What makes us feel good about our work? | Dan Ariely

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Violeta Reimunde Reviewer: Carme Paz

I want to talk a little bit today about labor and work.

Hoxe quero falar un pouco

sobre traballo e emprego.

When we think about how people work,

Cando pensamos en como traballa a xente,

the naive intuition we have

a intuición inocente que temos

is that people are like rats in a maze --

é que a xente é como as ratas no labirinto:

que o que lle importa á xente é os cartos,

that all people care about is money,

and the moment we give them money,

e que mentres lles deamos cartos

we can direct them to work one way,

podemos dirixilos para que traballen nunha dirección,

we can direct them to work another way.

podemos dirixilos para que traballen noutra dirección.

This is why we give bonuses to bankers and pay in all kinds of ways.

Por iso lles damos primas aos banqueiros e pagamos de moitas maneiras.

E realmente temos esta visión incriblemente simplista

And we really have this incredibly simplistic view

of why people work, and what the labor market looks like.

de por que a xente traballa e de como é o mercado de traballo.

At the same time, if you think about it,

Ao mesmo tempo, se nos paramos a pensalo,

there's all kinds of strange behaviors in the world around us.

hai todo tipo de comportamentos inusuais ao noso arredor.

Think about something like mountaineering and mountain climbing.

Pensade en algo como o alpinismo ou a escalada.

Se lemos libros de persoas que escalan montañas, montañas difíciles,

If you read books of people who climb mountains, difficult mountains,

do you think that those books are full of moments of joy and happiness?

credes que estes libros están cheos de momentos de xúbilo e ledicia?

No, they are full of misery.

Non, están cheos de penalidades.

De feito, do que falan é de conxelación, de dificultade para andar

In fact, it's all about frostbite and having difficulty walking,

and difficulty breathing --

e dificultade para respirar...

cold, challenging circumstances.

de frío, de circunstancias esixentes.

And if people were just trying to be happy,

E se a xente quixese simplemente ser feliz,

the moment they would get to the top,

en canto chegasen ao cume

they would say, "This was a terrible mistake.

dirían: "Isto foi un erro tremendo.

I'll never do it again."

Non o farei nunca máis."

(Risos)

(Laughter)

"Instead, let me sit on a beach somewhere drinking mojitos."

"Prefiro sentar nunha praia e beber mojitos."

But instead, people go down,

Pero no canto diso, descenden

and after they recover, they go up again.

e, cando se recuperan, volven a subir.

And if you think about mountain climbing as an example,

E se pensamos na escalada como exemplo,

it suggests all kinds of things.

vemos que implica todo tipo de cousas.

Implica que lle damos importancia a chegar ao final, a un cume.

It suggests that we care about reaching the end, a peak.

Implica que lle damos importancia á loita, ao reto.

It suggests that we care about the fight, about the challenge.

It suggests that there's all kinds of other things that motivate us

Implica que hai moitas outras cousas

que nos motivan para traballar ou para comportarnos de moitas maneiras.

to work or behave in all kinds of ways.

Eu persoalmente comecei a pensar nisto

And for me personally, I started thinking about this

after a student came to visit me.

cando un alumno veu visitarme.

Era un alumno ao que lle dera clase había uns anos.

This was one of my students from a few years earlier,

E un día volveu polo campus.

and he came one day back to campus.

E contoume esta historia:

And he told me the following story:

He said that for more than two weeks,

Contoume que durante máis de dúas semanas traballara nunha presentación PowerPoint.

he was working on a PowerPoint presentation.

He was working in a big bank,

Estaba traballando nun banco importante.

and this was in preparation for a merger and acquisition.

Era para preparar unha fusión e adquisición.

And he was working very hard on this presentation --

E estaba a traballar con moito afán nesta presentación:

graphs, tables, information.

gráficas, táboas, información.

He stayed late at night every day.

Ficaba ata ben tarde todas as noites.

And the day before it was due,

E o día antes da data de entrega,

he sent his PowerPoint presentation to his boss,

envioulle a presentación PowerPoint ao seu xefe,

e o seu xefe contestoulle dicindo:

and his boss wrote him back and said,

"Nice presentation, but the merger is canceled."

