OP Book Insights: Ch 1, The Characters in the Story (Thinking, Fast and Slow)

As part of Octalysis Prime, Yu-kai provides OP Insights on important research and books in the field of, in this case, Behavior Economics. 
P19
Author asks readers to look at a woman’s photo and states that the reader, without trying, immediately knows the woman is angry. Then he shows a math problem 17 x 24 and asks us to calculate it. He states that the first one is based on System 1 (we immediately know intuitively), and the second one is System 2 (we deliberately have to think about it). Our System 1 immediately knows it is a multiplication problem and that we could likely solve it. Our system 1 would also know what is probably too high or too low. But we wouldn’t know for sure if 568 is correct or not. We have to CHOOSE to engage our System 2 to start solving the problem.
P20
System 1 and System 2 terminology come from psychologists Keith Stanovich and Richard West.
P23
Intense focusing on a task can make people effectively blind to anything else. When we are focusing on a difficult task of tracking people wearing white shirts from black shirts, we miss a gorilla costume person walking in front of the screen. This is demonstrated in Chabris and Simons’ book The invisible gorilla and demonstrated by Netflix Brain Game.
P24
The counting task and the instruction to ignore the other team causes this. 50% of the people don’t see it, and would not believe at all they would miss something so obvious.
When a lot of resources are allocated to system 2, our system 1 becomes less effective.
“We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.”
System 1 usually makes suggestions to System 2, and System 2 is in low effort mode and agrees to the intuition or impression. This then becomes belief.
When System 1 cannot solve and issue, System 2 then becomes highly engaged.
P25
System 2 keeps up polite when angry, and focused when driving at night. System 1 makes way more decisions but usually System 2 has the final say if it bothers.
System 1 usually works quite well, and it cannot be turned off. It is working all the time.
P26
Sometimes System 1 and 2 have a conflict, such as saying the text “right” is on the left. We may still identify those correctly, but we need to slow down to properly do it.
P27
The famous Muller-Lyer illusion shows 2 lines, one with fins pointing outwards and one with find pointing inwards. If we have seen it, our system 2 knows as a fact that the lines are equal length, but our system 1 will continue to let us see that one line is longer than the other. We cannot unsee the longer line, but we have learned to mistrust it.
Sometimes there are cognitive illusions (instead of just visual). If a patient tells a doctor that every doctor in the past has screwed them over, but you are different. Run away from this patient, even though system 1 wants to help him. The strong sympathetic attraction to the patient is like the lines with fin – it is an illusion and our system 2 should learn to distrust it.
Yu-kai’a note: the patient actually effectively used CD5: Social Influence, CD7: Curiosity on this disease, CD3 for the doctor to see if he can solve the problem that no one else can, CD 4: Identity in the sense of “I am that uniquely good doctor that cares about patience” and even CD1: Calling, “it’s my life mission to cure people, especially those who are mistreated by others”. No wonder even doctors cannot resist this!
P28
We cannot turn system 1 off, but it is impractical to always be vigilant of these cognitive illusions. The best we can do it recognize situations that these errors are more prone to happen, especially when stakes are high.
P29
The reason why we name systems 1 & 2 as characters is because it is more memorable to the Brain than abstract academic terms. Character and personalities are more memorable.
Yu-kai notes: this is adding CD5 to create more relatedness with the concept.
P30
Author gives some ways to use his concepts in everyday conversation at the end of each chapter, such as, “This is your System 1 talking. Slow down and let your System 2 take control.”
Yu-kai notes: While it is a bit geeky and only helpful among people who have this studied, this is a good example of CD3: Empowerment. The author immediately allows users to see how they can strategically USE these concepts in everyday conversations, perhaps sounding smarter and grasping the concepts better as a result.
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Readalong for “Reality is Broken”: Chapter 1, What Exactly Is a Game?

tl;dr Embrace high stakes work and instead of telling yourself this isn’t a game, say this could be a game. 

Summary

McGonigal makes the point that gamers want to play games (and not “game” them) and uses the 4 traits of a game to establish some ground rules for the rest of her book.

