Warning: this post is gonna be one of those rambly ones where I think as I type. Don’t expect a lot of cohesiveness here!
Last week, I had a school assignment that involved pretending to be a nursing school instructor. So, I had to do some digging into the research about effective teaching methods.
We were supposed to design a class focusing on self-care for nurses (and nursing students because nursing school is kinda…hard. Ha.)
You guys already know that some of my favorite forms of self-care include:
- Prioritizing sleep
- Eating foods that fuel me
- Moving my body
And you also know that especially when it comes to dietary choices, I prefer to approach it from a positive direction.
I don’t think of it as saying no to some foods; I think of it as saying yes to foods that make me feel good.
Anyway, in my search through the endless world of scholarly articles, I came across the concepts of gain-framing and loss-framing.
Basically, when you’re trying to convince someone to change a behavior, you can inform them of the benefits they will gain if they make the change (You’ll have more energy! You’ll sleep better!) or you can warn them of the losses they might incur if they don’t make the change (You’ll be tired at work. You’ll have blood sugar crashes.)
As I thought about this, I concluded that my personal mental framing is usually a combo of gain-framing and loss-framing.
I go to bed on time because I want to feel good the next day (and the implied corollary is that I hate feeling tired! I don’t want that.)
I eat eggs, whole-grain toast, and fruit before work because I want to have energy and stamina for my shift (thus avoiding the misery of feeling shaky and tired at work).
ANYWAY. This train of thought also led me to think about gain-framing and loss-framing when it comes to spending.
Gain-framing would be something like, “I want to have extra money at the end of the month, so I’m going to cook at home.”
And loss-framing would be more like, “If I keep eating out, I’m not going to be able to pay the credit card bill, so I’d better eat at home.”
Loss-framing seems to tap into fear as a motivator, so it’s definitely a less warm and fuzzy way of motivating oneself; I’d rather gain-frame.
However, the research I read indicates that, at least in cases of health topics, a warning of loss is sometimes more effective than gain-framing. And I would guess that our individual personalities also play into whether loss or gain is more motivating.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this. Do you find yourself more motivated by making gains or by avoiding losses?
P.S. When I think back to times in my life when I was closer to poverty, I lived in more monetary fear, which made it a little easier to default to a loss-framing way of thinking. So, while I do prefer gain-framing, I acknowledge that this is much simpler to do when you are not living on the razor edge of financial ruin.
Source: www.thefrugalgirl.com…