"Boa presentación, pero a fusión cancelouse."

And the guy was deeply depressed.

E o rapaz sentiuse moi abatido.

Now at the moment when he was working,

O caso é que mentres estaba traballando,

he was actually quite happy.

sentíase bastante contento.

Every night he was enjoying his work,

Cada noite desfrutaba co seu traballo,

he was staying late, he was perfecting this PowerPoint presentation.

ficaba ata tarde, perfeccionando a presentación PowerPoint.

But knowing that nobody would ever watch it made him quite depressed.

Pero saber que ninguén a vería fíxolle sentirse bastante abatido.

So I started thinking about how do we experiment

Así que comecei a pensar en como experimentar

with this idea of the fruits of our labor.

con esta idea dos froitos do noso traballo.

And to start with, we created a little experiment

E para comezar, creamos un pequeno experimento

in which we gave people Legos,

no que dabamos a unhas persoas Legos, e lles pedíamos que construísen cos Legos.

and we asked them to build with Legos.

And for some people, we gave them Legos and we said,

E a algunhas das persoas démoslles Legos e dixémoslles:

"Hey, would you like to build this Bionicle for three dollars?

"Oes, gustaríache construír este Bionicle por tres dólares?

We'll pay you three dollars for it."

Pagarémosche tres dólares por facelo."

And people said yes, and they built with these Legos.

E as persoas dicían que si, e construían con estes Legos.

And when they finished, we took it, we put it under the table,

E cando remataban, colliámolo, poñiámolo debaixo da mesa,

and we said, "Would you like to build another one,

e dicíamos: "Gustaríache construír outro máis, esta vez por 2,70 $?"

this time for $2.70?"

If they said yes, we gave them another one,

Se dicían que si, dabámoslles outro máis.

and when they finished, we asked them,

E cando remataban, preguntabámoslles:

"Queres construír outro máis?" por 2,40 $, 2,10 $ etc.,

"Do you want to build another one?" for $2.40, $2.10, and so on,

until at some point people said,

ata que nalgún momento dicían: "Xa abonda. Non me paga a pena."

"No more. It's not worth it for me."

Isto é o que chamamos a condición significativa.

This was what we called the meaningful condition.

People built one Bionicle after another.

As persoas construían un Bionicle detrás doutro.

After they finished every one of them,

Ao rematar cada un, poñiámolo baixo a mesa.

we put them under the table.

E diciámoslles que ao final do experimento,

And we told them that at the end of the experiment,

we will take all these Bionicles, we will disassemble them,

colleriámos todos eses Bionicles, desfariámolos,

we will put them back in the boxes,

poñeriámolos de novo nas caixas e usariámolos para o seguinte participante.

and we will use it for the next participant.

There was another condition.

Había outra condición.

This other condition was inspired by David, my student.

Estoutra condición estivo inspirada por David, o meu alumno.

And this other condition we called the Sisyphic condition.

E a esta outra condición chamámola a condición sisífica.

And if you remember the story about Sisyphus,

Se lembrades a historia de Sísifo,

Sisyphus was punished by the gods to push the same rock up a hill,

Sísifo fora castigado polos deuses a empurrar unha roca costa arriba,

and when he almost got to the end,

e cando estivera a chegar ao cume do outeiro,

the rock would roll over, and he would have to start again.

a roca rodaría para abaixo, e tería que volver a comezar de novo.

And you can think about this as the essence of doing futile work.

E podemos considerar isto como a esencia do traballo fútil.

You can imagine that if he pushed the rock on different hills,

Podemos imaxinar que se empurrase a roca por distintos outeiros,

at least he would have some sense of progress.

polo menos tería algunha noción de progreso.

Also, if you look at prison movies,

Tamén se pensamos en filmes de cárceres

ás veces a forma que teñen os gardas de torturar os presos

sometimes the way that the guards torture the prisoners

is to get them to dig a hole, and when the prisoner is finished,

é mandarlles cavar un burato

e cando o preso remata, mándanlle reencher o burato e cavalo de novo.

they ask him to fill the hole back up and then dig again.

