The Science of Being Human
Behavioral Economics, Positive Psychology, and Human Achievement

The Question • 400 years
from now, what will make people say, “What were they thinking?” • Almost 400 years ago, Galileo was branded a heretic by the Inquisition for his observations of the moon, which showed it was not a perfect sphere

Hint: Not A Perfect Sphere

The Human Frontier • How
many people get excited about going to Mars or discovering the Higgs Boson? • The most important frontier today is our understanding of being human – Neuroscience – Positive Psychology – Behavioral Economics

Today’s Talk • Background •
Principles • Implications

Who Is This Guy? •
Alisha’s husband • Entrepreneur, investor, blogger • I’m not a scientist, I just read a lot of books and like to talk

Positive Psychology • Founded in
1998 by Martin Seligman • The science of mental health, not illness • Has crossed over to the mainstream • Distinguished from self-help by scientific basis

Happiness

Optimism • As we’ve become
more self-centered and less community-oriented, depression has increased • Optimists (despite being less realistic) are healthier, happier, and more successful – Bad events have specific, temporary, external causes – Good events have general, permanent, internal causes • Pessimists can employ the ABCDE model – Adversity, Belief, Consequences, Disputation, Energization

Positivity • The positivity ratio
is the # of positive statements to the # of negative statements • High performing teams average 6:1; low performing teams average 1:1 • Flourishing marriages average 5:1; failed marriages fall below 1:1 • The tipping point is 2.9013 • Raise your ratio by decreasing negativity and increasing positivity

Intrinsic Motivation • The 6
basic aspirations – Extrinsic • To be rich • To be famous • To be good-looking – Intrinsic • Satisfying personal relationships • Contribute to the community • Grow as an individual • People with extrinsic goals show more narcisissm, anxiety, and depression—even if achieved

Surrogacy • We suck at
knowing what will make us happy • Your best bet is to ask a surrogate who has undergone the experience how they feel • We resist surrogacy because we don’t like to see ourselves as average – 90% of drivers consider themselves above average

The How of (Personal) Happiness
• Express gratitude • Learn to forgive • Cultivate optimism • Increase flow • Avoid overthinking experiences • Practice acts of • Savor life’s joys kindness • Commit to goals • Nurture social relationships • Practice religion & • Develop strategies for spirituality coping • Take care of your body

Happiness Policy • Happiness per
country depends on 6 factors – Feeling you can trust other people – Belonging to social organizations – Divorce rate – Unemployment rate – Quality of government – Religious faith • The hedonic treadmill: Money can’t buy happiness because humans are so adaptable

Achievement

Flow • Clear goals every
step of the way • Immediate feedback on actions • Balance between challenges and skills • Action and awareness are merged • Distractions are excluded from consciousness • No worry of failure • Self-consciousness disappears • Time “flies” • Activity becomes done for its own state

Mindset • Growth vs. Fixed
mindset • The mind is a muscle you can improve • Failure is a chance to grow • Just 2 50-minute interventions had a significant impact 4 years later

Deliberate Practice • Break down
skills into their components • Practice those components at the edge of your ability • Focus on immediate feedback and iteration • Work hard to put in your 10,000 hours

Spirituality

Sacredness • Self-transcendence is a
basic part of being human—we want to be uplifted • The function of this instinct is to bind groups together • Most of us long to overcome pettiness and become part of something bigger

Behavioral Economics • Human beings
aren’t rational economic actors • Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for this work (partner Amos Tversky had passed away) • Focused on “cognitive biases”

We are Predictably Irrational •
Heuristics (“rules of thumb”) • Framing (“how information is presented”) • Anomalies (“Man, that’s some weird stuff!”)

Heuristics • We focus on
what we can lose, not what we can gain (loss aversion) • We make decisions based on relative, not absolute values (e.g. “the middle price”) • Zero/free is a source of irrational excitement

Framing • Anchoring has a
major long-term effect on our willingness to pay • Market norms drive out social norms – And consumers take offense if a relationship framed as a social exchange turns out to be a market one • We unconsciously act based on stereotypes (priming) • The placebo effect works, and people get more impact from an expensive placebo than a cheap one

Anomalies • Humans procrastinate; using
pre-commitment can help overcome it • We overvalue what we have (the endowment effect) • We hate to give up options—even if we should

So what does all this
mean? • The past 30 years have seen a revolution in the science of being human • We are moving beyond religion, philosophy, psychology, and self-help with evidence-based interventions • We can be healthier, happier, and more productive simply by changing our minds

The Big Summary (Part 1)
• Optimism is adaptive and can be learned • Positivity (> 3:1) helps everything from teams to marriages • Only intrinsic motivations (relationships, community, growth) can make you happy • Money can’t buy happiness for individuals or nations—trust, belonging, and faith matter • Surrogacy is the best way to estimate happiness

The Big Summary (Part 2)
• Flow is productive, pleasurable, and systematically achievable • The mind is a muscle and failure is a just chance to grow • Deliberate practice, not natural ability, produces talent • We long to transcend the self and become part of something bigger • We decide based on rules of thumb and framing, not just facts and figures • Only by admitting our irrationality can we take steps to outwit our wrong-headed instincts

It all fits together •
Knowing we’re Predictable Irrational gives us the humility to use tools like Surrogacy to find what makes us Happy • Happiness stems largely from Optimism • Optimism helps you achieve Positivity • Positivity is the secret to successful relationships • Relationships reflect a longing for Self-Transcendence • Self-Transcendence is the core of Intrinsic Motivation • Intrinsic Motivation reflects the desire to belong and grow • The Growth Mindset gives you failure tolerance to test your limits with Deliberate Practice • Deliberate Practice is designed to achieve Flow • Flow is one path to Self-Transcendence and Happiness

And of course, Jeremy Lin
• Deliberate practice trumps “natural ability” • Overcome failure with optimism and positivity • The predictably irrational decisions of college coaches and NBA GMs • Self-Transcendence and winning basketball

Where do we go from
here? • The science of being human is a growing industry – LifeHacker – The Quantified Self – TED – Masters in Applied Positive Psychology (Penn) • How can you tap these principles in your own work?

Blatant Plugs • You can
read my blogs – http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/ – http://www.asktheharvardmba.com/ • Follow me on Twitter – https://twitter.com/chrisyeh • Follow up on the source material – http://bookoutlines.pbworks.com