Articles and arguments

Self-serving bias, sunk costs, familiarity, and hindsight can distort business decisions. This article explains each trap through everyday examples and offers questions for examining your own judgment.

An early essay on persuasion through the lens of parenting: reminders, default choices, convenience, and guilt. It connects familiar family tactics to product design and customer communication.

A summary of Dan Ariely’s book Payoff, covering meaning, acknowledgment, ownership, and incentives at work. The article presents the book’s arguments about why money alone may not sustain employee motivation.

Why do habit-formation timelines create unrealistic expectations? This early essay argues for patience and simpler starting behaviors, with a link to Jason’s later examination of the research behind the 66-day figure.

Logan Paul repeatedly asks viewers to subscribe and buy merchandise, keeping each request to a few seconds. Jason connects those brief calls to action to a product-design problem: people who sign up once, hear nothing more, and forget the app.

Jason recounts how discovering and treating sleep apnea changed his concentration, memory, and mood. His experience raises a question often missed in behavior-change advice: could a health problem be making the task harder?

Niko Tinbergen’s four questions offer several ways to examine behavior. Jason adapts mechanism, development, function, and evolution to customer research, using grocery shopping as a worked example.

Can a simple psychology example explain a complicated real-world experience? Responding to a reader’s criticism of his exercise story, Jason discusses the tradeoff between teaching one concept and accounting for every contributing factor.

Small marketing interventions can bring hidden operating costs. A grocery-store example shows why Jason worries that coupons, sampling, and other nudges can accumulate into organizational complexity that limits future choices.

An airline offers $3,000 to switch flights, then says it meant $300. In a story Robert Cialdini told Jason, that joke backfires—and becomes a lesson about anchoring and how an opening offer frames the next one.

An essay on political prejudice, group competition, and cooperation. Drawing on the Robbers Cave study, Jason argues that shared projects and common goals deserve more attention in efforts to reduce social division.

Is willpower a fuel that runs out? This article discusses research on reverse ego depletion, cultural beliefs about mental effort, and failed replications that challenge a simple resource model of self-control.

Why did disappearing messages find an audience when permanent chat histories seemed so useful? Jason’s answer combines the spontaneity of conversation with two practical advantages: replying when you have time and choosing how you appear on camera.

A review of Nir Eyal’s Hooked that tests its four-step model against Google, Uber, Mint, and Twitter. Jason questions whether variable rewards are necessary and whether investment really follows reward.

Jason calls misleading information “anti-knowledge”: ideas that make our understanding worse. This short critique uses disputed behavioral-science findings to argue that learning more is not always the same as knowing more.

An interview about applied psychology in technology, including experimentation, product addiction, digital communication, and the purpose of technology. Jason questions engagement metrics that reward companies for consuming more of their users’ time.

A personal account of Bitcoin-era fear of missing out. Jason connects investment enthusiasm to social proof, uncertainty, and the temptation to follow other people’s purchases without understanding what they are buying.

What should you look for when hiring a behavioral scientist? Jason argues for testing problem-solving ability, creativity, and critical reading of research rather than being impressed by psychological terminology.

Does Spotify’s “Continue” button mean keep playing on this device or the other one? Jason proposes “Yes, listen here” and uses the ambiguity to show why interface copy needs to name the action.

A critical look at a publication-bias reanalysis of nudge research. Jason examines the collapse in reported average effects while leaving room for particular interventions that fit particular people and situations.

Jason argues that low self-esteem can sometimes reflect a poor match between a person and an activity. His basketball example makes the case for finding useful work that builds competence rather than relying on praise alone.

How much time goes into consuming other people’s ideas instead of making something? Jason makes the case for a daily creative practice, with examples ranging from writing and photography to guitar riffs.

Originality often starts with existing ideas. Examples from technology, music, and art support Jason’s argument that varied influences give us more material to combine into something of our own.

Compare 16 behavior change models and frameworks by the questions they answer. Use a worked team handoff to connect behavior selection, investigation, design and evaluation.

What people say they want may differ from what they actually use or buy. Jason argues for testing product ideas through observable behavior, with examples of inexpensive prototypes and real purchasing decisions.

Before designing a product, decide which behavior fits the people you want to serve. A hypothetical wellness app shows how ability, access, and circumstances change the activities worth building around.

How does behavior selection shape product adoption? Jason outlines Behavior Market Fit, including customer research, behavior matching, and the need to connect a useful, doable activity with a clear business outcome.

A collection of papers and investigations challenging prominent behavioral-economics claims. The reading list covers nudge effect sizes, publication bias, loss aversion, organ donation defaults, replication failures, and research integrity.

What would change if design decisions were judged by observed behavior? Jason argues that digital measurement and experimentation bring product design and behavioral science closer together, letting teams test whether a better-looking product is also more useful.

Before accepting behavioral-science advice, examine the evidence behind it. Jason distinguishes an advisor’s critical review of existing work from a behavioral strategist’s role in shaping a project before it is built.

Jason questions the value of conventional behavioral-science consulting and argues for UX expertise or earlier behavioral strategy work instead. The article explains how project stage, practical skills, and behavior selection should guide hiring.

A critique of nudge-led consulting, grounded in Jason’s experience with product engagement projects. He argues that choosing behaviors that solve customers’ problems matters more than adding persuasive features to an unsuitable product.

A worked Behavioral State Model example that turns low use of a reporting tool into competing explanations, targeted tests, and a better decision.

What does a behavioral strategist do before a product is built? This short overview covers defining the goal and audience, researching behavior, and choosing actions that fit both the user and the project.

A step-by-step introduction to Jason’s behavioral strategy process, from defining the goal and audience to researching context and comparing possible behaviors. Includes criteria for behavior matching and the transition into product development.