There's something about this cyclical version

Hai algo nesta versión cíclica

of doing something over and over and over

de facer algo unha e outra vez

that seems to be particularly demotivating.

que semella desmotivar especialmente.

So in the second condition of this experiment,

Entón na segunda condición do experimento foi iso o que fixemos.

that's exactly what we did.

Preguntabamos: "Gustaríache construír un Bionicle por tres dólares?"

We asked people,

"Would you like to build one Bionicle for three dollars?"

And if they said yes, they built it.

E se dicían que si, construíano.

Entón preguntabámoslles: "Queres construír outro por 2,70 $?"

Then we asked them, "Do you want to build another one for $2.70?"

And if they said yes, we gave them a new one,

E se dicían que sí, dabámoslles un novo,

and as they were building it,

e mentres o construían,

we took apart the one that they just finished.

desfaciamos o que viñan de rematar.

E cando remataban,

And when they finished that,

we said, "Would you like to build another one,

diciamos: "Gustaríache construír outro, esta vez por 30 centavos menos?"

this time for 30 cents less?"

And if they said yes,

E se dicían que sí, dabámoslles o que construíran e nós desfixeramos.

we gave them the one that they built and we broke.

Co cal era un ciclo sen fin

So this was an endless cycle of them building,

no que eles construían e nós desfaciamos diante dos seus ollos.

and us destroying in front of their eyes.

Now what happens when you compare these two conditions?

E que acontece cando se comparan estas dúas condicións?

The first thing that happened was that people built many more Bionicles --

O primeiro que aconteceu

foi que a xente construíu moitos máis Bionicles (11 fronte a 7)

eleven in the meaningful condition,

coa condición significativa fronte á condición sisífica.

versus seven in the Sisyphus condition.

And by the way, we should point out that this was not big meaning.

E, por certo, temos que ter en conta que isto non tiña un significado enorme.

Non se trataba de curar o cancro nen de construír pontes.

People were not curing cancer or building bridges.

People were building Bionicles for a few cents.

O que facían era construír Bionicles por uns cantos centavos.

And not only that, everybody knew

E non só iso, senon que todos sabían que os Bionicles se desfarían ao pouco tempo.

that the Bionicles would be destroyed quite soon.

So there was not a real opportunity for big meaning.

O cal non era moi propicio para un significado importante.

But even the small meaning made a difference.

Pero mesmo este significado miúdo tiña o seu impacto.

Now we had another version of this experiment.

Tamén tiñamos outra versión deste experimento.

In this other version of the experiment,

Nesta outra versión

we didn't put people in this situation,

non poñiamos a xente nesta situación,

we just described to them the situation,

soamente lles describiamos a situación, case como a estou describindo agora,

much as I am describing to you now,

and we asked them to predict what the result would be.

e pediámoslles que predixesen o resultado.

Que aconteceu?

What happened?

People predicted the right direction but not the right magnitude.

A predición foi correcta pero a magnitude non o foi.

People who were just given the description of the experiment

As persoas ás que so se lles describiu o experimento

said that in the meaningful condition,

dixeron que coa condición significativa a xente probablemente construiría un Bionicle máis.

people would probably build one more Bionicle.

So people understand that meaning is important,

Ou sexa que a xente comprende que o significado é importante,

só que non comprende a magnitude da súa importancia,

they just don't understand the magnitude of the importance,

the extent to which it's important.

ata que punto é importante.

Houbo ademais outro dato que analizamos.

There was one other piece of data we looked at.

Se o pensades, hai persoas ás que lles encantan os Legos e hai persoas ás que non.

If you think about it, there are some people who love Legos,

and some people who don't.

And you would speculate that the people who love Legos

E poderiamos conxecturar que as persoas ás que lles encantan os Legos

construirían máis Legos, mesmo por menos cartos,

would build more Legos, even for less money,

because after all, they get more internal joy from it.

porque á fin e ao cabo desfrutarían máis.

And the people who love Legos less would build less Legos

E as persoas ás que lles gustaran menos os Legos, construirían menos

because the enjoyment that they derive from it is lower.

porque o desfrute que obterían sería menor.