Analysis

Gaming is part of our lexicon. “Gaming the system” or “You’d better start playing the game” are part of everyday speech.

This statement leads McGonigal into a discussion of what a game is…a game has:

  1. goal players will work to achieve
  2. rules providing limitations
  3. feedback system giving player progress
  4. voluntary participation

“This definition may surprise you for what it lacks: interactivity, graphics, narrative, rewards, competition, virtual environments, or the idea of “winning” — all traits we often think of when it comes to games today. True, these are common features of many games, but they are not defining features.”

Continue reading Readalong for “Reality is Broken”: Chapter 1, What Exactly Is a Game?

Readalong for Reality is Broken: Introduction

This readalong is hosted by Erik van Mechelen, written in the context of the Octalysis framework. Each week in Octalysis Prime, members have the opportunity to meet and discuss this book and other great work in the gamification space. 

TL;DR Games and gameful design at scale can change the real world for the better.

Introduction:

“[Games] are clues to the future. And their serious cultivation now is perhaps our only salvation.”

-Bernard Suits, philosopher

“I see a hurricane coming…The exodus of these people from the real world, from our normal daily life, will create a change in social climate that makes global marking look like a tempest in a teacup.”

-Edward Castronova, Exodus to the Virtual World

(Note: Reality is Broken was published in 2011)

Continue reading Readalong for Reality is Broken: Introduction

Substituting a Hard Question for an Easier One: Daniel Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow’

This article is written by Erik van Mechelen in “conversation” with Yu-kai Chou and Daniel Kahneman. 

Substituting for Easier Questions

Do you like Yu-kai’s glasses? You might substitute an easier question, “Do I like Yu-kai?” then quickly answer “Yes I like your glasses” and move on with your day.

In the introduction to Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow, Kahneman describes the process by which we trade hard questions for cognitively easier ones, a common behavioral and cognitive process.

On page 12, Kahneman describes a Chief Investment Officer invests tens of millions of dollars in Ford, because he goes to an automotive show, and is was impressed with the cars. “He likes the cars, he likes the company, and he likes the idea of owning its stock. From what we know about the accuracy of stock picking, it is reasonable to believe that he did not know what he was doing” because the one question should be “Is the stock currently underpriced.”

But this is where Yu-kai disagrees:

Continue reading Substituting a Hard Question for an Easier One: Daniel Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow’

7 Types of Leaders based on Vision, Execution, and Empathy

This article is written by Erik van Mechelen, based on the Octalysis framework by Yu-kai Chou and lessons from Octalysis Prime, a mentorship journey with Yu-kai Chou.

So you want to be an effective leader. Maybe even a great one. It is a good thought, a great feeling.

As a leader, you have the chance to inspire, direct, and support people to team and individual accomplishments, to make society and the world better through those people.

These statements might feel to you too grandiose. But we know from Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling, that having a Why will drive you to become a stronger leader.

This article will briefly touch on how to learn and train yourself to be an OP leader, the convergence of a leader with Vision, Execution, and Empathy.

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June week 3 Gamification Examples from an Octalysis Lens

Every week in the Octalysis Prime Slack group, members share gamification examples they find in the wild.

These are only a snapshot of what we’ve discovered this week. As always, from the lens of Octalysis and the 8 Core Drives.

Continue reading June week 3 Gamification Examples from an Octalysis Lens

Don’t Empower Anybody

This article is written by Claire Lew who is the CEO of Know Your Company, a software tool that helps CEOs get to know their employees better and overcome company growing pains.

Don’t “Empower” Anybody

I hate the word “empowerment.”

I never think I should “empower” anyone — especially our employees.

Why? The definition of the word “empower” is:

to give power to (someone); to make (someone) stronger and more confident.

The key words here are “give” and “make.” Empowerment means you’re transferring power to someone else. You think someone else needs you — your permission, your influence, your talents — to do something. And I don’t ever believe that’s the case.

Continue reading Don’t Empower Anybody