The Science behind Ekam
Human development occurred in tribal societies where survival was dependent on those around you. Humans are hardwired to respond to behavioral triggers in ways that are impossible to resist. These triggers work by stimulating the release of chemical compounds in the brain.
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Ekam integrates 5 behavioral triggers to achieve a flow state:
1. Pre-commitment
2. Implementation Intentions
3. Social Pressure
4. Accountability
5. Specificity in task definition
Pre-commitment
Pre-commitment is making a commitment to a task or goal in advance of the time when the steps towards that commitment will have to be carried out.
Example: Ending the day with a study target set for the next morning vs waking up and deciding what to do.
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Benefits: Committing to a goal in advance makes you more ambitious because of an effect known as discounting. Discounting is perceiving the costs and benefits of events in the future as relatively less significant than those of events in the present. It also improves outcomes on that goal, potentially due to additional time allowed to prepare for and accommodate that goal.
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Pre-commitment and Ekam: Ekam allows you to plan the times that you'll work in advance. Without Ekam, you might have a longstanding and generic commitment to work roughly during working hours. However, an Ekam session is a specific and concrete commitment to another person - when you book a Monday 9am session, you're essentially saying 'I commit to work with my partner on Monday at 9am for 1 hour.'
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Implementation Intentions
Implementation Intentions are specific and tangible plans for how you will execute a given objective. You know what to do and how you will do it.
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Example: Reading in a study chair with a study table vs reading while lying down on bed.
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Benefits: Implementation intentions increase efficacy in completing task or goal
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Intentions and Ekam: When asked how you intend to complete July's current affairs, you might reasonably respond, 'I've scheduled two Ekam sessions on Tuesday for it.'
Ekam has several implementation intentions embedded right into the experience, including:
having an appointment blocked out on your calendar
having a partner expecting you at that time
specifying your intended target, to your partner, when you begin your Ekam session
Social Pressure
Social Pressure is the application of heightened demands on oneself when in the presence of others, so as to fulfill certain implicit and explicit expectations and achieve social acceptance.
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Example: Student test performance improves in settings where others are present, as long as content is familiar
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Benefits: Social pressure and competition improves performance on most tasks. Research shows that the mere presence of another person improves human performance by 16-32%
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Social Pressure and Ekam:
First layer is the presence of your partner on an Ekam session
Next is the specific intention you shared with your partner, which then becomes an expectation for you to fulfill
Finally is the substantial desire to be perceived and rated as a desirable partner, and to build a positive reputation in the Ekam community, which drives behaviors such as timeliness and discipline during sessions
Accountability
Accountability reflects the potential for negative consequences when failing to comply with a given agreement. In a broad sense, it is being held responsible to address the impact on one's actions.
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Example: Students attending the exam are expected to come at time. Showing up late results in being barred from the exam
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Benefits: Accountability (i.e. the possibility of punishment for non-performance) shows performance improvements of 230-310% in public goods experiments.
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Accountability and Ekam: Failure to comply with Ekam code of conduct (including showing up to sessions on time and staying for the entire session) results in being reported, low user ratings, difficulty getting partners in the future, and eventually, being blocked from the community.
Specificity in task definition
Specificity in task definition refers to the granularity and concreteness of the task definition. The actions involved in well-specified tasks can be quickly visualised and then carried out.
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Example: 'Read pages 15-25 of Microeconomics Ch-4' vs 'Read Microeconomics book'
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Benefits: Across numerous goal- and intention-setting studies, 90% show a significant, positive impact on productivity when setting specific and challenging goals.
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Specificity and Ekam: When beginning each Ekam session, users specify their first task in detail in the chat interface. Users follow the same protocol for each subsequent task. Designing a distinctive 'step' in the Ekam process helps users dedicate the time and mental resources necessary to actually be this specific, and improves follow through as a result.
Sources and Further Reading
Kurth-Nelson, Zeb; Redish, A. David (2012), "Don't Let Me Do That! – Models of Precommitment". Front Neurosci. 2012; 6: 138. Published online 2012 Oct 8.
Branch, Robert M.; Hao, Qiang; Jensen, Lucas (August 2016), "The Effect of Precommitment on Student Achievement Within a Technology-Rich Project-Based Learning Environment". TechTrends (2016) 60:442–448.
Ariely, Dan; Wertenbroch, Klaus (May, 2002), "Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment". Psychological Science.
Milkman, Katherine L. ; Beshears, John; Choi, James J.; Laibson, David; Madrian, Brigitte C. (2011), "Using implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Vol. 108 No. 26.
Milkman, Katherine L.; Rogers, Todd (2015), "Making the Best Laid Plans Better: How Plan-Making Prompts Increase Follow-Through". Behavioral Science and Policy.
Falk, Armin; Ichino, Andrea (January 2006), "Clean Evidence on Peer Effects". Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 24, No. 1 , pp. 39-57.
Fehr, Ernst; Gächter, Simon (Sep., 2000), "Cooperation and Punishment in Public Goods Experiments". The American Economic Review, Vol. 90, No. 4 , pp. 980-994.
Locke, Edwin A.; Shaw, Karyll N.; Saari, Lise M.; Latham, Gary P., "Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1980." Psychological Bulletin, Vol 90(1), Jul 1981,125-152.