Starting in the late 1990s, the federal government pressured the tobacco industry to fund anti-smoking campaigns, aimed specifically at keeping adolescents from ever picking up this habit we and they and everyone now understands is very bad for long-term health.

One of the taglines was tobacco is wacko if you're a teen, which in 2024 does sound a little cringe, as the kids might say.

But these public service announcements were sincere and they were widely distributed in places where young people could be expected to encounter them.

Yet they actually had exactly the opposite effect public health experts hoped for.

They increased the likelihood that teenagers would try smoking.

And it wasn't just smoking.

The same unintended consequence was reported

following campaigns to combat drugs and bullying. How did public health experts and responsible

grownups everywhere who truly meant well spend so many millions of dollars only to make these

problems worse? From KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm Chris Boyd. My guest says the

problem is that we misunderstood what really matters to young people. They may indeed care about

their health and about being decent people, but they are biologically wired to care more, a lot more

about their social status, at least for now.

And if we want to help guide them to a healthy and productive path, we need to tap into that desire in ways that makes sense to them.

David Yeager is Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and the co-founder of the Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute.

His book is called 10 to 25, The Science of Motivating Young People, a groundbreaking approach

to leading the next generation and making your own life easier. David, welcome to think.

Thanks so much for having me. I want to start with the particular age span covered in this book, 10 to 25.

Many 10-year-olds may be just gaining the confidence to stay home alone when their parents are running an errand.

25-year-olds often live independently and support themselves.

And, of course, there are plenty of life development stages in between.

But broadly speaking, what do brains within this age

...