Category: Science Articles

Next time you log on to Facebook to update your status or change your profile picture, take a second to ask yourself why.

It’s one thing if you’ve been living under a rock, and your default doesn’t reflect the 3 foot long beard you’ve grown since your last update.

But if you routinely find yourself posting new statuses, adjusting your photo albums, or even just browsing your feed to get all the latest happenings from your family and friends, new evidence suggests that this behavior isn’t fueled by curiosity or a genuine desire to share news with others.

Instead, a 2015 study from the University of Florence has shown time spent on social networking sites has a positive correlation with social anxiety levels.

It’s not difficult to imagine that a socially anxious individual would spend more time inside and thus, perusing sites like Facebook.

But the study included an in-depth survey of all subjects, and found that time devoted to social networking was driven by the need for self-presentation, an aspect of social anxiety.

In other words, if you notice that you consistently devote too much time to social media, it may be because you brain is attempting to improve the way you perceive yourself.

Next time you are scrolling away on Facebook, think about whether you may be better served by going for a jog or talking to a close friend face-to-face.

After retirement you may live on your savings for decades.

Yet two-thirds of baby boomers don’t have enough savings to continue their pre-retirement standard of living — which means you downsize or go broke.

Attention eye-rolling 20 somethings: it’s easy to say “pfff, the baby boomers screwed everything up, I’m going to do better” — and okay great, Pavlok believes in you — but isn’t it better to stack the odds in your favour?

And saving IS hard because we value immediate gains higher than those in the future.

There are two well known methods to countering the bias of valuing “money now” higher.

1. Precommitment is when you enact constraints in the present to limit undesirable behaviors in the future. e.g., asking your employer to deposit 10% of your paycheque in a separate savings account.
2. Future-Boosting is increasing the expected enjoyment of future spending by directing your imagination to future uses for that money. This is why financial investment commercials show you pictures of happy old-people on vacation.

But a 2011 study found a third route that can make a massive impact.

Researchers from leading universities (NYU, Stanford, etc.) proposed that by strengthening the connection between your present and future selves you will save more for the future.

Here’s how they did it.

20 men and 22 women in their early twenties were randomly assigned to two groups: current self or future self.

Each participant was then shown a Retirement Allocation Slider with a 3D avatar of that participant matched to their group.

Participants in the Current Group would see their avatar become happy as they allocated more resources to now, and sad when they allocated resources to the future.

Participants in the Future Group saw the opposite — more resources in the future led to a happier avatar.

The results were inline with predictions — participants in the Future Self Group allocated a significantly higher percentage of pay to retirement (M = 6.76%, SD = 1.68%) than the Current Self Group (M = 5.20%, SD = 2.35%).

The researchers concluded “although the effect size for this result is medium, the difference between conditions of 1.56% is practically quite significant.”

FYI 1.56% invested annually, can be worth $175,000+ by the time you retire.

Now here is a brain-hack you can use…

Next time you get paid, stop thinking about how spending it will bring you happiness now, and instead picture your future self frowning — research shows you will save a little more to help future-you out.

If you’re interested in losing weight, it can be hard to know where to start. But before you ban all of your favorite guilty pleasures, consider this:

Recent findings from the University of California suggest that it’s not what you eat that’s sabotaging your diet, but when you eat.

To prove this, they had two identical groups of mice eat the same high-fat diet for 18 weeks. One group had access to the food 24 hours a day, while the other could only eat for 8 hours — according to when the sun was out.

They started at the same weight, but after 18 weeks of eating the same number of calories…

Not only were mice made obese from habitually eating at night, but they were also more susceptible to diabetes, inflammation of the liver, and heart disease.

So if you’ve ever wondered why late night snacks seem to sit a little bit heavier on your waistline — the time of day is a contributing factor.

If the sun has set, it’s time to store energy as fat for later use. So don’t stress about completely cutting out certain food groups — instead, next time you’re craving pizza while heading home from a late-night party, get some sleep and save the pizza for tomorrow.

Update: Some people are male and some people are female. Some are overweight and some are underweight. Tall, short. Old, young. This study was about a woman, an artificial body type, and the affect on consumer behaviour. We understand why some readers are offended by the content, but there is no prejudice meant — however categorized, men and women are equal.

In commercials you always see pretty and slender actresses selling to you — thin women are considered more persuasive.

