Word: volpp
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Lotteries have the powerful incentive of providing a variable reinforcement, with big payouts sometimes and smaller ones others," says Volpp. "For the deposit contract, the idea is that people are very averse to losing money. It's good to have some skin in the game...
...Volpp and Lowenstein concede that when the dividends stopped, so did the weight loss. About three months after the study ended, both incentive groups had put some pounds back on, though none of the subjects had returned to their original weight. (Read TIME's story on exercise tips...
Still, the cash-for-fat idea proved powerful, and Volpp envisions ways it could be improved so that the weight loss sticks. If you run the programs for 12 to 18 months, for example, subjects start to reap the physical rewards of trimming down. "Their knees and back no longer ache. They start to look better in clothes," he says. "Those benefits become their own reinforcements, so you can turn off the incentive program." Employers and insurers could adopt a similar program, with monthly premiums falling along with the numbers on the scale. "We all tend to discount amorphous health...
Dieting is not the only discipline that can be encouraged with the promise of cash. Volpp, who is affiliated with the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Association and Penn's Center for Health Incentives, is exploring similar pay-to-play strategies for such challenges as quitting smoking and adhering to medication regimens...
...lucky enough to be part of one of Volpp's studies or have an enlightened insurer or employer? Not a concern. Spouses, parents and friends can set up lotteries or deposit contracts for one another too. Or you can make it even simpler: give a trusted person $100 or so, with instructions that if you cheat on your diet or no-smoking pledge, the money be donated - in your name - to a political candidate or group you find objectionable (Greenpeace if you work for an oil company, for example, or an SUV club if you work for Greenpeace). Whatever...