I like the idea that I could just be in the moment and experience the exercise even though I don't love it right. And so these kind of tricks where we quote fool ourselves they kind of infantilize my little bit but I do worry about the impact on my own self respect but I do want to be thinner say. That's interesting. Most of the people I talk to who have used these techniques haven't given me that feedback that it feels like they're infantilizing themselves. If someone else imposes it on you, which is exactly what I talk about with gamification and how it can backfire. It actually doesn't seem to work that well if it feels imposed by the
Behavioral scientist Katy Milkman of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania talks about her book How to Change with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. What can we learn from research in psychology and behavioral economics about breaking the habits we want to change? Is that research reliable? And should Russ Roberts accept being overweight or keep working at finding the thinner man trying to get out?