Cognitive Design

We mimic the behaviors around us especially those in our “in group”.  Behaviors spread through groups sometimes as swiftly as a contagion. Yawning, laughing, happiness, skipping school, smoking, obesity, cheating, and bullying are a few of the behaviors that have been shown to spread contagiously.

Some of these vector through biology, others direct influence and still others through social network effects. Contagious behavior, like an idea virus or viral product (e.g. a video clip) has a unique design pattern or set of features and functions that make it irresistible and effortless.  But what is the design pattern for contagious behavior? How can we for example, invent contagious behaviors for achieving and sustaining health weight loss, managing chronic illness and the like?

Some have offered answers on how to design and seed contagious behavior (e.g. The Tipping Point) but none that have led to reproducible results. Until the design pattern for contagious behaviors is discovered we will have to follow the advice of mothers and effective leaders – hang out with the good kids and surround yourself with talented people.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 5:54 am and is filed under Behavior Change, Cognitive Bias, Technique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.