Column | Why losing a little is sometimes good for your motivation

The power of loss

Negative feelings sometimes have positive consequences. When I was eighteen, I decided to do my national service before going to college – then a kind of gap year for young people without money. Many friends did start their studies right away. During my service I noticed that they were getting ahead of me, especially in terms of knowledge and language skills. I remember a birthday party where I simply couldn’t follow part of the conversation. Pretty worrisome. After that year I therefore started my studies with extra zeal. This yielded above-average results, at least in the first semesters.

An extra step

It is an example of loss aversion, the innate aversion to loss that most people have. (I’ve written about it before.) And it shows that imminent or actual loss can sometimes lead to extra effort and great performance.

That is also what we know from research. We look at others or the goals we set. And when we see that we are falling behind, we experience a strong urge to do something about it. At least, as long as we believe this is feasible. If we have a head start, we actually experience a reduced motivation.

This mechanism is often used in the work environment. When a project is not on schedule, when targets are not met, this is an incentive to go the extra mile. Works fine.

Does loss lead to profit?

The American researchers Jonah Berger and Devin Pope published about this phenomenon in 2011 a remarkable article. They said: Suppose our dislike of losing is so strong that when we fall behind, for example in a sporting competition, we become so extra motivated that we still win. In other words: does losing lead to winning?

After analyzing more than sixty thousand basketball games, their conclusion was: those who are slightly behind in the break have a significantly higher chance of winning in the end than those who are ahead halfway through. Being slightly behind gives a motivational impulse that leads to winning.

This caught the attention of a group of Dutch researchers. Bouke Klein Teeselink, Martijn van den Assem and Dennie van Dolder repeated Berger’s and Pope’s analysis and also investigated an additional 150,000 sports matches.

In the end, it turned out that Berger and Pope had cheered too soon. In their publication from last year, the Dutch show that falling behind during the break in a sports match does not increase the chance of the final victory. In fact, based on their analyses, it is more plausible that falling behind leads to losses. Unfortunately.

And now?

Many researchers think you can make loss aversion work for you. So it can’t hurt to occasionally confront yourself with disappointing results. That stimulates action.

When I stood on the scales this week and read a disappointing value, I therefore took an extra long look. I also wrote down the number of kilos to remind myself.

But thanks to the meticulous research of Klein Teeselink and his colleagues, we also know that you can’t expect miracles from this intervention alone.

Ben Tiggelaar writes weekly about personal leadership, work and management.