Thursday, May 5, 2011
Since we now know the awesome influence that default settings wield over our decisions, how do we ensure our own default settings play in our favor?
The classic example revolves around our food habits: if the goal is to snack healthier, a negative default setting is having lots of junk food easily available around the house - making that choice of least resistance.
A positive default setting would be no junk food at home; and instead, lots of healthy food around; encouraging the behavior you do want.
Essentially, you're "setting yourself up to win" -- for every behavior in your life that you'd like to change, organize the default settings so that it's easy to do the right thing.
You can then step up the game by training yourself (and others) the way you would a wild animal.
We're hardwired to shy away from pain; and move towards pleasure. Our brain works by association, linking on a visceral level emotional and physiological reactions to pain- or pleasure- producing events.
The original demonstration of association comes from the work of Nobel-prize-winning Dr. Ivan Pavlov; who rang a bell every time he fed a group of dogs. Pretty soon, all he'd need to do was ring the bell, and the dogs would start drooling.
Psychologist B.F. Skinner created a whole host of habits in animals by linking pain and pleasure to various behaviors. We humans work exactly the same way- we associate emotions smells, tastes, memories, etc.
We also learn to link behaviors- if you put your hand in fire, you get pain; so the hand-in-fire-equals-pain link its pretty strong. What behaviors of yours would you like to have more, or less of, in your life? Find ways to use the pain & pleasure links to them.
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Known as the "Charisma Coach", Olivia's client list includes Citigroup, Deloitte & Touche and the United Nations. Her passion for communication has brought her to lecture at Harvard, Yale, and MIT; she frequently appears as guest expert in media such as BusinessWeek, Crain's New York, Bloomberg or Sirius Satellite Radio.
Her topics of expertise include charisma (yes, it can be taught!), influence, and persuasion. She is available for TV, radio, and news interviews-- she's witty, charming and your audience will love her. You can ask Olivia..
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