Fake It 'Til You Make It?: How Action Can Trigger Transformation: Matt Nagler on PYP 582

Plant Yourself - Embracing a Plant-based Lifestyle

Behavioral economist Matt Nagler returns to the podcast to discuss the urgent question of whether acting "as if" can lead to genuine transformation.

Standard economic theory holds that we have innate preferences, and that life is more or less about going around getting those preferences met. People who like chocolate go to work and make money so they can buy chocolate. People who are into danger and thrills take up skydiving. And so on.

But that's not the way we actually work. We can acquire tastes, not just for lima beans and beer, but for activities as well.

If you want to become a runner but the thought of breaking a sweat leaves you cold (I hear the approaching sirens of the "bad writing" police), you don't have to wait until you magically change your mind. Instead, you can just start running. According to Daryl Bem's Self-Perception Theory, seeing yourself running, day in and day out, will signal to your mind that you do like running. Because, it reasons, why the hell would you be doing it every day if you didn't?

And that mind hack is the key to behavior change. As God is reported to have said to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, "Na'aseh v'nishma." That is, "You will do and you will listen." The "DO" part comes first.

In our conversation, we cover lots of ancillary behavioral economics topics and follow Matt's roller coaster mind as it ranges from Mel Brooks to Japanese art films to Bayesian Updating (which blew me away and totally put my work on Memory Reconsolidation into a very cool theoretical framework).

Enjoy, and let us know what you think in the comments.

Links

Matt's "Zen and Economics" Substack (free)

To Be Or Not to Be (Mel Brooks movie) trailer

Shall We Dance? (Masayuki Suo movie) trailer

Daryl Bem's Self-Perception Theory

Jon Connelly's Rapid Resolution Therapy

Bayesian Updating explained