Regret and loss aversion in weight loss

Intervention · Public Health

Is incentivizing weight loss the solution for better health?

Intervention Description

In this study, participants were incentivized to achieve weight-loss goals with regret aversion: if a participant achieved their daily goal they would be entered into a specific lottery with a 20% chance to win 10$ and 1% chance to win 100$. If they did not achieve their goal, they would be sent a message about what they could have won. It was hypothesized that this would trigger regret in the participants. Those in treatment group lost more than 3 times on average compared to the control group. (13.11 vs 3.9 lbs).

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