In the embedded video above, we’ll look at an example of how tweaking environments improved donation rates even among the least likely to donate.
Lee Ross, who we met in last week’s article, Shape The Path, and his co-author Richard Nisbett, in their book The Person And The Situation, tell a story of tweaking the environment to change behavior. They described research that involved examining why some college students donate canned-food to charity and why others don’t. The researchers showed that environmental factors, like whether the students were provided with a map, were a far bigger factor in whether or not they donated than their personal proclivities.
When trying to create change, we often reach for carrots and sticks, but we need to realize that we actually have access to more tools than that. If you change the path, you can change behavior.
I would love to hear what you thought of the video, so feel free to comment below, on The K Guy Twitter, or on The K Guy Facebook fan page.