Why TED Talks Don't Change People's Behaviors

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Translator: Leonardo Silva Reviewer: Cristina Bufi-Pöcksteiner

Let me tell you what I know.

I know that you've watched and enjoyed some very inspiring TED Talks.

And it's also true that you understand and for the most part accept

the various cases made by the presenters.

But the truth is this:

very few, if any of you, have changed your behavior

based on that knowledge.

If you did, if we all did,

it would profoundly change the world in which we live.

So, let me be the first to confess.

I've watched Sir Ken Robinson make his very moving case

for an education system that encourages and nurtures creativity.

And I wholeheartedly agree with him,

but I haven't done a thing to help make that a reality.

I've listened to Brené Brown

describe passionately the power of vulnerability.

And I agree with her too,

but I'm still quite guarded.

And I've watched Amy Cuddy articulate how our body language shapes who we are,

but I've got to tell you, I did not take a power pose

before I walked out on the stage

to boost my testosterone and confidence level.

I think maybe I should have, you know.

Let me tell what else: I don't get enough sleep;

I use too many paper towels, I know that;

I sit at my desk for hours on end, without moving;

and I still buy bottled water.

What am I doing?

What are we all doing?

Now, Gandhi said the difference between what we are doing

and what we are capable of doing

would solve most of the world's problems.

I know this difference firsthand.

I mean, just recently,

I was encouraged to hear from executives at a well-known organization

that they fully understood and agreed with the advice I provided.

Yet, when I returned later to review their progress,

I found that they had done the exact opposite.

They'd gone right back to those stifling routines

that existed before I got there.

Now, I'm sure you've experienced similar disappointments in your life, right?

A loved one who continued to smoke or abuse drugs, despite the facts,

or a friend who resisted change in the face of overwhelming evidence.

So why don't we do what we know we should do,

what we're capable of doing,

and solve our problems?

Why don't we take the knowledge we gain from TED Talks

and change our world?

What's wrong with us?

You see, to me, there seems to be a disconnect

between what we watch, read and hear, let's call it the data input,

and our subsequent actions, the behavioral output.

Are we all broken computers? Is that what the problem is?

You see, I don't think so.

I think it's that metaphor that's broken.

It's a faulty metaphor, that the brain is a computer.

Computers are lifeless machines which deal in facts,

they execute static programs.

They don't care, machines don't care, computers don't care

about their perceptions, their changing desires,

whether they look good to themselves or to others.

They're not driven at all by their futures or their desires.

They don't crave control.

Human beings are amazing warm-blooded creatures

who deal in their personal truths.

Our minds are dynamic systems,

which, like other animals,

are influenced by our changing perceptions and desires.

That's the nature of who we are.

And you know, you understand this. You do. Intuitively, you get it.

And that's why when comedians make this apparent to us,

we start laughing, don't we?

Take a look at this and tell me.

If you were a computer,

would you suddenly desire to eat this menacing-looking creature

simply because someone changed its name?

No. A computer wouldn't do that, right?

It makes no sense.

But human beings do.

In 1977, a fish wholesaler named Lee Lance

was first exposed to this crazy-looking fish,

the Patagonian toothfish,

which at the time,

fishermen considered junk, throwaway.

I mean, if you were reeling this thing in, wouldn't you throw it away?

I'd throw it away.

But Lance, he sensed that people would enjoy its white flesh and mild taste

but not its name.

So he began selling this cold-water cod

as Chilean sea bass.

Now, you heard me right.

It's not even a bass, it's cod, right?

Now, is this important? Why is this important?

Or is it just a fish story?

It's very important to understand,

because it tells us how human beings respond in the world

and how they make decisions.

To me, Mark Twain put it best.

He said, "When we remember we are all mad,

the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."

We are not fleshy machines who make decisions based on facts.

We're mad, feeling creatures

who are being pushed and pulled by our environment,

by our instincts, our truths.

I know what you're probably thinking, some of you, maybe most of you,

"Facts, truth, come one. What's the difference?"

Trust me, there is a profound difference,

and if you're interested in solving your problems and changing the world,

you need to be intimately aware of what that difference is.

The screenwriter Robert Mckee wrote,

"What happens is fact, not truth.

Truth is what we think about what happens."

So, here's a fact.

You and I are outgrowths of a huge living sphere

that's rocketing through space right now faster than a bullet shot out of a gun,

around another ball of fire.

That is a fact,

but it is not your truth.

You see, if it was your truth,

if you defined yourself as the world

rather than this little short-term passenger on it,

it would profoundly affect how you live your life.

Now listen, certainly we make decisions based on facts.

Let's end that debate right now, right?

Like the price of a cup of coffee, which I just read is going up.

So go get your coffee now.

