SUMMARY:

Tali Sharot, cognitive neuroscience professor and author, discusses her book “Look Again” at a Talks at Google event, exploring habituation’s impact on behavior and perception.

IDEAS:

• Habituation diminishes our response to repeated or constant stimuli over time.
• People are happiest 43 hours into their vacation, with joy dwindling thereafter.
• First experiences on vacation are reported as the most enjoyable by tourists.
• Habituation motivates progress by reducing satisfaction with the status quo.
• Slow habituation to negative events is linked to symptoms of depression.
• Dishabituation can rekindle joy for life’s constant good things and awareness of bad.
• Intermittent satisfaction of desires enhances pleasure, as shown in music listening studies.
• Frequent, shorter vacations might maximize happiness by offering more “firsts.”
• Temporary absence from familiar environments can refresh appreciation for them.
• A good life balances happiness, purpose, and psychological richness through variety.
• Learning new things can prevent habituation and increase joy more than material rewards.
• Change, even if self-imposed, generally leads to increased well-being.
• People habituate to their own dishonesty, with lying escalating as emotional response diminishes.
• Emotional habituation can lead to increased risk-taking behavior over time.
• Dishabituation strategies can reduce risks by reinvoking caution in individuals.
• Sweden’s switch from left to right-side driving temporarily reduced accidents due to heightened caution.
• Rotating warning signs on products like cigarettes can prevent habituation and maintain impact.
• Awareness of brain’s habituation doesn’t eliminate it but allows for strategic action.
• Dishabituation entrepreneurs call attention to normalized negative aspects of society for change.
• Social media use can cause unnoticed background anxiety, similar to a constant noise.
• Taking breaks from social media has been shown to improve well-being significantly.

INSIGHTS:

• Habituation’s role in diminishing joy and awareness can be strategically managed for improvement.
• Introducing variety and change into routines can enhance life’s psychological richness.
• Dishabituation techniques can be applied to both amplify pleasure and mitigate risks.
• Awareness of habituation effects empowers individuals to make informed choices for well-being.
• Social media’s addictive qualities stem from intermittent reinforcement despite potential negativity.

QUOTES:

• “Pleasure results from incomplete and intermittent satisfaction of desires.” - Tibor Scitovsky
• ”Habituation ensures that we progress, that we want to move forward."
• "People who habituate to negative events slower tend to have depression symptoms."
• "Breaking up the good experiences into bits… enhances pleasure."
• "Change can actually enhance well-being."
• "Emotional habituation leads to dishonesty escalation."
• "We stop responding to things that are constant around us so we can have more resources to respond to new things."
• "Variety… puts us in a state of learning."
• "Learning is by definition change, and we can’t habituate to change."
• "Accidents went down by 40% when Sweden switched driving sides due to heightened caution."
• "Knowing about those tricks [of the brain] doesn’t make them go away.”

HABITS:

• Enjoying frequent, shorter vacations rather than long ones for more happiness peaks.
• Breaking up enjoyable experiences into parts to maintain their pleasure value.
• Completing unpleasant tasks in one go to benefit from negative habituation.
• Introducing variety into daily routines for a psychologically richer life.
• Engaging in diverse activities and interactions for continuous learning and growth.
• Taking breaks from regular environments to refresh appreciation for them.
• Calling out small acts of dishonesty early to prevent escalation.
• Changing environments or rules occasionally to induce dishabituation and caution.
• Rotating between departments or projects at work for enhanced creativity.
• Taking breaks from social media to improve overall well-being.

FACTS:

• Happiness peaks 43 hours into a vacation before gradually declining.
• First experiences are often the most memorable and enjoyable during vacations.
• Habituation is linked to mental health issues; slower habituation correlates with depression symptoms.
• Dishabituation can be achieved by breaking up continuous experiences or introducing variety.
• People who diversify their lives experience a more psychologically rich existence.
• Material rewards habituate over time, while learning provides continuous change and joy.
• Change generally leads to increased happiness, even if self-imposed.
• Sweden’s switch in driving sides temporarily reduced accidents due to renewed caution.
• Rotating health warnings on products like cigarettes helps maintain their effectiveness.

REFERENCES:

• “The Optimism Bias” - Book by Tali Sharot
• ”The Influential Mind” - Book by Tali Sharot
• TED Talk: How to Motivate Yourself to Change Your Behavior
• ”Look Again— The Power of Noticing What Was Always There” - Book by Tali Sharot and Cass R. Sunstein
• Effective Brain Lab at MIT and University College London
• Study on vacation happiness by Tali Sharot with a tourism company
• Study on emotional responses and depression by Aaron Heller from the University of Miami
• Study on creativity and habituation using auditory stimuli
• Study on massage enjoyment with breaks
• Study on risk-taking behavior using virtual reality by Tali Sharot’s lab
• Experiment on decision-making and happiness by Steven Levitt
• Study on social media use and well-being by economist Hans Allcott

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Break up enjoyable experiences into parts for sustained pleasure over time.
• Complete unpleasant tasks in one go to benefit from negative habituation effects.
• Introduce variety into routines for a psychologically richer and happier life.
• Take frequent short vacations instead of long ones for more happiness peaks.
• Rotate between different projects or departments at work for creativity boosts.
• Change your environment occasionally to refresh perspective and induce dishabituation.
• Call out small acts of dishonesty early to prevent larger issues from developing.
• Use rotating health warnings on products like cigarettes to maintain their impact.
• Take breaks from social media periodically to improve overall well-being and reduce anxiety.
• Engage in diverse activities and interactions for continuous learning and personal growth.