The Power of Commitment How we can make ourselves do things by committing to them - PowerPoint Presentation

1. The Power of CommitmentHow we can make ourselves do things by committing to them TBA IP Grid2019

2. DEFINITION

3. Commitment bias – A definition3Simple, small commitment devices to commit ourselves to an action can help us stave off procrastination, inertia or impulsivenessFreedman, J., Fraser, S.C., “Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1966, Vol 4, No. 2, 195-202

4. SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

5. Scientific Background5A classic study conducted by Jonathan Freedman and Scott Fraser tested what has become known as the ‘foot-in-the-door’ technique. Freedman, J., Fraser, S.C., “Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1966, Vol 4, No. 2, 195-202The ‘foot-in-the-door’ technique is when a prior, small commitment is believed to change the attitude to and likelihood of accepting a larger commitment.

6. Scientific Background – The ‘foot-in-the-door’ technique (i)6Freedman and Fraser carried out a two stage study on housewives in Palo Alto, California. An experimenter went house to house making a number of requests: Freedman, J., Fraser, S.C., “Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1966, Vol 4, No. 2, 195-202Stage 1: First, an experimenter made a small request using one of four techniques (the ‘getting a foot in the door’ technique)Some housewives were asked to display a “Be a safe driver” card in the kitchen windowOthers were asked to display a “Keep California Beautiful” card in the windowA third group were asked to sign a petition on safe drivingA fourth group were asked to sign a petition to keep California beautifulStage 2: Two weeks later, the experimenter returned to make a larger request. All four groups were asked to display a huge ‘Drive Carefully’ sign in their garden.

7. Scientific Background – The ‘foot-in-the-door’ technique (ii)7Freedman and Fraser carried out a two stage study on housewives in Palo Alto, California. An experimenter went house to house making a number of requests: Freedman, J., Fraser, S.C., “Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1966, Vol 4, No. 2, 195-202Results: Over 55% of people agreed to displaying the sign, compared to only 20% in the control group who had not received a small request in stage 1.Why? Freedman and Fraser reasoned that someone who had agreed to the small request experience a change in attitude and belief in their ability to contribute to society in meaningful and useful ways.

8. Can commitment bias nudge people to save energy in the home? (i)8Pallak, M.S., D.A. Cook and J.J. Sullivan (1980). "Commitment and Energy Conservation." In L. Bickman (ed.), Applied Social Psychology Annual 235-253, Beverley Hills, CA: Sage; www.toolsofchange.comGetting people to save energy in the home is a challenging task, but one team of researchers implemented an extremely effective use of commitment bias in homes in Iowa.

9. Can commitment bias nudge people to save energy in the home? (ii)9Pallak, M.S., D.A. Cook and J.J. Sullivan (1980). "Commitment and Energy Conservation." In L. Bickman (ed.), Applied Social Psychology Annual 235-253, Beverley Hills, CA: Sage; www.toolsofchange.comResearchers tested the impact of a public commitment – printing citizens’ names in the local newspapers - in reducing gas consumption in the home.Group 1 were given simple tips to save energy in the homeGroup 2 were asked for a verbal commitment to reduce energy consumptionGroup 3 were told that their names were being published in the local newspaper as examples of ‘energy-conserving citizens’ – a public commitment

10. Can commitment bias nudge people to save energy in the home? (iii)10Pallak, M.S., D.A. Cook and J.J. Sullivan (1980). "Commitment and Energy Conservation." In L. Bickman (ed.), Applied Social Psychology Annual 235-253, Beverley Hills, CA: Sage; www.toolsofchange.comResearchers tested the impact of a public commitment – printing citizens’ names in the local newspapers - in reducing gas consumption in the home.Results: Neither Group 1 or 2 made reductions in gas consumption. Verbal commitments are often less effective than written ones. Group 3 reduced their gas consumption by over 12%!

11. Meeting deadlines using commitment bias (i)11Ariely, D. and K. Wertenbroch (2002), “Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment,” Psychological Science, 13, 219-224.Externally imposed deadlines are the most effective!Observing that like most students, theirs also had a considerable tendency to procrastinate on their essays and coursework…...professors Dan Ariely and Klaus Wertenbroch set up an experiment to test the effectiveness of deadlines, a form of commitment.

12. Meeting deadlines using commitment bias (ii)12Ariely, D. and K. Wertenbroch (2002), “Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment,” Psychological Science, 13, 219-224.Ariely and Wertenbroch conducted a study to test the effectiveness of deadlines.Students were asked to submit term papers over the course of a 14 week term with either:Externally imposed deadlines, which were fixed and evenly spacedFree choice to set their own binding deadlinesResults: Externally-imposed and evenly-spaced deadlines were more effective than self-imposed (and binding) deadlines, which in turn are more effective than having no interim deadlines.

