My Collected Columns from BigThink

Categorized for your convenience

Jason Hreha

5 min readDec 18, 2016

Changing Behavior

The Age-Old Secret Of Behavior Change

Earlier today, I was speaking with a friend of mine about habit formation. In the middle of our conversation, he paused…

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Models to Know: Fogg Behavior Model

Today I want to share the most powerful and useful model of behavior that I've ever encountered: The Fogg Behavior…

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Behavior: Why We Do What We Do

The Unspoken Reasons Why We Shake Hands

Behind every behavior there are four potential explanations: It's been done to solve a tangible and practical problem…

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The Triumph of The Most Poisonous Emotion

I've always been struck by the power of envy. Other than anger, it is perhaps the most commanding emotion, able to…

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Is Human Laziness Human Nature?

For most of human history, it's been recognized that we tend to follow the path of least resistance. We go to comical…

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Forget "Mindfulness": Habits Make Us Human

A person is, in large part, the sum of their habits. We go through an evolutionary process each day, in which certain…

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You Have More Willpower Than You Think

One of the trendiest ideas in popular psychology in the last few years has been that of "ego depletion" or willpower as…

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Upgrade Your Operating System: Building A Better Understanding of Psychology

Whenever I work with a company or talk to people in the business world, I'm always asked for a model or a set of…

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You Are Not In Complete Control Of Yourself: And That's A Good Thing

In our culture, there are two diametrically opposed beliefs. The first is that we are powerful and strong creatures…

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Technology (and Behavior)

Technology Is for Sinners

" Envy is a really stupid sin because it's the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There's a lot of pain…

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You'll Never Have Full Control

Two of the most fundamental human drives are: The drive to learn more about the world The drive to gain more control…

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The Three Ways Mobile Changes Behavior

There are three primary ways that mobile technologies change our behavior: 1. By making things easier 2. By…

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An Incomplete Loop: A Review of Nir Eyal's Hooked

In the last decade, the business and technology worlds have become obsessed with the science of the mind. The thinking…

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How Social Media is Polarizing Us

I've been thoroughly dismayed by Facebook the past couple of years. Maybe it's a quirk of memory, but I don't remember…

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Putting Off The Bill: The Different Costs of Tech

It's a classic idea in both Psychology and Economics that when things get cheaper or easier to do they get done more…

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One Of The Biggest Trends In Technology: Instant Gratification

As I've said before, technology reduces uncertainty. It does this primarily by speeding up processes, making what used…

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Virtual Reality Is Our Savior: A Vision Of The Future Of Education

In an earlier article , I talked about the fact that we learn much better when we learn with our entire body - all of…

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The Rise of Virtual Reality: From Campfire to Oculus

Reading is a fairly recent phenomenon. It's generally accepted that language developed in the human species between 50…

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We've Built a New Dimension: The #1 Reason to Be Optimistic About Technology

It's easy to be disenchanted with the current state of technology. Some people bemoan the broken promises of the…

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Instant Gratification is Good For You: Lessons for Education

Contrary to popular belief, instant gratification is a good thing. It's good for us to get instantaneous feedback for…

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Transcendent Social Media: Watching the World Cup Like Never Before

Last weekend, I sat down with a billion other people from across the globe to watch Germany battle Argentina for the…

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Delayed Social Development: The Cost of Texting Instead of Talking?

We're complex beings. No one denies that. However, there are also some basic laws that explain much of our behavior…

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Enduring Envy: Jealousy in the 21st Century

"Envy is a really stupid sin because it's the only one you could never possibly have any fun at." - Charlie Munger We…

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The Floating Brain: Learning in the 21st Century

Each of us, over time, builds a more and more comprehensive image of the world based upon our experiences and…

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Airbrushed Sexting: What We Can Learn From Snapchat

When I first learned about Snapchat in early 2012, I laughed it off. It seemed like a fun, novel idea but not a…

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The New Face of Uncertainty

In my last post, I talked a bit about the fundamental purpose of technology: reducing uncertainty. Uncertainty is a…

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The Social Downside to the Conveniences of Technology

Much of life is, and has been, invisible for most of history. We've always understood that people know each other, but…

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Your Beliefs

Marketers and The Myth of Perfect Control

You’re not broken. I promise. I can understand why you would think you are, though. After all, you’re an expert in…

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You're Not Cynical Enough

There are two types of people in the world: those who believe that perfection exists in this life, and those who…

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There Are No Shortcuts in Product Development - or in Life

In the past few weeks, I've noticed a strangely ubiquitous pattern: an obsession with what I would call "advanced…

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The Pros and Cons of Overconfidence

All of us think that we're more "special" and capable than we are. This phenomenon has many different names in the…

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The State of Science

Most Research Is (Probably) Bogus

Science works through experimentation and replication. Hypotheses are put forward; tests are run; and results are…

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Advice

Don't Express Yourself - Communicate Instead

In life, the most important skill is communication. It's the bottleneck to almost every problem in almost every area of…

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The Three Reasons You're Failing In Product Design And In Life

In product design and life, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. All too often, we contrive complex…

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Design Like A Scientist

When I first started designing products, I used to mainly think about their aesthetics. That seems like the right, and…

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The Most Important Question You Can Ask: Then What?

Life is full of next steps. In the academic literature, these things would be called "second order effects". But, in…

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Society

The Vast, Bloody Gap Between Theory And Practice

Everyone has a large number of great theories or ideas. Here's one that I have: Wouldn't it be great if all of the…

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Prague Holds The Secret To Great Art

What conditions are necessary for great art? Does it merely require a person of extreme genius to come along? Does it…

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