Design Pattern for Behavior Change
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
One reason the Weight Watcher’s program is successful at helping people lose weight is that it provides point-based guidelines for daily consumption. The system is more comprehensive than anything else you will find and it helps you avoid making substitutions that accidentally undermine your goal.
The point system provides a measurable way of staying on track on a daily basis. Sounds simple but it is a powerful cognitive design technique. The system once learned provides a “mental budget” or a low cognitive load way of self-regulating. I can quickly determine if I am on target before I eat the food – a leading indicator, rather than just weighting myself to see if I am track – a lagging indicator. Further, I only have so much mental energy during the day to control my emotional and behavioral reactions and everything is pulling on it. The point system or mental budget uses very little of that mental energy compared to other programs for regulating my weight.
A mental budget by itself is not enough to make new behaviors happen.
