decay over time is another way in which self-improvement is at the margin. Thus placebo tactics might be useful when momentary confidence is what’s needed. Prof. Milkman gives the example of adopting a confidence-boosting Superwoman posture for a job interview.
5. The examined life & the value of meaning
Russ Roberts makes a plea for the examined life. Prof. Milkman states:
In a market economy, Adam Smith’s insights about specialization and division of labor impart meaning to every job — janitor, physician, coder, or pin maker. To earn one’s keep (also for family!), to pull one’s weight, and to serve the customer — to do a good job in order to honor one’s side of the bargain — are eminently respectable motivations.
Audrey Sullivan
Jun 30 2021 at 3:09pm
Hello and thank you for the comments! You made some great points.
1. I’m glad to see the emphasis on ‘I’ and ‘we’ in regard to the willpower problem. Like you said, Milkman mentions it briefly but your further explanation is a thought provoking contribution to the topic.
2. I’m excited to see you mention Milkman’s comment of seeing success at the margin! I think this goes along with the #5 question as well. We don’t always think of the benefits of success at the margin. Maybe choosing goals based on the margin of success that we can achieve would be an interesting way to choose what goals we want to pursue.
3. “Burning one’s bridges so you can’t retreat” is a fantastic example of commitment failure. I had not thought of that one!
5. Always happy to see Adam Smith mentioned. This is a great perspective on finding meaning and maintaining it.
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