252: The Power of Rituals | Harvard Professor Michael Norton

Michael Norton is a professor at Harvard Business School and author of the book, The Ritual Effect. He researches the effects of social norms on people’s behaviors as well as the psychology of investment. His research has been the answer to Final Jeopardy, and his TEDx talk, How to Buy Happiness, has been viewed more than 4.5 million times. He holds a B.A. in Psychology and English from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University. Prior to joining Harvard Business School, Michael was a Fellow at the MIT Media Lab and MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• When we face uncertainty, stress, or grief, we spontaneously create structured, repeatable, often elaborate behaviors that provide order and give us a feeling of control.
• The rituals we create, whether clinking silverware together before meals, singing Happy Meatloaf, or going through a 12-step process before a tennis serve, probably don’t change the outcomes. But they do change our experience.
• Violating rituals also reveals how much they matter to us. The anger people feel imagining an ex-partner reusing “their” couple ritual shows how much meaning and emotion is embedded in these small, repeated acts.
• The goal isn’t to create more rituals. But rather, notice the significance of the ones we have. And if you can, be sure to ask your parents what their bedtime ritual was for you.