Behavior Change

Useful Science

https://www.usefulscience.org/podcast/52

On this episode we're joined by special guest, Erika Kirgios, whose research explores strategies for promoting prosocial behavior. Familiar hosts Avaneesh, Uyen, and Cameron discuss two of Erika's recent studies. One investigates “temptation bundling,” the process of pairing a pleasurable indulgence with a less-pleasurable behavior that confers delayed rewards in order to make it seem more appealing in the short-term. A second study demonstrates the concept of “motivation laundering,” when individuals who behave in accordance with financial incentives later forgo their monetary rewards in order to signal to others (or convince themselves) they acted out of purer motives. Erika is a researcher with The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Music by Solomon Krause-Imlach.

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Show Notes

• Teaching temptation bundling to boost exercise: A field experiment
• Forgoing earned incentives to signal pure motives