Jason makes the case for including customer behavior in strategic planning alongside finance, operations, and marketing. The article introduces Behavior Market Fit as a foundation for products people will actually use.

Why did Jason stop calling himself a behavioral economist? This essay examines the gap between published nudge results and field outcomes, the incentives behind research, and the costs of relying on exaggerated promises.

Are variable rewards really why people return to an app? Jason challenges the slot-machine explanation of product success and argues that useful content and important human needs deserve more attention.

Dopamine, cortex, right brain: impressive vocabulary can conceal a thin explanation. Jason’s satirical field guide to the “neuroSCIENCE™tist” asks whether the person wielding those terms can actually help solve your problem.

Jason reflects on fatigue, his experience with sleep apnea, and the relationship between physical health and behavior. The essay asks why persistent symptoms can be dismissed when routine tests appear normal.

Behavior depends on the person and the place. From weather to coffee-shop layouts, Jason shows how paying attention to ordinary surroundings can reveal opportunities and constraints that people-watching alone misses.

Personality can change, but a different mood, a new skill and a durable trait shift are different things. Here is what the evidence means for practical change.

What do buildings communicate about care, tradition, and permanence? Reflections on New York and Prague lead Jason into questions about architecture’s influence on experience and the conditions that make great art possible.

A transcript of Carl Rogers’s 1974 talk on empathy, listening, and therapeutic relationships. Rogers explains why understanding another person involves more than repeating their words, with examples from counseling and discussion of research.

Why do photographs with famous people affect someone’s reputation? Jason explores celebrity association in personal branding, advertising, and politics, including the endorsement research he draws on to explain its appeal.

A first attempt at bodyboarding becomes a metaphor for prompt timing. Jason connects catching a wave to asking people to act when they have both the motivation and ability to do so.

When a routine will not stick, is it the wrong activity for you? Jason explores alternatives to running and meditation, arguing that behavior selection can matter more than incentives or reminders.

Jason challenges the image of technology companies as all-powerful behavioral manipulators. He argues that social apps attract people by meeting familiar human interests, and questions sweeping explanations based on addiction engineering.

A short introduction to cognitive mirroring: expressing another person’s thoughts and beliefs back to them. The article presents understanding someone’s worldview as the starting point for a conversation about changing it.

Financial stakes in commitment contracts predate modern habit apps. This article compares StickK’s goal-setting approach with Albert Ellis’s earlier discussion of penalties, including donations to causes a person dislikes.

Could six prior beliefs help explain 17 cognitive biases? Learn how the 2023 framework works, what supports it, and what the theory has not shown.

An English translation of The Source’s television investigation into Dan Ariely’s research. The transcript presents the program’s questions about experiments, data, and public claims, along with Ariely’s response to the allegations.

Do organ-donation defaults deserve the credit they receive? Jason examines comparisons of opt-in and opt-out systems and argues that staffing, infrastructure, family communication, and public trust are central to interpreting donation rates.

Is automatic enrollment the same as changing what a person does? Jason uses retirement plans and organ donation to distinguish administrative outcomes from active behavior, while questioning the broader promises made for default nudges.

Send a joke by text and get no reply: did it fall flat, or is your friend just busy? Jason considers what missing facial expressions and delayed feedback might mean for how we learn to interact.

How should a product redesign be judged? Jason argues for testing whether changes help people use a product for its intended purpose, rather than treating aesthetic improvement as proof of success.

Some nudges change specific outcomes. Examine the positive trials, publication-bias dispute and practical limits before treating nudging as a dependable design strategy.

Will a piece of chocolate after meditation make you want to meditate tomorrow? Jason doubts the “doggie treat” approach to habit formation and argues for choosing activities that fit your goals and personality in the first place.

Jason uses his experience with a Paleo diet to question whether persistence is always the right response to a failing routine. The essay argues for examining the chosen behavior before trying harder to enforce it.

When do persuasion tactics make marketing worse? Examples of false urgency and strained social proof support Jason’s argument that customer understanding and creative judgment should guide the message. Behavioral concepts should help develop that message, not replace the work of thinking about it.

Deep expertise in one research topic does not automatically prepare someone for applied work. Jason argues that behavioral practitioners need broad foundations across psychology to address varied product and organizational problems.

A familiar restaurant disappoints; a birthday brunch exceeds expectations. Jason uses the two meals to ask how a business can attract customers without promising so much that a good experience still feels like a letdown.

Saying what you think is different from helping someone understand it. Jason explores communication as an act of empathy: choosing language, examples, and framing that make sense within another person’s worldview.

After his kitchen is cleaned, Jason forgets his supplements: the bottles are now hidden in a cabinet. He uses that missing visual cue to explain prompts in the Fogg Behavior Model and the role of reminders.

Jason argues against guarantees of lasting behavior change and calls for greater humility among practitioners. The essay connects overconfident intervention promises with a broader tendency to overlook uncertainty and tradeoffs.

A historical critique of Facebook’s mind-reading ambitions, with an introduction to EEG, implanted electrodes, NIRS, and fMRI. Jason examines the practical limits he saw in turning brain measurements into everyday consumer technology.

Social media makes other people’s successes unusually visible. Jason explores the unequal comparison between private struggles and public highlights, and asks how product design might encourage appreciation rather than envy.

Jason keeps buying Apple products he admits he doesn’t need. His account of that affection, alongside Evernote’s freemium strategy, asks whether customer loyalty can make people want to support a company rather than simply buy another feature.

What does it mean when a headline says an activity “changes your brain”? Jason argues that ordinary perception, learning, and memory already involve change, so the phrase alone explains very little.

Reading notes on Robert Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion, focused on attention, context, and the timing of a request. The article summarizes the book’s priming argument and illustrates how it differs from the approach in Influence.

