Messages that Motivate

If you saw an image of yourself as an older person would you change your behavior and start saving more for your retirement now?

A research study was done showing people an age-morphed photo of themselves at a retirement age, 65. The study found that when individuals were presented with an older version of their likeness their attitudes change.  After seeing an older image of themselves, they were more likely to put a savings plan in place today for tomorrow’s retirement.  This potential change in behavior is pretty powerful.  So, what makes this work?  How could this type of effect be used in a learning environment?

Breaking apart the experiment.

What makes these altered photos such a powerful motivator?  The images are….

1) Personal  – each person is confronted with their own older self. The presentation is not generalized.
2) Emotional – seeing ourselves age, we are reminded of our own mortality.
3) Concrete – the use of a photographic image is breaks through some of the “intellectual” reasons to save.  Getting older, an abstraction to the young, becomes (at least for the moment) a tangible reality.

How can you use these techniques to motivate?

The challenge when presenting ideas is to capture people’s attention, to get them involved in the message, and act on a defined goal. Making sure your design has a personal element, emotional appeal, and is concrete increases the effectiveness of your message.

After sketching out your ideas, go back and look for ways to heighten these three elements.  For example, in a scenario I planned learners had three possible choices.  My first draft was very simple.  “correct”  and “incorrect” feedback was provided.  To create more emotional impact I scratched the immediate (rather boring) feedback.  I added additional material showing the results of a the poor choices.  The results of incorrect choices were painful – creating more emotional appeal.

How about you?  When you review one of your projects, are you able to think of ways to make your message more concrete, personal, or emotional? How?