Carrots and Sticks summary

Do you hate losing? If so, you’re not alone. People in general dislike losing something they have considerably more than they enjoy gaining something new.

In fact, the same phenomenon has been observed in primate behavior.

Do you have strong willpower? Many of us think we do, but most of the time, we’re deluding ourselves. Several studies have shown that humans in general have limited self-control.

For instance, one study revealed that people taking a test tend to give up on a difficult puzzle much more quickly if tempted by candy before starting the test. Not just that, but the same people have a much harder time turning down the candy once they’ve finished.

Carrot, or stick? You’ve probably heard these two words used to describe incentives for people to do things they may not want to do. A carrot is a reward, and a stick is a punishment.

In general, it’s easy to change behavior by rewarding good actions and punishing bad ones.

So reprimanding bad behavior is the best way to ensure commitment to long-term goals. Yet for a cash fine to act as an actual deterrent, it is essential that the amount be substantial.

The higher the fine, in fact, the more effective the punishment!

We know that our addiction to now dramatically predisposes us to seeking immediate rewards over longer-term goals.

This means that people who try to change their behavior for the better, like quitting smoking, end up in a vicious cycle of many small temptations that they struggle and often fail to resist.

Sticks and carrots offer effective incentives for curbing bad behavior. Yet we also need effective tools to overcome our addiction to now.

One way to do this is to make an agreement with yourself, called a commitment contract.

Say you want to enact drastic, permanent change, such as losing a lot of weight. You can’t just change your eating habits for a few weeks and expect the pounds to melt off of you.

To achieve permanent change, you need to set realistic goals.