A video critique and transcript of the Fabulous app’s onboarding. Jason examines personal questions, paywalls, commitment prompts, and sharing requests, asking whether the experience explains its value and respects the user.

An early reflection on BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits approach, using one sentence and one tooth as starting points. Jason argues for taking satisfaction in a manageable action rather than waiting for a distant result.

An introduction to BJ Fogg’s motivation, ability, and prompt model. Covers the action line, Tiny Habits, product-design examples, and the distinction between a useful design framework and evidence for its specific claims.

Jason argues that familiar environments and automatic routines can leave more attention for difficult thinking. This essay challenges the idea that every ordinary activity benefits from deliberate, moment-by-moment awareness.

A practical way to compare several routes to the same goal. Build a list of activities, assess them for effectiveness, ease, enjoyment, and excitement, then choose among options that suit your circumstances.

Whether he aims for 10 repetitions or 20, Jason notices that he gets tired near his target. He wonders whether the goal-gradient effect explains the pattern: could approaching the finish line change how hard he lifts?

What matters more: maintaining a particular habit or reaching the outcome it serves? Jason gives a five-step process for generating alternatives, assessing personal fit, ranking options, and trying another behavior when necessary.

What should a habit coach help you do? Jason’s answer centers on choosing a suitable behavior, examining your circumstances, tracking progress, and adjusting the plan, rather than applying generic self-help tactics.

Jason argues that habit formation begins with matching a behavior to the person and the problem. This short essay introduces the four qualities he looks for: effective, easy, enjoyable, and exciting.

Create a shortlist of activities that move you toward the same goal and fit your life. Jason explains how to rank a Habit Menu and return to it when an activity loses its appeal.

At Four Barrel, Jason hears about a year spent perfecting a cold brew. His friend tastes the same coffee without hearing the story, prompting a question about perceived value: how much does knowing the work behind a product matter?

Why does a crowded tourist spot keep attracting more visitors? Jason uses Fisherman’s Wharf to explore social proof and the Matthew effect: the way existing popularity can generate still more attention.

Why do social apps hold attention differently from utilities such as shopping or transport services? Jason argues that information about relationships, social standing, and other people helps explain repeated use.

Does the cue–routine–reward loop tell us enough to change behavior? Jason questions its practical guidance and argues that choosing an inherently rewarding activity can be more useful than attaching extra incentives.

A sustained critique of Nir Eyal’s Hooked, focused on variable rewards and the investment step. Jason uses product examples to argue for reliable problem-solving, strong user experience, and behavior selection over a universal habit loop.

Uber quotes Jason $2.99, then charges him $11.30. The dispute leads him to question a pricing strategy that may win a booking while setting the customer up for disappointment when the bill arrives.

Jason loved his $20 Kopi Luwak coffee—and the story of how it was made. When a friend challenges that story, he finds himself defending the purchase, raising questions about storytelling, perceived value, and cognitive dissonance.

Jason dislikes Philz’s coffee, but the barista makes it in front of him and asks, “How is it?” He sees lessons in visible effort, personal attention, and the pressure to praise something another person has just made.

A critique of Amazon’s response to a workplace controversy. Jason examines the timing, opening quote, and repeated negative associations in Jay Carney’s rebuttal, then proposes a different approach to public communication.

A game of NBA Jam keeps stopping to ask Jason for another quarter. He connects the interruption to the “pain of paying” and asks whether an arcade admission fee would make for a better experience.

How might a brand be designed as a personality people recognize? Jason proposes using the Big Five and moral foundations theory to connect a brand’s appearance, language, and values with its intended audience.

The 66-day figure is a modeled median from a selected group in Lally’s study. Examine the full sample, exercise estimates and the difference between automaticity and effortless practice.

UNICEF’s Tap Project asked restaurant customers to add a dollar for drinking water. Jason examines the campaign through reciprocity, anchoring, and the convenience of attaching a donation to an existing payment.

How did self-esteem become a proposed remedy for so many social problems? Responding to a Guardian investigation, Jason examines its promotion in California and argues for realistic feedback over indiscriminate affirmation.

Why can online arguments leave both sides more committed to their positions? Jason reflects on Facebook debates, repeated exposure, and public declarations of belief as possible contributors to political polarization.

Choose a goal, generate possible behaviors, and compare them for effectiveness, ease, enjoyment, and excitement. Jason’s four-step habit-formation process puts finding a suitable activity before trying to make it stick.

A practical approach to encouraging behavior: choose an activity people enjoy, make it easier, and arrange reminders. Examples cover exercise, food, music practice, and staying in touch with family.

How can you enter a profession without the usual credentials or connections? Jason draws on his own route into product design to explain contributing useful work, finding mentors, and joining professional communities.

What does “keep it simple” actually mean in product design? BJ Fogg’s six elements of simplicity turn that advice into questions about time, money, effort, social expectations, and existing routines.

A practical user-testing guide covering observation, task-completion tests, interviews, and participant recruitment. Includes sample questions and explains how to find usability problems without coaching testers toward the answers you want.

Jason won a carpet cleaner at a charity poker tournament after betting big on both good and bad hands. His account connects the strategy with sunk costs and herd behavior, without claiming it would fool professionals.

Charles Manson studied Dale Carnegie, according to biographer Jeff Guinn. Jason considers what that interest suggests about psychological ownership and persuasion: people can be led toward destructive ideas they believe they reached themselves.

Do bigger bonuses always produce better work? This article examines Dan Ariely’s incentive research and its proposed distinction between mechanical tasks and cognitively demanding work, then considers alternatives to cash rewards.

After moving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Jason reflects on how familiar environments sustain familiar routines. A personal argument for changing your surroundings when small adjustments leave you feeling stuck.

