Don't Give-Up: Why some intervention schemes encourage suboptimal behavior.

ABSTRACT: Many social challenges stem from individuals' tendency to prefer immediately rewarding but suboptimal behaviors ("Give-Up" options) over more costly endeavors that yield much better outcomes in the long run ("Try" options). For example, many people forgo the long-term benefits of formal education, healthy diets, learning new technologies, and even finding true love. This paper examines various incentivization programs that combine external rewards and punishments to discourage such counterproductive behaviors, which often result in only temporary behavioral change. Our findings suggest that some interventions' limited impact may be due to their focus on only shifting behaviors from "Give-Up" (e.g., dropping out of college, avoiding the gym) to "Try" (e.g., attending college, exercising reg

SUBMITTER: Cohen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11836215 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature