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Yeah, something that most people don't know is that extrinsic motivation dissolves intrinsic motivation.

see http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/10/how-rewards-can-backfire-an...

This means that fitbit will leave you as either a fitbit addict (if you stick with it), or as someone who's less healthy than you would have been otherwise (if you don't, because now you'll exercise less on your own).



I heard that these studies are, like all social studies, to be taken with a grain of salt. They don't replicate well.


I don't know about that. It should be fairly easy to study (and hence replicate).

1. Find a group of animals (preferably humans, but dogs, rats, pigeons, etc. should also work just fine).

2. Target a specific unnecessary behavior pattern (hobby) that all individual engage in.

3. Measure the baseline rate of that activity.

4. Introduce a reward:

4a. For a randomly selected subset the reward follows imminently the targeted behavior.

4b. For the rest they'll receive the "reward" equally often but at a time independent of the targeted behavior.

5. Drop the reward.

6. Let some time pass.

7. Measure the drop/increase in the behavior from the baseline measure.

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[edit] format.


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I think he's referring to the replication crisis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis


Sorry, my advice is, Google for the whole replication crisis thing. I think I read something about this specific set of studies on slate star codex, so that's a good place to look.

Please pardon that I don't have enough time to look for the sources myself.


No, he's right. I wouldn't have even mentioned Social sciences. Medical studies are just as terrible. We need to question every study. Repeat said studies. Make sure the repeat studies were done right. Then study it again by outsiders.


Yeah, if you're someone who's already spending three days a week at the gym, you probably don't need a Fitbit. Especially in the GP's case where it seems like he may have substituted his gym time with a Fitbit.


The FSF has had this 1987 newspaper article on their web site for a long time:

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/motivation.html

There's also a psychology experiment in which people who were paid to argue for a position reported less belief in it afterward compared to people who argued for it for free (but I don't remember the citation). Apparently all of these things may be described as

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overjustification_effect


Ah damnit, what?!

Due to my intense procrastination, when people say "something that most people don't know" [1] I've usually at least heard of it. But somehow this has completely slipped under my radar. Makes me rethink a lot of how I understand motivation.

[1] (On the Internet, in certain circles, for certain topics.)


I've been reading "Punished By Rewards" (http://www.amazon.com/Punished-Rewards-Trouble-Incentive-Pra...) and it got into a lot of that. Pop behaviorism has really deep roots on the collective American psyche.


The article is very cool. It made me remember that I saw it somewhere, and that's the candle problem TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation I had a good time watching it.


A good warning for some "gamification" engagement strategies


rewards are strongly tied to dopamine release in the brain. suggest watching Ropert Sapolsky's lectures on Human Behavioral Biology [1]. i learned alot from them. i keep rewatching/relistening to his lectures and every time i learn something new.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA




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