But a 2010 study at the University of British Columbia suggests a different mechanism in our decision making: identification with the seller’s body type.

The experiment had two parts…

First, a slender woman (BMI of 19) recommended participants eat one of two snacks: carrots or cookies.

Next, she put on a body suit that made her appear overweight (BMI of 33), and then made the same recommendations: carrots or cookies.

The result?

When the waitress was thin she was able to persuade more subjects to eat carrots.

Great! We should all eat more carrots.

But the highest level of persuasion was when the overweight server recommended cookies — more cookies were consumed.

Conclusion: Your environment and the people around you can affect the choices you make.

So the next time you are tempted to order that Double Chocolate Cream Pie — take a moment and think about the subtle triggers affecting your decision — it may be having a bigger influence than you think.

We’re all aware of our bad habits, whether it’s smoking, gambling, overeating, or otherwise. We know it’s unhealthy, we know we should stop, but something keeps us in the routine.

What is it about toxic habits that makes them so appealing, no matter how motivated we are to stop?

Your Mind Works Like An Iceberg

You might be familiar with the iceberg structure of the mind: imagine an iceberg floating at sea. From afar, it doesn’t look very big. But we can’t see that underwater, it extends hundreds of feet in width and length, much larger than we could’ve anticipated from the surface.

This represents the way your brain works. You can only address what you can see — think of everything above water as your conscious thoughts. You can decide you want to start a diet, promise yourself you’re going to start a diet, and be absolutely sure you’re going to stick to your diet.

But under the surface of the water is the biology of your mind, and the way it’s designed to function. It’s constantly wiring and rewiring connections and associations based on habit and what makes it feel rewarded.

So, while your entire conscious mind is ready to start your diet, the area under the surface hasn’t caught up yet. It still thinks that chocolate cake is the key to happiness, and will mercilessly assault you with cravings until you give it what it wants.

This unconscious zone doesn’t work the same way your active mind does. You can’t use words to talk it out of its desires. It’s like a computer that’s been programmed to function a certain way — it doesn’t respond to reasoning or promises. And that can be discouraging.

However, there is a method to the madness. There is a sensical code that your brain follows to establish, maintain, and break bad habits.

The code is called classical conditioning. Think of Pavlov’s dogs; dogs aren’t born loving the sound of a bell ringing. But dogs love food, and if you continuously ring the bell before giving a dog food, it will learn to love that sound.

Compared to our chocolate cake example: dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain that makes you feel good. The sugar in chocolate cake makes your brain release dopamine. So, over time, your brain has learned that chocolate cake means happiness. And even though you’re ready for a diet, your brain isn’t on the same page.

In contrast: I have two dogs. They have carriers, like a hybrid between a suitcase and a cage. My dogs love small spaces, and were obsessed with hanging out in the carriers.

But now, the carriers are only brought out when the dogs need to be brought to the veterinarian. My dogs hate the veterinarian. Consequently, as soon as they see me bringing the carriers out of the basement, they run and hide.

In other words, you can speak your brain’s language by adding an unpleasant factor to what it’s been taught to love. This is called aversion science.

And it works. Aversion science using electric shock is particularly effective — it helps the majority of smokers, drinkers, gamblers, and nailbiters quit.

Pavlok vs. Elastic Bands — which one is more effective?

Pavlok puts this efficacy in your hands with a one-button wristband that lets you self-administer electric shock, and it’s already helped hundreds of people.

A commonly asked question is “what about rubber bands?”, and for good reason — snapping an elastic band on your wrist can be considered a form of aversion science. And at a glance, it might not seem that different from using a wristband to administer an electric shock.

But there’s a reason the majority of clinical aversion studies use electric shock.

It’s controllable: each shock is easy to administer, timed, and has a pre-selected intensity that you can adjust with an app on your phone. Pavlok also ensures that the electric shocks are completely safe, whereas you can actually cause damage by keeping a tight elastic band against your veins.

An electric shock device has been described clinically as an effective way to conduct aversion science, and Pavlok made it simple by putting this device in a wristband. You can use it discreetly to reach your goals, as opposed to conspicuously snapping a rubber band on your wrist repeatedly.

Electric shock has been proven to work in breaking bad habits, and Pavlok gives you the technology that’s been tested in hundreds of clinical trials. We have customer support, we’ll take your feedback and help you maximize your results.