Confusing an audience can reflect missing background knowledge rather than a lack of intelligence. Examples from baseball language and app interfaces explain why designers need to understand what users already know.

Struggling to sustain a habit? Jason argues for revisiting the goal, listing alternative activities, and choosing something that suits your preferences instead of searching for tricks to force an unpleasant routine.

One new food, then a few days to see how it felt. Jason’s account of dietary coaching shows why he preferred small, observable changes to replacing his whole routine at once.

What can instant feedback contribute to education? This essay considers learning, social interaction, and classroom technology—and asks when an experienced teacher can provide a better experience than another app.

An introduction to applying the Fogg Behavior Model to digital products. Examples explain motivation, ability, and prompts, with particular attention to usability, notifications, and whether an app solves a problem people actually have.

Jason introduces introspective intelligence: understanding your strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and predispositions accurately. He explains why he considers this capacity useful for matching goals and activities to the person pursuing them.

A critical look at Irrational Labs’ behavior, barriers, and benefits framework. Jason compares it with the Fogg Behavior Model and argues for user research and judgment over copying behavioral-economics tactics.

Is taking the path of least resistance an unavoidable feature of human nature? This speculative essay asks whether health, development, and environmental conditions could help explain differences in willingness to exert effort.

Why sneer at someone for being good at hitting a ball? Watching a baseball game, Jason catches himself dismissing a skill he lacks and reconsiders the status competition behind jocks-versus-nerds rivalry.

Jason read weightlifting manuals for years but kept quitting when the actual workouts raised questions the books could not answer. His experience illustrates analysis paralysis and the limits of waiting for certainty before trying something.

A personal dieting experience illustrates Jason’s case for choosing enjoyable behaviors before trying to persuade people to stick with a routine they dislike. The broader question: could a different activity achieve the same goal with less resistance?

A new watch, a different nose, a happier family: consumer marketing can make every dissatisfaction look fixable with another purchase. Jason questions that promise of control and the self-criticism it can feed.

Would $15 chicken fingers seem cheaper after a $32 plate of oysters? Jason considers price anchoring on restaurant menus, using his own observations to suggest an opportunity rather than report a tested result.

A bigger bonus could make someone try harder yet perform worse. Jason discusses Dan Ariely’s incentive experiments, then corrects his own explanation to distinguish motivation from performance.

BJ Fogg’s model explains behavior through motivation, ability, and a prompt arriving together. This introduction also breaks ability into practical obstacles such as time, money, effort, and unfamiliar routines.

Getting people to do more of something familiar differs from introducing an entirely new activity. Jason uses the Behavior Grid and examples from technology to explain why existing routines matter for product adoption.

A surprising study is a reason to look closer, not immediately change your beliefs. In this early response to psychology and cancer-research replication failures, Jason questions small samples and the rewards for novel findings.

The SPARK Method begins with a goal and a list of possible solutions. Jason explains how to profile an audience, rank behaviors for personal fit, and revise the choice when an approach fails.

Nine product-design principles covering clear copy, discoverable actions, trust, reliability, and useful rewards. Jason argues for delivering real value before asking users to invest time, effort, or personal information.

Why do online arguments so often end with both sides more convinced? Jason reflects on defensive reactions, repeated beliefs, and the role he thinks social-media engagement plays in political polarization.

A skeptical look at money priming: the claim that reminders of money make people less caring or more selfish. Jason discusses replication problems and questions dramatic behavioral claims about minor environmental cues.

A detailed walkthrough of Noom’s onboarding as it appeared in this review. Jason critiques vague promises, lengthy questionnaires, early requests for personal information, and the failure to show users what daily use involves.

A critique of causal claims drawn from a survey about pornography exposure and sexual behavior. Jason explains how a third variable could produce the observed association and why study design matters.

Groceries delivered, packages picked up, a driver summoned by phone: services such as Uber and Instacart remove familiar chores. This early essay asks how much convenience people will come to expect once waiting becomes optional.

Persuasion starts with understanding the other person’s existing beliefs and experience. A hypothetical climate-change conversation illustrates Jason’s argument for finding common ground before asking someone to reconsider a position.

A passage from Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals illustrates the importance of speaking within an audience’s experience. Jason connects it to persuasion and explains why telling people what they “should” want can fail.

Jason’s Parrot Theory asks how much everyday conversation reflects genuine understanding rather than repeated information. He compares surface familiarity with deeper expertise, using criticism of language models as a starting point.

A practical audience-profile outline for behavior-design projects. Questions cover daily routines, goals, fears, skills, personality, values, and existing products, helping you understand people before choosing behaviors for them.

Even Prague’s ordinary buildings left Jason awed by their craftsmanship. He asks what inspires that care, drawing on tradition and a story about cathedral masons who carved details no visitor would ever see.

Before testing whether people can use a product, establish whether it addresses a problem they care about. This introduction to problem validation outlines research methods for understanding users’ needs and existing behavior.

Nine cognitive-psychology findings survived the replication project described here, including the spacing effect and false memories. Jason explains the tasks and why these results were welcome news amid the replication crisis.

Knowing a behavioral framework does not make it the right tool for every problem. Jason explains how overusing the habit loop can distract product teams from delivering something people actually value.

“Free” technology still has costs in time, privacy, effort, and attention. This essay examines how digital services remove immediate barriers while shifting some of their costs out of view or into the future.

Jason names a common intervention problem: improving one measure while harming a more important result. This short definition uses Brazil’s organ-donation policy to explain why more registered donors need not mean more actual donations.

A walkthrough of Routinery’s routine timers, reminders, and onboarding. Jason distinguishes what the app does well from its broader behavior-change claims, asking what reminders can achieve without addressing motivation or ability.

