What do Newton's Three Laws of Motion tell us about behavior?
Quick refresher:
- 1st Law of Motion: An object in motion will stay in motion, and an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by a force.
- 2nd Law of Motion: Force = Mass x Acceleration
- 3rd Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Now let's restate the Three Laws through the lens of behavior:
- 1st Law of Behavior: Behavior that's happening will continue to happen, and behavior that's absent will continue to be absent unless acted on by a force.
- 2nd Law of Behavior: Force = Depth of the Behavior Change x Acceleration
- 3rd Law of Behavior: For every behavior, there is an equal and opposite behavior.
What behavioral physics can we pull from each law?
1st Law of Behavior:
- A person's behavior patterns will remain constant until a force acts on them.
- The force that starts, stops, or alters a person's behavior must be triggered by an external force, but the only force that changes a person's behavior is within the person.
- Without external force, a person's behavior will maintain its current pattern.
2nd Law of Behavior:
- The bigger the behavior change, the more force required to create it and the more it takes to accelerate it. Big behavior change refers to either (1) deep change in one person or (2) behavior change across a large group of people.
- Accelerating behavior change is proportional to the force applied to it. The stronger and more consistent the force applied, the faster behavior change will happen.
- Behavior change accelerates in the direction of the strongest net forces acting on it. Behavior moves in the direction of the strongest and most consistent force.
3rd Law of Behavior:
- All behavior creates an impact. There is no such thing as behavior without impact.
- For every behavior pushing in one direction, there will be an equal behavior pushing in the opposite direction. All behavior creates the opposite of its intent, an opposing reaction in some way.
- The stronger the behavior, the stronger its opposing reaction.
Like Newton's Three Laws of Motion don't immediately explain space travel, the Laws of Behavior won't immediately explain your family or work dynamics.
But the more you study and observe these physics, the more you'll notice them and appreciate how universal they are.
Brick by brick. Do the work.
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