And that's actually what we found in the meaningful condition.

E iso é de feito o que atopamos coa condición significativa.

There was a very nice correlation between the love of Legos

Houbo unha correlación clara entre o gusto polo Lego

and the amount of Legos people built.

e a cantidade de Legos construídos.

Que aconteceu coa condición sisífica?

What happened in the Sisyphic condition?

In that condition, the correlation was zero --

Nesa condición a correlación foi de cero.

there was no relationship between the love of Legos,

Non houbo relación entre o gusto polo Lego e a cantidade construída,

and how much people built,

which suggests to me that with this manipulation

o cal implica para min que con esta manipulación

of breaking things in front of people's eyes,

de desfacer estas figuras diante dos seus olllos,

o que faciamos era esnaquizar calquera satisfacción que puideran obter.

we basically crushed any joy that they could get out of this activity.

We basically eliminated it.

Basicamente suprimiámola.

Soon after I finished running this experiment,

Pouco despois de rematar este experimento

I went to talk to a big software company in Seattle.

fun falar cunha empresa importante de software en Seattle.

I can't tell you who they were, but they were a big company in Seattle.

Non podo dicirvos cal era, pero era unha grande empresa en Seattle.

Era cun grupo desta empresa de software que traballaba nun edificio distinto.

This was a group within the software company

that was put in a different building,

and they asked them to innovate,

Pedíronlles que innovasen e que creasen o novo produto estrela da empresa.

and create the next big product for this company.

And the week before I showed up,

E unha semana antes de eu aparecer,

the CEO of this big software company went to that group, 200 engineers,

o director executivo desta empresa dirixiuse a ese grupo, 200 enxeñeiros,

and canceled the project.

e cancelou o proxecto.

And I stood there in front of 200

E velaí estaba eu diante das 200 persoas máis deprimidas coas que falara nunca.

of the most depressed people I've ever talked to.

Describinlles algún dos experimentos de Lego

And I described to them some of these Lego experiments,

and they said they felt like they had just been through that experiment.

e dicían que se sentían xusto coma se acabaran de facer ese experimento.

Pregunteilles:

And I asked them, I said,

"How many of you now show up to work later than you used to?"

"Cantos de vós chegades agora ao traballo máis tarde que antes?"

And everybody raised their hand.

E todos levantaron a man.

I said, "How many of you now go home earlier than you used to?"

Dixen: "Cantos de vós marchades a casa máis cedo que antes?"

E todos levantaron a man.

Everybody raised their hand.

Pregunteilles: "Cantos engadides agora cousas extra aos gastos de empresa?"

I asked them, "How many of you now add

not-so-kosher things to your expense reports?"

And they didn't raise their hands,

E a verdade é que non levantaron a man

but they took me out to dinner

pero invitáronme a cear e mostráronme o que podían facer a cargo da empresa.

and showed me what they could do with expense reports.

Entón pregunteilles:

And then I asked them, I said,

"Que puido ter feito o director executivo para non vos deprimir tanto?"

"What could the CEO have done to make you not as depressed?"

And they came up with all kinds of ideas.

Ocorréronselles todo tipo de ideas.

They said the CEO could have asked them to present to the whole company

Dixeron que o director podía terlles pedido que presentaran ao resto da empresa

about their journey over the last two years

a súa traxectoria dos dous últimos anos e o que decidiran facer.

and what they decided to do.

He could have asked them to think about which aspect of their technology

Podía terlles pedido que pensaran que aspecto da súa tecnoloxía

podería encaixar noutras partes da organización.

could fit with other parts of the organization.

He could have asked them to build some next-generation prototypes,

Podería terlles pedido que construísen prototipos, prototipos de nova xeración

and see how they would work.

e observar o seu funcionamento.

But the thing is that any one of those would require some effort and motivation.

O que pasa é que calquera destas ideas

precisaría de certo esforzo e motivación.

And I think the CEO basically did not understand the importance of meaning.

E penso que o director simplemente non comprendeu a importancia do significado.