13. Increasing voter turnout using commitment bias (i)13Greenwald, A. et al “Increasing voter behaviour by asking people if they expect to vote”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 1987, Vol 72, No. 2, 315-318Does making a verbal commitment to vote actually affect voting behaviour?The evening before the 1984 Ohio State election, a team of researchers tested the effect of asking someone if they were going to vote, to see if making a verbal commitment to vote actually affected their voting behaviour on election day.

14. Increasing voter turnout using commitment bias (ii)14Greenwald, A. et al “Increasing voter behaviour by asking people if they expect to vote”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 1987, Vol 72, No. 2, 315-318Campaign workers phoned registered voters the evening before the Nov 6th 1984 election, and asked:“What do you expect to do between now and the time the polls close tomorrow. Do you expect that you will vote or not?”Results: Of those who said they were intending to vote, 86.7% went on to vote the next day, compared with just 61.5% in the control group – an increase of around 25%.

15. Drawing on our identity to leverage commitment bias (i)15Hollingworth, C. “How Obama’s Team Nudged the Voters” 13th April 2013, Marketing Society / The Behavioural ArchitectsPeople desire to be consistent with their behaviour, so were reminded of their identity as a voter using a subtle language change.“I am a painter!” vs “I paint”“I am a voter!” vs “I vote”

16. Drawing on our identity to leverage commitment bias (ii)16Hollingworth, C. “How Obama’s Team Nudged the Voters” 13th April 2013, Marketing Society / The Behavioural ArchitectsResearchers found that a simple linguistic cue in a request to vote had a very powerful impact on reminding people of their identity as voters.Group 1 were asked “How important is it to you to be a voter in the upcoming election?” (noun)Group 2 were asked “How important is it for you to vote in the upcoming election?” (verb)Results: ‘Being a voter’ led to higher turnout in 2008 California election (96% vs 82%) and in 2009 New Jersey election: (89% vs 79%)

17. When breaking a commitment is emotionally and psychologically painful (i)17If people are paid in cash, can we pay them part of their income in a separate envelope to encourage them to save?SAVE

18. When breaking a commitment is emotionally and psychologically painful (ii)18The upgrade: a perforated envelope which can only be opened on the sideSAVE“In that experiment, not a single person broke into the perforated envelope during the six-month study period. ... You need a 12.5% interest rate hike to match this effect!”Dilip Soman, Professor at the University of Toronto

19. EXAMPLESUsing commitment bias to influence behaviour

20. Making daily written commitments via text message to lose weight20Behavioural challenge: Teenagers who have recently lost weight at a weight loss camp often regain weight when they return to their home environment.Behavioural intervention: Researchers sent daily text messages to teenagers who had returned home from camp asking them to commit to specific healthy lifestyle habits such as eating smaller portions or fruit rather than chocolate.Impact: They found that those who were sent the message not only maintained their weight, but lost more weight. People in the control group were 8 times as likely to regain weight! Kulendran M, Vlaev, I., King D, Gately P, Darzi A. (2016) The use of commitment techniques to support weight loss maintenance in obese adolescents. Psychology & Health 31(11), 1332-41CAMP: Can you promise to eating at least 3, 4 or 5 fruit or veg a day for the next week. Please text back the number of fruit you would like to commit to eating per day. Text back CAMP followed by yes or no to 8810.”

21. Commitment bias helps women attend cervical cancer screening appointments (i)21Behavioural challenge: Many women underestimate the risk of developing cervical cancer and fail to make screening appointments. Behavioural Intervention: The Australian NSW Behavioural Insights Unit redesigned the reminder letter and leveraged BE to encourage women to make screening appointments. “Spotlight on Health Results Behavioural Insights Short Report.” (2015). New South Wales Behavioural Insights Unit.

22. Commitment bias helps women attend cervical cancer screening appointments (ii)22Impact: The tear-off commitment device increased screening rates by 8.4% compared to the control letter. Based on the outcomes of the RCT, the Cervical Screening Program decided to roll out the commitment letter state-wide. This is expected to lead 7,500 more women to attend their screening appointment within three months.“Spotlight on Health Results Behavioural Insights Short Report.” (2015). New South Wales Behavioural Insights Unit.

