New Research — How 1 M&M Drives Better Stories

Chocolate, Choices, and Cycling. They’re all connected.

Hey storytellers.

Behavioral Economics is fascinating. It reveals our brain’s biases when making decisions. Bottom line? Our decisions are often irrational.

But if you know these biases, human behavior becomes more predictable and lets you craft more compelling stories.

Sounds like a superpower, right? It is.

Check this out…

Results from a recent study we did: We asked people to rate common foods on a “Good Choice” to “Bad choice” scale when watching what you eat.

Here’s the rub.

✺ Half of them were told the calories of the food.

✺ Half of them were told how much exercise they’d need to work it off.

You can probably see where this is going…​

​“An M&M has 3 calories.”

16% thought it was a bad choice

vs.​

“An M&M is equal to walking the length of a football field.”

35% thought it was a bad choice (that’s 2x!)​

​How about Ben & Jerry’s Frozen Yogurt?

“Frozen yogurt has 170 calories.”

8% thought it was a bad choice

​vs.

​“Frozen yogurt is equal to 24 minutes of cycling.”

45% thought it was a bad choice (that’s more than 5x!)​

Wild, right? The only difference is the frame. Same offering, different mindset. When your approach isn’t working, think about flipping the script. Just reframe it.

👉 Check out this short 6-minute presentation I gave at the STORY Conference if you want to see the other results.

🥗 Hot Tip: You won’t believe the salad results!

Thanks for reading.

Want more like this? Please join my newsletter and follow along on LinkedIn.

Can I offer a talk at your event? Check out my Speaker Packet.

If I can be of any help to you, please reach out.

Cheers and remember, success finds those who tell compelling stories.

​