What would a behavioral scientist do for a struggling grocery store? Jason’s fictional consultant, Sensy, studies what customers buy, how staff are hired, and where people shop before proposing changes to the business.

An essay on reported links between self-control and happiness, followed by Jason’s argument for finding environments that suit different personalities. It also contains a historical offer for his Habit Blueprint report.

A precise comparison of Jason Hreha’s Six Systems model and the Big Five, including their mapping, differences, uses, and evidence limits.

Jason challenges the analogy between heavy smartphone use and drug addiction. This opinion essay asks whether stress, weakened communities, and unmet needs could help explain digital overuse rather than simply result from it.

A four-step process for choosing a target behavior: define the outcome, generate alternatives, and score them for simplicity, enjoyment, and appeal. A grocery-store example shows why audience research belongs in the decision.

Scientific American Mind, Nautilus, Neuroskeptic, and BPS Research Digest appear in this earlier list of Jason’s behavioral-science reading sources. He separates daily reading from occasional visits and suggests following researchers directly.

A critique of an anti-smoking billboard built around a large death count. Jason asks whether an audience can interpret an isolated number and contrasts that approach with campaigns focused on individual people.

A difficult job interview leads Jason to question how much a brief conversation reveals about a candidate. He makes the case for examining actual work and seeking information from former colleagues.

A conference report on a paintball study comparing group prayer with nature-focused meditation. Jason describes reported differences in confidence and perceived success, then considers the researcher’s proposed evolutionary explanation.

What else changes when you try to improve your health? In this essay on exercise, weight loss, and medication, Jason argues that side effects and compensating behavior, such as eating more after exercise, can undermine an intervention’s intended benefit.

The seven deadly sins become a lens for interpreting popular technology products. Jason explores how familiar motives such as pride, envy, and avoiding effort can help explain what makes an app appealing.

Jason reached for what looked like a familiar ice pack and grabbed dry ice instead. He uses the Amazon Fresh mishap to explain procedural memory and the risks of changing designs people use on autopilot.

Jason recounts how a sleep-apnea diagnosis changed his understanding of fatigue, concentration, and daily behavior. A personal account of why an apparent motivation problem may have a health issue underneath it.

A conversation with a former White House behavioral-science team member highlights simplification in government services. Jason connects that lesson with two other intervention approaches: making behavior more appealing and making it easier to remember.

Four principles for thinking about habit formation, from specifying concrete actions to arranging helpful cues. This early essay emphasizes effort, environmental preparation, and the role of energy and health in following through.

An earlier reading list for product designers, spanning persuasive technology, habits, advertising, and education. Includes books by BJ Fogg, Daniel Kahneman, and Daniel Willingham, plus a bonus selection from BF Skinner.

An early essay on persistence and small behavior changes. Jason explains why simple instructions can be easier to apply across daily situations, using examples from learning, sleep routines, and exercise.

A short checklist for investigating why a behavior is not happening. Work through prompts, difficulty, motivation, and feedback, including whether the activity you selected is actually appealing to the person involved.

The canonical guide to Jason Hreha’s Behavioral State Model: its eight components, practical use, related models, scientific basis, and current limits.

After donating blood, Jason received a text saying it had been sent to a hospital to help a patient. He explains why that small piece of feedback felt more meaningful than the usual cookie and water.

How reliable is today’s enthusiasm as a guide to tomorrow’s behavior? This essay examines the influence of current feelings and recently activated memories, then considers ways to plan for forgetting and changing motivation.

A critique written during the early COVID-19 lockdowns, focused on public-health communication. Jason argues for clearer explanations, honest uncertainty, and messages that recognize different motivations rather than relying mainly on appeals to authority.

An extra six dollars for grocery delivery initially struck Jason as outrageous. Then he counted the travel, time, and carrying he would avoid: costs that had disappeared from his first calculation.

Jason argues for leading persuasive messages with human stakes rather than abstract statistics. Examples from charity appeals, immigration debates, and workplace proposals illustrate his approach to combining emotion with supporting reasons.

Jason’s case against relying on behavioral economics in practice: replication problems, disputed loss-aversion claims, and small field effects. He argues for creative solutions built around specific people and situations instead of generic nudges.

An introduction to Jason’s recorded Stanford talk on habit formation, with an outline of its themes: habit timelines, problems with habit hacks, personalization, and the basics of his SPARK Method.

Jason makes the case for choosing enjoyable activities that serve a clear goal. Instead of forcing a predetermined routine, he proposes generating alternatives and using personal preferences to decide which to try.

After each workout, college-age Jason checked the mirror for bigger muscles. His disappointment led him to quit, and later to argue that behavior design needs more attention to sustained action and less impatience with results.

What is lost when learning comes mainly through screens and stories? Jason contrasts secondhand mental models with direct experience, arguing that practical engagement reveals context and uncertainty that a simplified account can miss.

A critical essay on four recurring arguments about technology addiction: productivity guilt, generational criticism, moral judgments, and simplistic dopamine explanations. Jason questions whether these arguments establish the harms they claim.

An explanation and critique of Nir Eyal’s trigger, action, variable reward, and investment model. Jason questions its sequence and emphasis on variable rewards, arguing that Behavior Market Fit deserves more attention.

Jason’s Joy Method begins with a goal, then compares possible activities against a person’s interests, skills, and circumstances. The article explains his emphasis on self-understanding, experimentation, and enjoyment in behavior selection.

A simple question for spotting unintended consequences: what happens next? Jason uses product design and Facebook’s Beacon program to explain why immediate results are only part of a decision’s impact.

As technology reduces some practical uncertainties, other concerns can command more attention. This essay explores social status, belonging, purpose, and career choice as increasingly prominent sources of uncertainty in everyday life.

