VARIABLE REWARDSCHAPTER 4

AT THE HEART OF THE HOOK MODEL IS A VARIABLE SCHEDULE OF REWARDS THAT FOCUSES ATTENTION, PROVIDES PLEASURE, AND INFATUATES THE MIND.

HUMANS CRAVE PREDICTABILITY AND STRUGGLE TO FIND PATTERNS —EVEN WHEN NONE EXIST.

UNDERSTANDING REWARDS

▸ In this phase, you reward your users by solving a problem, reinforcing their motivation for the action taken in the previous phase.

▸ Reducing the steps needed to complete the intended outcome increases the likelihood of that outcome

▸ Olds and Milner

▸ Anticipation

UNDERSTANDING VARIABILITY

▸ Our habits are simply the brain's ability to quickly retrieve the appropriate behavioral response to a routine or process we have already learned.

▸ Babies and Dogs

▸ To hold our attention, products must have an ongoing degree of novelty

REWARDS OF THE TRIBE, HUNT, AND SELF

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SKINNER’S PIGEONS

▸ Skinner added variability Olds’ and Milner’s

▸ We crave variable rewards —they feed us dopamine

FACEBOOK STACK OVERFLOW

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

TWITTER

EXAMPLES

GETTING MONEY FROM STRANGERS: WHAT LINE MADE A DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLE’S WILLINGNESS TO GIVE?

“YOU ARE FREE TO ACCEPT OR REFUSE”

SUMMARY OF EACH

REWARDS OF THE TRIBE

▸ We are a species that depends on each other. We have specially-adapted neurons to help us feel what others feel, which provides evidence that we survive through our empathy for one another. We’re meant to be part of a tribe so our brains seek out rewards that make us feel accepted, important, attractive, and included.

▸ It’s no wonder that the use of social media has exploded over the past few years. Facebook and Twitter, to name just two of the most popular examples, provide well over a billion people with powerful social rewards on a variable schedule. With each tweet and post, users wonder how much social validation they’ll receive.

REWARDS OF THE HUNT

▸ But as sociable as we are, our individual need for sustenance is even more crucial. The need to acquire physical things, such as food and supplies, is part of the brain’s operating system and we clearly wouldn’t have survived the millennia without this impulse. But where we once hunted for food, today we hunt for deals and information.

▸ The same compulsion that kept us searching for food coerces us to open emails from Groupon and Appsumo. New shopping startups make the hunt for products entertaining by introducing variability to what the user may find next. Pinterest and Wanelo keep users searching with an endless supply of eye candy, a trove of dopamine flooding desirables.

▸ To see an example of how the hunt for information engages users, look no further then the right side of this page. There, you will find a listing of popular posts. Using intriguing images and short, attention-grabbing text, the list is a variable reward mechanism designed to keep you hunting for your next discovery.

REWARDS OF THE SELF

▸ Finally, there are the variable rewards we seek for personal gratification. For example, from birth, things that stimulate our senses mesmerize us. Babies put everything in their mouths for the same reason there are flashing neon lights in Las Vegas. We love novel sensory stimulation.

▸ We also seek mastery of the world around us. Game mechanics, found everywhere from Zynga games to business productivity apps like to-do lists, provide a variable rewards system built around our need to control, dominate, and complete challenges. Slaying new messages in your inbox stimulates neurons similar to those stimulated by playing StarCraft.

REMEMBER AND SHARE

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REMEMBER AND SHARE

▸ - Variable Reward is the third phase of the Hook Model, and there are three types of variable rewards: tribe, hunt and self.

▸ - Rewards of the tribe is the search for social rewards fueled by connectedness with other people.

▸ - Rewards of the hunt is the search for material resources and information.

▸ - Rewards of the self is the search for intrinsic rewards of mastery, competence, and completion

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REMEMBER AND SHARE

▸ - When our autonomy is threatened, we feel constrained by our lack of choices and often rebel against doing a new behavior. Psychologists call this “reactance.” Maintaining a sense of user autonomy is a requirement for repeat engagement.

▸ - Experiences with finite variability become increasingly predictable with use and lose their appeal over time. Experiences that maintain user interest by sustaining variability with use exhibit infinite variability.

▸ - Variable rewards must satisfy users’ needs, while leaving them wanting to re-engage with the product.