23. How TBA can leverage commitment to ensure participant engagement in online methodologies23Behavioural challenge: A challenge we often face when using an online research methodology is maintaining participant engagement. All too often, we will see the participation rate for online activities drop from 100% on Day 1, to 92% on Day 3, to 86% on Day 5!SOLUTION 1: Face-to-face meetings One hypothesis is that meeting respondents face to face engenders within them a greater sense of commitment towards the project.PROMISE CONTRACTI commit to logging on to the Dub platform each morning and spend 15 minutes uploading my thoughts for the next 10 days so the TBA team can read my fantastic ideas!Signed ......................SOLUTION 2: Promise contractRespondents could ‘sign’ a commitment pledge at the beginning of a platform. The message could be structured around priming imagery, such as two hands shaking or a ‘pledge of allegiance’ icon, to make the commitment all the more salient.

24. Commitment bias in the Obama election campaign (i)24A behavioural challenge for Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012 was how to get more people to vote.The campaign team leveraged commitment bias in three ways:1. Identifying people as a voter 2. Signing a card to pledge your voteHollingworth, C. “How Obama’s Team Nudged the Voters” 13th April 2013, Marketing Society / The Behavioural Architects

25. Commitment bias in the Obama election campaign (ii)25Identifying people as a voter:“Mr Smith, we know you have voted in the past…”Cialdini: “People want to be congruent with what they have committed to in the past, especially if that commitment is public.”Hollingworth, C. “How Obama’s Team Nudged the Voters” 13th April 2013, Marketing Society / The Behavioural Architects

26. Commitment bias in the Obama election campaign (iii)26Sign a card to pledge your voteCommitment bias was also utilised by the Obama 2012 campaign by asking people if they would sign a ‘Commit to Vote’ card.Hollingworth, C. “How Obama’s Team Nudged the Voters” 13th April 2013, Marketing Society / The Behavioural Architects

27. Using commitment bias to reduce ‘no shows’ at a doctor’s surgery (i)27In the UK, many people fail to attend appointments to see their doctor.Missed appointments are a huge waste of resources and time, lengthened waiting times and creating difficulties meeting performance targets. Martin, 2012; BBC NewsUp to 6 million appointments are missed each yearThis costs the National Health Service around £700 million

28. Using commitment bias to reduce ‘no shows’ at a doctor’s surgery (ii)28The impact of making a commitment:Martin, 2012; BBC News

29. Using commitment bias to increase adherence to medication29A research study run by The Behavioural Architects included a ‘promise contract’ to leverage commitment bias, and had great results…7 out of 10patients showed an increase in drug compliance

30. 30Stickk is a web platform to help people commit to and achieve goals and tackle procrastination.

31. 31Commitment bias – stickK.com (ii)There are four chunked stages to using stickK.com - which leverage different cognitive biases: 

Set yourself a goal (commitment bias)
Set some stakes (loss aversion)
Select a referee (strengthened commitment bias)
Round up support (strengthened commitment bias and social norms)
Impact: If people have money on the line and a referee, success rates are in the 70 to 75% range. Without this it drops considerably - down to 30-35%.

32. 32Using commitment bias to increase honesty Researchers wanted to test an intervention to increase honesty when filling out declaration forms for car insuranceBE Inspired Intervention: They designed a form requesting people to sign at the top, before they began to fill out the form.This action reminded them that they should be truthful and made people feel committed to being honest about their mileage.Impact: People who signed a declaration of truth at the start of the form, rather than at the end, declared a 10% higher mileage.Shu, L. L., Mazar, N. Gino, F., Ariely D., and Bazerman, M.H., 'Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end’, 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (38), 15197-15200

33. 33Sweden tackles pushy parents using commitment bias (i)Behavioural Problem: A survey conducted in Stockholm, Sweden revealed that one in three children had considered quitting their local football team due to overly pushy parents. It was reported that parents were seen to be “over-engaged”, pushing their children too much, and loudly criticising young referees and officials.

34. 34Sweden tackles pushy parents using commitment bias (ii)Intervention: The top three clubs in Stockholm developed a football ‘honour code’ to help curb the rowdy behaviour of parents: Parents had to pledge to agree to support their kids positively. “I, as a parent, will do everything I can to support my child, other children, club staff, referees and parents in training and at games – through a positive involvement.”Results: The initiative has had astounding results, with 1600 parents signing up for the pledge upon inception, with more parents signing up since. It is being rolled out nationally and supported by all major football clubs.