But we only do that if those facts support our personal truths,

and primarily these three.

Aesthetics, the look and feel of what we perceive.

Control, whether we believe we have control over what we perceive.

And identity, how the choices of what we perceive will affect our futures,

especially the evolving story

of who we think we are and who we want to become.

Aesthetics, control, identity.

So, let's start with aesthetics

because in our environment, that's where we usually start,

what draws us in to anything new.

So aesthetics is simply our desire for sensory pleasure stimulation,

the look, feel, taste and engagement of stimuli in our environment.

We're drawn to beautiful, fun and entertaining objects and experiences,

like an iPhone or the latest blockbuster film.

But here's the thing:

like a field exploding with flowers,

there's always a new, colorful, enticing thing popping into our view,

and it is in our nature to be drawn to it,

and it's the nature of the evolving marketplace to keep producing them.

So, like bees and butterflies,

we're being pushed and pulled by our environment,

and we are largely unaware of it.

But, unlike simpler creatures,

human beings have the amazing capacity to imagine and construct our future.

And that's why we're always making predictions, right?

Because we want to be able to predict and steer our journeys.

And what does the environment do?

It responds to that desire,

with devices, experience and data, to help us do just that:

to predict the results that we can expect

and to help us measure and optimize everything.

Like, you know, our calories, the expenditure of calories;

our charitable contributions;

even our travel plans.

Now, I don't know, I've been thinking a lot about this.

Maybe measurement and data,

maybe that will solve all of our problems.

I don't know. What do you think? I don't know. I have my doubts.

A little while back, a couple months ago,

I saw this guy at the gym flat on his back,

shaking his hands like this, and I got really nervous.

I walked over and I said, "Hey, are you okay?"

And he says, "Look, I'm fine!

My family and my friends, we upload our activity levels each night to the internet

so we can track each other's progress."

He had that little activity tracker attached to the glove on his hand.

He said, "I'm just adding more steps to my workout."

This is true! Why?

Because he cared about his story,

the story about him and what other people thought.

See, Mark Twain and all the other humorous,

they had it exactly right:

we are all nuts people!

And once we understand that, everything starts to make sense!

Now listen, just as our tastes change and evolve,

our sense of control waxes and wanes.

It's like traveling, or any personal or professional relationship, right?

Sometimes, we're behind the wheel,

we're in control,

and at other times, we're passengers on someone else's trip.

So, a sense of control is important

in that it helps us feel engaged, empowered,

but it's not enough to prevent us from jumping off to a different vehicle.

So, what keeps us interested, engaged, even zealous?

You know what your mind is telling you does that?

It's that faulty metaphor kicking in again,

that dangerous thought that says,

"I know what it is, it's information.

If we can get just more data up there

and do it in an engaging and persuasive way,

that will keep people invested, passionate."

But we've already learned that's not true

because our brains are not those types of machines

that make decisions based on facts.

So, what is it? What does it?

It's not information.

Information doesn't move us.

Desire moves us,

and desire is ignited and grows around our most potent personal truth:

The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves,

who we think we are,

is why we do what we do.

In 2013,

I was fascinated by this little study out of Stanford University.

It was called Virtual Superheroes.

So, the researchers gave participants the ability to fly using virtual reality.

Some were passengers in the helicopter.

Others flew under their own power, with their arms extended.

What the researchers found was that the people who flew like Superman

were later more likely to help other people in the real world.

You know what their theory was?

Their theory was that their inner experiences inspired them

to embody the role of superhero,

without them having the slightest clue.

Well, I'm here to tell you:

it's not a theory,

it's a universal truth.

We embody our roles, our values, our stories.

We live in those stories and we live according to them.

We feel like rebels

when we zip up our leather jacket and we hop onto our motorcycles.

We imagine ourselves as published authors

when we grab another cup of coffee and sit down to confront a blank page.

And sadly, if we think of ourselves as old and worn out,

we become old and worn out.

J. R. R. Tolkien wrote,

"A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities."

Those thousand realities,

those are the facts, the data,

and we are hypnotized by a powerful and dangerous illusion

that those realities will cause us to care,

agitate for change and improve lives.

But they won't,

because we're not rational-thinking machines who deal with facts.

We're amazing passionate creatures who are moved by our personal truths.

Yes, aesthetics, the visual and the evocative, draws us in.

And yes, the sense of control makes us feel empowered and autonomous.

But it's those imaginative, invisible stories,

our inspiring visions of the future,

which turn us on and keep us lit up, buzzing with possibility.

So ask yourself,

"Who am I?

What story am I living?"

Because it's our identity,

it's our personal narratives that move us to change the world,

and to improve our lives and the lives of others.

Thank you. Thank you very much.