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Modern Wisdom

How To Understand Psychological Incentives - Uri Gneezy - #609

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2023

⏱️ 79 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Uri Gneezy is a behavioural economist, a professor at the University of California and an author who's research focuses on human incentives. Incentives encourage humans to do things. But they're not as straight forward as you might think. They often have unintended and disastrous consequences for our personal lives, businesses and societies. Basically, a bad incentive is worse than no incentive at all.  Expect to learn why paying citizens 10p for a rat tail is a bad idea, how fining parents for taking their kids on holiday results in more kids missing school, why the Toyota Prius won because of its strange design, how reframing discounts can rapidly change behaviour, why Peloton's sales went up when they increased the price, why Coke machines have an outdoors thermometer on them and much more... Sponsors: Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get $100 discount on the best water filter on earth from AquaTru at https://bit.ly/drinkwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on all Keto Brainz products at https://ketobrainz.com/modernwisdom (use code: MW20) and follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ketobrainz/ Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:25) Explaining Incentives (03:55) Social Dynamics of Signalling (12:15) The Problem with Mixed Signals (17:34) Uber’s Driver Incentive Program (21:02) The Right Way to Encourage Innovation & Punish Failure (28:06) How Peloton Sold More With a Higher Price (32:50) The Mixed Signal of Long-Term Goals & Short-Term Results (38:31) How Incentives Are Helping Prevent Female Genital Mutilation (46:24) Why Fines Are So Bad at Incentivising Behaviour (52:41) How an LA Car Company Used Incentives to Drive Sales (1:02:18) Using Incentives to Find Problems (1:08:14) What Most People Get Wrong About Negotiation (1:13:30) Where to Find Uri Extra Stuff: Buy Mixed Signals - https://amzn.to/40pQ4Tj  Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Episodes You Might Enjoy: This Is How To Master Your Life - David Goggins - #577: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins⁠⁠⁠ How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs - Dr Jordan Peterson - #712: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson⁠⁠⁠ The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain - Dr Andrew Huberman - #700: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman⁠⁠ Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

What's happening people? Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Uri Neesey. He's a

0:05.1

behavioral economist, a professor at the University of California, and an author whose research focuses

0:10.8

on human incentives. Incentives encourage humans to do things, but they're not as straightforward

0:16.8

as you might think. They often have unintended and disastrous consequences for our personal

0:21.3

lives, business, and societies. Basically, a bad incentive is worse than knowing incentive at all.

0:28.1

Expect to learn why paying citizens ten pens for a rat tail is a bad idea. How finding

0:34.0

parents for taking their kids on holiday results in more kids missing school. Why the Toyota Prius

0:39.7

won because of its strange design. How reframing discounts can rapidly change behavior. Why

0:44.9

peloton sales went up when they increased the price. Why Coke machines have an outdoor thermometer

0:52.1

and much more. In other news, this episode is brought to you by Surfshark VPN. Protect your

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see all of that data and sell it to advertisers that target you with ads. Websites are split testing

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