35. 35Palau leverages commitment bias to help sustain their environmentPalau, an island in the Pacific, is the first nation to change its immigration process for the cause of environmental protection. Upon entry, visitors need to sign a passport pledge promising to act in an ecologically responsible way on the island, for the sake of Palau’s children and future generations of Palauans.The campaign built around the Palau Pledge won multiple awards in 2018.

36. 36Similarly, New Zealand asks travellers to agree to the “Tiaki Promise” upon arrival

37. 37Combatting present bias by committing to saveStudy task: Entrepreneurs were split into 3 groups:Weekly self-help peer groups which involved announcing their savings targets to other members. Received text message reminders The offer of a high interest account that paid 5% instead of 0.3%.Results: Being offered a 5% interest rate had no effect on most people’s savings. In contrast, peer groups helped people to make deposits 3.5 times more often. Weekly text message reminders were almost as effective.Kast, F., Meier, S., & Pomeranz, D. (2012). Under-Savers Anonymous: Evidence on Self-Help Groups and Peer Pressure as a Savings Commitment Device. NBER Working Paper Series, No 18417, September.Behavioural challenge: A two-year experiment with 2,700 entrepreneurs in Chile sought to use commitment devices to increase saving rates.This reveals the power of commitment bias, social proof and feedback to combat another bias!

38. Pre-commitment devices

39. 39Pre-commitment devices: Blackmail yourself to stop smoking (i)Commitment devices can be cruel, threatening to shame us if we break our commitment.

40. 40Pre-commitment devices: Blackmail yourself to stop smoking (ii)To help people stop smoking, the Dutch Anti-smoking Council designed a Facebook app.Set a date to quitUpload embarrassing photosNominate a friendYour friend can make these photos public if they ever catch you smoking!

41. Using pre-commitment devices to manage spending 41Barclays has recently introduced a new initiative allowing customers to pre-commit to block certain categories of spending, such as gambling sites. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/barclays-mobile-banking-spending-switch-off-app-gambling-addiction-debit-card-a8677226.html

42. 42A pre-commitment device to help us get enough sleepJawbone's mid-afternoon message, asking users to commit to an earlier bedtime that evening.Close to bedtime, Jawbone then reminds the user of their earlier commitment.Jawbone's Smart Coach uses social norms and real time feedback to nudge users to sleep more!

43. 43Incorporating small rewards into our pre-commitment devices to improve resultsBy associating our pre-commitments with small bonuses, we become more willing to stick to them. Example: ‘Forest’ app invites users to block out distracting sites for a set amount of time, and then initiates a graphic of a tree growing on the screen: from seedling to fully-blossomed. Users are given the option to quit their commitment, but if they do so before the allocated time is up, they kill their tree and it wilts before their eyes. https://thedecisionlab.com/precommitment-and-procrastination-behavioral-tools-for-students/

44. 44Latest pre-commitment products in the self-control market

45. 45Pre-commitment devices to stop yourself from drunk dialingBehavioural challengeYou want to avoid embarrassing texts or phone calls when you are going out drinking. BE-Inspired solutionApps like Drunk mode allow you to pre-commit to hiding certain contacts from yourself over a designated period of time!

46. QUOTES

47. 47“(A commitment device is) an arrangement entered into by an individual with the aim of helping fulfil a plan for future behaviour that would otherwise be difficult due to intra-personal conflict stemming, for example, from a lack of self control.”Dean Karlan, Behavioural Economist

48. "I was creating commitment devices of my own long before I knew what they were. So when I was a starving post-doc at Columbia University, I was deep in a publish-or-perish phase of my career. I had to write five pages a day towards papers or I would have to give up five dollars.”Dan GoldsteinPrincipal Researcher at Microsoft Research in New York City and Honorary Research Fellow at London Business School48

49. Further ReadingAcademic studied referred to in this guide as well as useful books and articles BBC News – Health “Simple measures ‘cut NHS missed appointments’” 9 March 2012Cialdini, R., “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, 1984, Chapter 3Freedman, J., Fraser, S.C., “Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1966, Vol 4, No. 2, 195-202Greenwald, A. et al “Increasing voter behaviour by asking people if they expect to vote”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 1987, Vol 72, No. 2, 315-318Hollingworth, C. “How Obama’s Team Nudged the Voters” 13th April 2013, Marketing Society (The Behavioural Architects)Martin, S., “Commitments, norms and custard creams – a social influence approach to reducing did not attends (DNAs)” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 105: 101-104, 2012New York Times “Academic ‘dream team’ helped Obama’s effort” 12 November 2012Tools of change “Obtaining a commitment” www.toolsofchange