Jason’s argument for bringing product teams into the same room. He describes the communication, friendship, and spontaneous collaboration he values in shared workspaces, drawing a sharp contrast with his experience of remote tools.

Uber’s redesigned app looked sleeker but kept sending Jason’s drivers to the wrong pickup point. His critique asks why product teams add features before getting speed, reliability, and basic usability right.

Why keep drinking when you no longer enjoy it? Jason reflects on his own experience of social pressure, the spotlight effect, and choosing social situations that better fit his preferences.

A practical introduction to the project premortem: imagine a plan has failed, then work backward to possible causes. Jason explains how the exercise gives a team permission to question its own assumptions.

Constant changes in direction can make a team feel that its work counts for nothing. Jason connects a consulting experience with Teresa Amabile’s Progress Principle and the motivational importance of visible progress.

Overconfidence may help someone compete socially while making it harder to learn from others. This essay considers the Lake Wobegon effect and the tension between projecting confidence and maintaining an accurate view of the world.

Crowds rushing through store doors, limited stock, and an inbox full of offers: Black Friday gives shoppers plenty of reasons to act. Jason breaks down the mix of social norms, scarcity, and repeated prompts.

A frustrating Airbnb experience leads to a case for more human customer service. Jason argues that hiring well and giving staff room to use their judgment matter more than scripts and rigid decision trees.

A mosquito kept Jason awake even when he could no longer find it. The experience leads him to ask why uncertainty commands attention, and why technologies that capture our attention may also earn our resentment.

How can political disagreement become a conversation rather than a declaration of opposing sides? Jason draws on a Lincoln passage and a personal encounter to argue for shared identity, genuine concern, and less denunciation.

An early essay on virtual reality as a medium for learning through other people’s experiences. Jason compares books, video, and immersive simulation, considering the possibilities for training and firsthand perspectives.

For online courses, the important reward may be understanding something new. Jason argues that cognitive psychology and instructional design can address student engagement more directly than adding points or a generic habit loop.

An artist’s paintings impressed Jason until he saw their unusually low prices and began doubting the work. He uses his own reaction to explain how price can influence perceived quality when buyers lack expertise.

Trace a design you admire. Study one you dislike and work out what went wrong. These are two of eight exercises for sharpening design judgment through observation, practice, and learning beyond your usual field.

Google encouraged employees to choose smaller cafeteria plates, drawing on research that later came under scrutiny. Jason uses the Wansink controversy to explain why dramatic claims about small behavioral tweaks need a closer look.

Jason Hreha’s canonical guide to the Six Systems model: its link to the Big Five, practical use, relationship to BSM, and scientific limits.

Mobile technology makes everyday errands and communication more efficient, but what happens to chance encounters? Jason considers the social costs of removing uncertainty from daily life, from neighborhood interactions to conversations with strangers.

Before reaching for a complicated explanation, check three possibilities: the product solves no real problem, is too hard to use, or gets forgotten. Jason applies the same questions to personal behavior change.

Uber makes getting a ride easier. Notifications interrupt what we’re doing. Fitbit shows us how much we’ve moved. Jason uses these examples to explain three ways mobile technology changes behavior: convenience, prompts, and feedback.

A friend’s vacation photos can inspire ambition or leave you sick with envy. Jason considers both sides of social comparison and asks what happens when other people’s advantages are always on display.

An introduction to the Big Five and HEXACO personality models, including HEXACO’s Honesty–Humility factor. Jason explains his preference for these approaches over popular commercial tests and considers what trait scores can reveal about self-perception.

Why can a celebration feel like an obligation? Jason uses holiday traditions to examine autonomy and social expectations, then proposes letting families choose which occasions they genuinely want to celebrate together.

A handshake does more than begin a conversation. Jason interprets this everyday ritual as social signaling, exploring how shared customs communicate familiarity, group membership, and expectations about the person standing opposite us.

A polemic about the distance between an appealing policy and the behavior it produces. Jason argues that plans must account for incentives and adaptation, using redistribution and proposed soda restrictions as examples.

A fast, reliable app with two features can beat a buggy one with ten. Jason connects product quality to craftsmanship, asking how praise and novelty tempt us to skip the fundamentals.

Why buy a demanding book and never finish it? Using a rough estimate based on Kindle highlights, Jason explores reading difficulty, the curse of knowledge, and the importance of teaching foundational concepts first.

A self-described people person scored below an introverted, nerdy friend on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test. Jason recounts their results and considers the gap between confidence about reading people and performance on the task.

Doing something every day does not guarantee improvement. Jason examines overconfidence in familiar skills such as writing and speaking, drawing on deliberate practice to explain why repetition needs honest, specific feedback.

List the elements of a product, then try new combinations of format, business model, and distribution. Jason walks through this creativity exercise with startup ideas and a lesson from the making of West Side Story.

Why does starting a conversation with a stranger feel risky? Drawing on an evolutionary account from Mean Genes, Jason considers social rejection, personality differences, and whether everyday encounters deserve the fear they provoke.

A restless first night away prompts a look at the first-night effect in sleep research. Jason discusses a proposed vigilance explanation and wonders how unfamiliar surroundings and individual anxiety might contribute.

Can spending a little money on someone else improve your own mood? Jason describes Michael Norton’s prosocial-spending experiments and uses them to make the case for gifts, shared meals, and everyday generosity.

Chasing prestige can distract from doing worthwhile work. Starting with a critique of prestigious journals, Jason argues for sustained interest in the creative process rather than treating recognition as its main purpose.

During the 2014 World Cup final, Jason and his friends followed one match through television, social feeds, and updates from inside the stadium. Those extra perspectives made the game feel more shared rather than more fragmented.

