Study discovers a trick that motivates people to change

Change It was never easy, especially if we are not able to see the benefits that change brings us. Because it is an individual and personal process, no one can change another person if they do not want to change.

You just have to think of a father who tries to change his son by imposing rules and forcing him to be as he wants him to be, well in many cases they have no effect, because the son will find a way to continue doing what he wants.

Change is personal and depends on yourself

The best way to change is when the person himself comes to visualize the negative consequences of his behavior, or when he is able to visualize the benefits. Therefore, the professionals of the coaching they are able to empower people in the process of change, so that they are aware of their own capacity to achieve their goals and achieve positive and lasting changes in their lives, always through their own self-reflection.

Whether it's getting in shape or quitting a bad habit like smoking, changing behavior can be difficult

. Despite there being many theories about how to motivate people to change, for example the Prochaska and DiClemente's Transtheoretical Model of Change, research seems to have found a way to motivate people to change. And it's simpler than you thought!

The perfect question to change

A study published in Journal of Consumer Psychology, states that asking the perfect question can be enough to cause change in a person. The researchers showed that a question that does not give the possibility of expressing the reasons why it accelerates the preparation of a person to carry out the change.

This predisposition to change as a consequence of this type of question has been coined by the authors of the study as the “question-behavior effect”. To exemplify this, instead of telling and trying to explain to someone that you should invest in your retirement. The researchers' theory suggests asking yourself: "Are you going to save money for your retirement?"

This question is a reminder that it is necessary to invest in retirement because if not in the future one may regret, but it also causes discomfort to someone who is not saving for his retirement. In cases where the person is not having a healthy behavior, this kind of question is really powerful.

Questions are a powerful weapon for change

Questions can be powerful weapons for change. In fact, in Socrates' time, he already helped his disciples to learn by asking powerful questions that provoked his self-reflection. What is known as the art of maieutics.

This technique consists of ask questions of a person until he discovers concepts that were latent or hidden in his mind. Through this dialogue, the person is invited to discover the answers for themselves, and it is key to personal development. In coaching, this technique is called the "Socratic method" or "Socratic questions."

In fact, the coach can work on many techniques or methods to improve performance, mood, the attitudes, behaviors, motivations, etc., all of these being superficial aspects of true change. In order to speak of true change, one has to work with the perceptions that people have, their way of interpreting the world.

When people manage to modify these perceptions, and as a consequence their behaviors, is when the change really occurs. The powerful questions they can be a way of questioning one's own schemes.

How Powerful Questions Work

The researchers who conducted the study found that questioning things effectively leads to significant and consistent behavior change. The results confirmed that direct questions influenced people to deceive themselves less and to effect lasting change.

The key is in Cognitive Dissonance

According to the authors, the key is to ask questions that force a choice between a definite "yes" or a "no". It is interesting to know that researchers found these questions were most effective when administered by computer or in a paper survey. It is possible that the reason why it occurs is “Cognitive Dissonance”.

The Cognitive Dissonance Theory suggests that people have an inner need to ensure that their beliefs, attitudes, and behavior are consistent with each other. When there is inconsistency between them, the conflict leads to disharmony, something that people strive to avoid. This disharmony o displeasure it can lead to an attempt to change behavior or to defend their beliefs or attitudes (even leading to self-deception) to reduce the discomfort they produce.

To learn more about this interesting theory, we invite you to read this article: "Cognitive dissonance: the theory that explains self-deception”

The answers "yes" or "no" do not give the possibility of clarifying the answer.

But of course, by presenting the questions in a way that answers "yes" or "no" on the computer or in pen and paper format, it does not give the possibility of clarifying the answer. For example, if they ask you if you are already training to get in shape and you answer “no”, you don't have the possibility to justify yourself by saying “I couldn't start this week, I'll start the next one”.

Conclution

In summary, this study seems to indicate that the questions that gave the answer "yes" or "no" in paper or computer format could be a powerful weapon for change because they do not give the possibility of explaining the motives or reasons why things are being done wrong. The discomfort it would cause would be enough to effect the change.

Even so, we must not forget that these conclusions are from a single study, and, therefore, science you will have to do more research to find out if these results also show up in future research.