Action-State Message Matching
Use rewards to trigger action and consequences to support restraint
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 95%
Sharot describes a broad evolved association: people often act to obtain rewards and refrain from acting to avoid punishment. Action-state message matching starts by classifying the desired behaviour. If someone must do something—work, tidy a room, or take a safety step—make the reward or positive goal salient. If someone must withhold an action—avoid a cookie or not disclose confidential information—make the consequence of acting salient. The framework aligns the message with the brain's default action pattern instead of using one motivational style everywhere. It remains a heuristic, not a guarantee: sophisticated people can override these tendencies, and other incentives can work. Results should therefore be observed and the message adjusted.
Origin
Sharot derived the framework from the recurring evolutionary link between acting to obtain good outcomes and staying away to avoid bad outcomes.
Core principles
- 01Anticipated reward is naturally associated with action
- 02Anticipated punishment is naturally associated with inhibition
- 03The required state should determine the message
- 04These are broad tendencies rather than absolute laws
How to run it
- 1
Specify the behaviour
Describe exactly what the person should do or refrain from doing. Avoid broad goals that contain several different actions.
Pro tip Make the target observable enough to know whether it happened.
- 2
Classify the state
Decide whether success requires active movement or inhibition. Let that distinction drive the message.
Watch out Do not assume every safety behaviour is inaction; wearing a helmet requires action.
- 3
Match the incentive
Highlight a reward or desired goal when action is needed. Highlight a credible consequence when restraint is needed.
Pro tip Keep the incentive closely connected to the target behaviour.
Watch out Avoid disproportionate or deceptive threats.
- 4
Make the link explicit
State how the behaviour produces the reward or avoids the consequence. Remove competing cues that point toward the opposite response.
- 5
Observe and adjust
Measure whether the message changes behaviour. Revise for the audience and context because the mechanism is a broad tendency, not a universal rule.
Pro tip Test behaviour rather than asking whether the message sounded persuasive.
In the wild
A parent wants a child to take action, so the message highlights a reward: tidying the room may uncover the child's favourite toy at the bottom of the pile.
→ The reward supports movement toward the requested action.
An organisation wants employees not to share confidential information. It makes the consequence of disclosure clear, aligning the warning with the required restraint.
→ The consequence reinforces non-action at the prohibited moment.
Common mistakes
Misclassifying the behaviour
A safety goal may require an active step, so treating it as simple avoidance can produce the wrong message.
Treating the rule as absolute
Sharot explicitly presents this as a broad mechanism that people can overcome.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for simple, observable behaviours where the desired response is clearly action or non-action.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for complex choices where intrinsic motives, ethics, or multiple behaviours dominate.
From the transcript
“To get what you want, you have to do something.”
“punishments are related to not action and rewards to action.”
“Is it that we want people to do something or not to do something?”
From the episode
Tali Sharot: The Neuroscience of Positivity, How Our Brains Create Our Future
Tali Sharot