Super Mario Effect
You attempt a task, you fail, you receive the following message: “That did not work, please try again.”
You attempt a task, you fail, you receive the following message: “You just lost 5 points, please continue.”
Which message, when received, will give you the greatest potential for future performance?
Students of reward/punishment-motivation and gamification will say the point-based message.
In fact, much of your world is built around this type of reinforcement.
One problem: it is not necessarily effective.
“That did not work, please try again,” correlates to a 12% higher long-term success rate than “You just lost 5 points, please continue.”
The data gets more interesting: the former message equals 2.5x more attempts at a task than the latter.
The structure of how you are presented with learning directly contributes to your discretionary effort in continuing to pursue that learning.
This phenomenon is known as the Super Mario Effect.
In a world of KPI’s, ROI’s, and metrics, it is easy to forget about the optimal cognitive conditions for learning.
Gamification is not about creating a win-lose proposition, it is about increasing appetite for repetition.
As a leader, your job is to facilitate learning that enables performance.
Too much emphasis on the end result cuts out 12% of future performance.
12% and 2.5x more repetitions, over time, compound to tremendous growth and learning for your team.
It’s a-me, Macchiato,
- Morning Cup
What is this? Science for me? This is a link.