Jason distinguishes automatic habits from demanding activities such as exercise, writing, and learning. He calls these effortful pursuits transformative practices and argues that popular habit advice often promises the wrong kind of change.

Email notifications can turn other people’s requests into constant interruptions. Jason uses the Fogg Behavior Model to explain his case for removing prompts and reclaiming control over when to check the inbox.

User interviews can generate ideas without establishing what a whole market wants. Jason explains how to use unusual customers for exploration, ask about actual behavior, and check promising observations against broader data.

Uber’s flat-rate program once let Jason get to work for $2.99. He asks what would happen when those prices disappeared: would the new riding habit survive, or would customers feel cheated?

No single psychology model can explain every customer or decision. Jason makes the case for continuing to study human behavior, revising familiar explanations, and treating elegant frameworks as tools rather than complete answers.

A Craigslist negotiation illustrates Cialdini’s liking principle: shared circumstances can create a warmer opening. Jason recounts mentioning a seller’s neighborhood connection while acknowledging that the same offer might have succeeded without it.

Jason separates everyday energy into biological and psychological influences, from sleep to meaningful work. He proposes tracking how you feel and changing one factor at a time to learn what suits you.

Generic habit advice often leaves the most important question unanswered: what would actually work in your life? Jason recommends brainstorming concrete alternatives and drawing on people who know your interests, circumstances, and past experiences.

What could students learn by walking through a virtual pyramid instead of reading its dimensions? In this early vision of VR education, Jason imagines immersive history lessons and ways to rehearse unfamiliar life situations.

People wait an hour for a breakfast Jason finds unremarkable. He uses the restaurant’s long queue and thousands of reviews to ask when social proof is a useful guide, and when popularity feeds on itself.

Four lessons from Jason’s experience building companies: test ideas in the market, keep learning about behavior, protect sleep, and hire carefully. The focus is better decisions before adding more features or people.

Sandy Pentland’s idea-flow research puts the exchange of ideas at the center of team performance. Jason draws out the practical implications: let everyone contribute, share discoveries, and avoid giving senior voices all the airtime.

An activity can be attractive without being enjoyable once you do it. Jason explains the wanting–liking distinction and why his behavior-selection method asks separately whether you look forward to an activity and whether you enjoy doing it.

Jason’s case for behavioral strategy: combine behavioral science, UX, marketing, and product expertise before deciding what to build. The essay examines weak research, limited organizational authority, and the costs of bringing specialists in too late.

What happens when evidence supports what you want but contradicts what you expect? Jason discusses a 2016 election study that separated desirability bias from confirmation bias, then considers the implications for persuasion.

A search bar rarely inspires the awe of a skyscraper. Yet behind our screens are vast libraries, shops, and places to meet. Jason makes the case for appreciating the less visible achievements of digital technology.

A diagnostic approach to behavior-change problems: examine the numbers, observe customers, ask questions, form hypotheses, then try a solution and see whether it helps. Jason uses medical diagnosis to explain why finding a solution may take several attempts.

A visit with an enthusiastic bulldog leads to a reflection on behaviorism. Jason considers how rewards, consequences, and clear feedback relate to learning and management, while acknowledging the discomfort of the comparison.

A donut concentrates sugar and fat; an exclusive VIP area promises status. Writing from Las Vegas, Jason connects these temptations through superstimuli: exaggerated versions of things we already want, with costs that can outlast the pleasure.

Jason develops his definition of habits as solutions to recurring problems, distinguishing automatic behavior from effortful routines. The article asks what unwanted habits accomplish and why a useful replacement must address the same need.

During dental surgery, Jason found himself thinking about the peak-end rule. He connects research on remembered pain with a simple question: how much does the ending of an experience change the way we feel about it later?

A radio guest’s gentle corrections offer a lesson in persuasion: add information without publicly humiliating the other person. Jason reflects on why winning an argument and changing a mind can be different tasks.

For a five-dollar cover, Jason expected an ordinary bar band. Guitarist Jinx Jones gave him something much better. The experience leads him to ask whether constant hype leaves too little room for happy surprises.

A delivery driver repeatedly follows an unhelpful route, prompting Jason to examine reliance on navigation apps. The essay asks when useful automation begins to displace the judgment needed to recognize and solve a problem.

An unexpected encounter with Kirsten Dunst prompts a question: why can a celebrity feel like an old friend? Jason connects that sense of familiarity with the mere-exposure effect and repeated appearances on screen.

An archival newsletter announcement built around Jason’s frustration with repetitive books and weak behavioral science coverage. He explains the value of careful selection rather than assuming every popular title offers something worth learning.

When experts give something a 90 percent chance, does it happen about nine times out of ten? A comparison of doctors and weather forecasters in Risk Intelligence leads Jason to consider calibration, feedback, and misplaced professional confidence.

Pride, envy, lust, and avoiding effort all have their place in Jason’s reading of popular apps. He uses the seven deadly sins as a rough map of consumer desires, from Tinder to Uber.

Jason challenges UX research that treats users’ explanations and intentions as reliable predictions. His alternative emphasizes observed behavior, early product releases, and iteration informed by how people actually use what gets built.

Large cities can offer room to escape an established reputation. Drawing on college life and Los Angeles, Jason explores anonymity, social expectations, and the freedom to try different ways of living.

A canceled flight becomes a study in uncertainty, agency, and social support. Drawing on Robert Sapolsky’s discussion of stress, Jason considers why disrupted plans can feel worse when there is nothing useful to do.

Jason once traded realistic drawing for abstract painting, then began to question why. A visit to LACMA sends him back to that choice and the uncomfortable relationship between craftsmanship, effort, praise, and status.

Why does someone reaching checkout ahead of you feel so irritating? Jason compares separate checkout lines with a single snaking queue, explaining the roles of expectations, fairness, and the burden of choosing.

