The Piano Stairs

Sometimes I’m in a rush, and I come to a fork on the road. I can get to my destination faster by bounding up a flight of stairs. Instead, the ‘road’ I choose, more often than not, is the slower-moving escalator. I am the rule, not the exception, as far as this choice is concerned. In a way the escalator brought a sedentary lifestyle on the move, and kept it sedentary.

You can pepper me (us) with messages about how much healthier it is to climb the stairs. You can billboard me or banner-ad me with sexy ultra-fit models, and even dole out tips on how exercise can easily be embedded in our day-to-day lives. Result? I’m still on that escalator, baby.

Then, comes the piano staircase.

Well, what results from this? 66% more people than normal chose the stairs over the escalator. Young and old, singles, couples, and families are on this thing, man. At first they’re hesitant. Then they’re curious enough to check it out. Once they do, they’re hooked. Now there’s play involved in climbing up and down the stairs, and who doesn’t like a bit of playing around at unexpected stretches in our tedious routines?

Ah, what’s more, the secret that we don’t have to tell any of them is that they’re also exercising and getting a bit healthier (hush).

How about the deepest trash bin?

Cool, eh. Passersby are invariably so curious when they hear that falling sound that they look inside the trash bin. More importantly, they’re throwing out their trash in the bin, just for the sake of hearing that sound again. In fact, one gentleman was looking for additional trash to throw out, just to figure this thing out. Imagine that!

Result? More than double the amount of trash was collected in one day alone. And, of course, a cleaner park for everyone to enjoy.

You want to see more, don’t you?   

The bottle bank arcade.

I lived in Dubai, and there was at best as a scattering of recycling bins. In Chicago, we had the privilege of living in a nice house in the suburbs. There, the waste management company provided us with a large bin, expressly for recycling things. Newspapers, glass bottles and plastic containers, tin cans and cardboard boxes. We had the convenience of just tossing it all in the bin, and the company sorts it out.

Well, not every city can provide that kind of convenience. So why not get people to go through a frank inconvenience, just to hear that familiar arcade sound and see the numbers go up, when they toss used bottles in the bin? In just an evening, this novel idea was used by nearly 100 people, while the old idea was used by just 2 people.

This is called the fun theory.

I’ve watched these videos several times now, and each time I smile. I’m not even participating in these cool social experiments, and I’m feeling the fun, baby! It’s clear I’m not the only one. These videos have garnered millions of views, and gone viral.

How does this work?

Decades ago, psychologist BF Skinner constructed a model for understanding behavior, called operant conditioning. Not just understanding, but also influencing it, even determining it. Simply put, anything we do that results in us feeling better or getting some kind of good, benefit or value, we keep doing. This is the process of reinforcement. Think: eating yummy ice cream, watching your favorite sport, or shopping for shoes.

Conversely, if the result is noxious, painful, or just tedious, we won’t keep doing whatever that is that turns out this way. This is of course punishment in its essence.

So the piano staircase, the deepest trash bin, and the arcade bottle bank are all reinforcers for behavior that has personal, civic and environmental value. OK, that much is clear.

What I’m most impressed by, though, is the thinking behind the fun theory. Someone (or some people) has a fine grasp of human nature. We suburban families in Chicago basically had an inconvenience taken away, so it was no bother really to recycle. Technically, this is negative punishment, as we’re also more likely to do things that take away unpleasant things (i.e., inconveniences).

But the fun theorists understood much more of us, and they’ve given us a forum for revealing things about our nature we don’t always remember or acknowledge. A curiosity, when something unusual occurs. A desire to explore it, and give it a try, and try it some more. A penchant for smiling. A kind of group contagion that ripples out widely and positively.

Another thing is, there was absolutely no sophisticated technology or innovation required to make these appliances. Yes, Apple can boast of the rapid sales uptake of their iPhone or iPad. But these cool things had remarkable and immediate results, at a fraction of the time, cost and know-how to make. In fact what’s really innovative here has to do with utter simplicity, the simple willingness to reflect more on human nature, and the discipline to follow through and effectively motivate people to change their behavior.

Please feel free to read more about the fun theory, a cool initiative by Volkswagen.

So, people, are we having fun, yet?

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD