What do these three things have in common?
The lure of the all-powerful intermittent positive reinforcement.
Let me back up here…
I recently got back from a week-long vacation where there was NO CELL RECEPTION. And, just before this vacation, I watched the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma.
The combo of these two things has had me thinking about my complicated relationship with my smartphone.
Intermittent positive reinforcement applies to my relationship with my phone because, most of the time, when I look at it compulsively, nothing interesting is going on.
But SOMETIMES, there is an important alert, something urgent, or something really fascinating that hits the reward center of my brain and I get that HIT.
So I keep going back for more.
So on to slot machines.
We pull the lever, lose. Pull the lever, almost win. Pull the lever, lose 5 more times. Maybe this time it will work. Surely, if I keep trying, it will work one of these times!
Now finally, how does this apply to our work with clients? How does MI tie in here?
If you have experienced a big win when you have told a client what to do, confronted them, or fixed a problem for them, your brain received a hit. A WIN!
Then, it becomes really easy to forget about all of the times that giving advice, directing, fixing has not worked. So, you might keep applying the same methods over and over, hoping that ONE of these times, it will work again.
Confrontation & fixing problems for clients relies on intermittent reinforcement. Sometimes it works. And when it works, it’s easy to forget about all of the times it didn’t work, & the people who didn’t benefit from it.
MI Tip of the Week: In your work with clients, what habits are you being pulled into that aren’t working most of the time? I’d love to hear! Motivational Interviewing invites us to not use a ‘one size fits all’ style of communication, and to stay curious about what IS working and shift our methods when what we are doing ISN’T working.
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