A study finds a surprising effect; another finds nothing. Which one gets published? Jason explains publication bias through money-priming research and the missing results that can distort our view of a subject.

A Tony Robbins seminar provides the starting point for Jason’s distinction between temporary motivation and lasting support. He explains Fogg’s motivation-wave approach: use enthusiasm to make the desired activity easier to do later.

Why might unpredictable rewards keep drawing attention? Jason offers an explanation through habits, changing lunch routines, and slot machines, while stressing that what a reward offers matters more than variability alone.

A struggling goal-sharing app leads Jason to question public resolutions. He argues that socially impressive goals can conceal the private problems people most want to solve, leaving a product built around the wrong motivations.

Jason distinguishes questions about past purchases from questions about motives or future intentions. Drawing on The Small Big, he explains why observing behavior can be more useful than collecting plausible explanations for it.

Jason challenges the use of organ-donation defaults as a flagship example of behavior change. His argument separates automatic enrollment and permission from getting people to perform a new action consistently.

Could an offensive advertisement make its message more memorable? Jason offers that hypothesis about Airbnb’s controversial campaign: anger at its tone may make people notice and remember its factual message. He also acknowledges that poor judgment could explain the campaign.

A personal reaction to dental X-rays leads Jason to reflect on worry, stress, and sensitivity to possible threats. He considers how concern about possible harm can become distressing in its own right.

How can customer research avoid collecting agreeable fiction? Jason recommends asking for concrete purchase histories and observed actions, explaining why enthusiasm for an imagined product is weak evidence that people will use it.

Travel left Jason exhausted, even on trips planned around relaxation. He reflects on jet lag, disrupted routines, and the less comfortable question of whether unwinding was ever the real reason for going.

Admiration for an author is no substitute for checking the studies they cite. Jason discusses Stuart Ritchie’s criticism of research in Robert Sapolsky’s Behave and the wider problem of persuasive books repeating weak findings.

Learning styles and left-brain/right-brain labels illustrate the persistence of neuromyths. Jason discusses a survey that found mistaken beliefs even among people with neuroscience exposure, arguing that credentials do not replace critical reading.

Jason reflects on why his early, information-heavy articles struggled to engage readers. He makes the case for explaining ideas through stories, while questioning precise claims about how much narratives improve persuasion and recall.

What makes office work feel meaningful beyond a change in a spreadsheet? Jason argues for spending time with customers and seeing the real effects of a product, connecting everyday effort with its purpose.

Coffee was cheaper in Portland, but Jason’s food spending barely changed. He bought more instead. His trip offers a concrete example of anchoring and mental accounting: how familiar prices and separate mental budgets shape spending.

A cheap gym can be poor value if getting there keeps you away. Jason compares his own exercise routines to show why distance and convenience belong alongside price when choosing a gym.

Study familiar apps, collect their best design patterns, and shorten the route to your product’s first useful moment. Jason explains why making people learn a new interface can cost you their attention before they experience its value.

Behavioral advice cannot rescue an unreliable product by adding clever rewards. Jason argues for addressing fundamentals early, using a health-app proposal to show why an appealing reason to engage must come before reminders.

Why can a paperback feel more valuable than its digital equivalent? Jason discusses research on psychological ownership and digital goods, connecting its findings with his own return to buying physical books.

A restaurant queue illustrates how another customer’s order can guide an uncertain choice. Jason discusses social proof and a café study that examined whether people selected the same main dish as the stranger ahead.

Jason argues that public arguments and repeated social-media engagement can reinforce the beliefs they challenge. The essay considers how friendship, identity, and attention complicate the hope that better facts will settle a disagreement.

Jason planned to write 10,000 words in an afternoon. His energy had other plans. He uses the missed target to explain the planning fallacy and describes how he adjusted his time estimates as a product manager.

An exploration of learned helplessness and workplace motivation, drawing on Seligman’s animal experiments and an account from Dan Ariely’s Payoff. Jason asks what repeated project cancellations communicate about the value of employees’ effort.

Does missing one day mean a new habit is falling apart? Jason discusses a finding from Lally’s habit-formation study and uses his interrupted writing routine to question all-or-nothing thinking about consistency.

Jason challenges both unlimited self-transformation and the idea that people are easily controlled by outside forces. He argues that stable human tendencies can constrain change while also providing protection against environmental pressure.

A conversation with a psychiatrist prompts Jason to explore whether repeated attention can intensify pain. This personal essay considers a proposed feedback loop between noticing discomfort, worry, and the persistence of a sensation.

An early critique of ego depletion and the image of willpower as a dwindling resource. Jason considers failed replications, research on beliefs about effort, and the persistence of appealing ideas in popular psychology.

From ride-hailing to medicine, Jason interprets technology as a way to reduce uncertainty. He asks why greater practical control still cannot eliminate the emotional unpredictability of living alongside other people.

A farmer loses his horse, then gets it back with six more. Is that good luck? Jason draws on a Taoist story to argue that judging a decision means looking past its immediate result to its trade-offs.

A paper’s impressive language boiled down to this: reminders help people remember their medicine. Jason recounts how encounters like this changed his view of behavioral research, separating useful findings from common sense dressed up as discovery.

Why did a new gym routine take hold after a move when earlier prompts and planning failed? Jason uses his own experience to examine context, established routines, and choosing behaviors that fit.

Reflecting on consulting and full-time employment, Jason examines autonomy, social status, and health through Michael Marmot’s The Status Syndrome. The essay asks why control over daily work deserves attention in career decisions.

A product can stay funded and maintained even when few people use it. Jason calls this a zombie product, links the problem to missing Behavior Market Fit, and argues for testing whether people want to do the activity and can realistically do it before investing further.