Se o director executivo, como os nosos participantes,

If the CEO, just like our participants,

thought the essence of meaning is unimportant,

pensase que a esencia do significado non era importante,

then he [wouldn't] care.

entón non lle importaría.

And he would say, "At the moment I directed you in this way,

Diríalles: "Nese momento dirixinvos nesa dirección,

and now that I'm directing you in this way,

e agora estouvos dirixindo nestoutra;

everything will be okay."

todo irá ben."

But if you understood how important meaning is,

Pero se se entende a importancia do significado,

then you would figure out that it's actually important

un daríase conta de que paga a pena

to spend some time, energy and effort

investir tempo, enerxía e esforzo

en que a xente se preocupe máis polo que fai.

in getting people to care more about what they're doing.

O seguinte experimento foi un pouco diferente.

The next experiment was slightly different.

We took a sheet of paper with random letters,

Collemos unha folla de papel con letras ao chou,

e pedimos aos participantes que atopasen pares de letras idénticas que estivesen xuntas.

and we asked people to find pairs of letters

that were identical next to each other.

That was the task.

Esa era a tarefa.

People did the first sheet,

E fixeron a primeira folla.

then we asked if they wanted to do another for a little less money,

Entón preguntámoslles se querían facer outra folla por un pouco menos de diñeiro

e outra folla por un pouco menos de diñeiro etc.

the next sheet for a little bit less, and so on and so forth.

E tiñamos tres condicións.

And we had three conditions.

In the first condition, people wrote their name on the sheet,

Na primeira condición, tiñan que escribir o seu nome na folla,

found all the pairs of letters,

atopar todos os pares de letras e entregarlla ao experimentador.

gave it to the experimenter,

the experimenter would look at it,

O experimentador tiña que mirala, examinala de arriba a abaixo,

scan it from top to bottom,

say "Uh huh," and put it on the pile next to them.

dicir "ahá" e poñela no montón.

In the second condition, people did not write their name on it.

Na segunda condición, non tiñan que escribir o seu nome.

The experimenter looked at it,

O experimentador tiña que mirala,

took the sheet of paper, did not look at it, did not scan it,

coller a folla de papel, non mirala, non examinala

and simply put it on the pile of pages.

soamente poñela no montón de follas.

So you take a piece, you just put it on the side.

Ou sexa, coller o papel e poñelo ao lado.

In the third condition,

Na terceira condición,

the experimenter got the sheet of paper,

o experimentador tiña que coller a folla e directamente metela na trituradora de papel.

and put it directly into a shredder.

(Laughter)

Que aconteceu nesas tres condicións?

What happened in those three conditions?

In this plot I'm showing you at what pay rate people stopped.

Nesta gráfica amósase en que cantidade de cartos a xente parou.

So low numbers mean that people worked harder.

Os números baixos significan que a xente traballou máis. Traballaron moito máis tempo.

They worked for much longer.

In the acknowledged condition,

Na condición recoñecida, a xente traballou ata chegar aos 15 centavos.

people worked all the way down to 15 cents.

At 15 cents per page,

Aos 15 centavos por páxina, deixaban de facer o esforzo.

they basically stopped these efforts.

In the shredder condition, it was twice as much -- 30 cents per sheet.

Na condición da trituradora, foi o dobre: 30 centavos por páxina.

And this is basically the result we had before.

E isto no fondo é o mesmo resultado que antes.

You shred people's efforts, output --

Trituras o esforzo da xente: o resultado

you get them not to be as happy with what they're doing.

é que non desfrutan do que están a facer.

But I should point out, by the way,

Debería sinalar, por certo,

que na condición da trituradora, a xente podía ter feito trampa.

that in the shredder condition, people could have cheated.

They could have done not so good work,

Podían ter feito un traballo menos bo,

because they realized people were just shredding it.

porque vían que se ía triturar.

So maybe the first sheet you'd do good work,

Daquela, coa primeira folla farían un bo traballo,

but then you see nobody is really testing it,

pero logo verían que ninguén o ía comprobar

so you would do more and more and more.

e farían máis e máis e máis.

So in fact, in the shredder condition,

Entón na condición da trituradora

people could have submitted more work and gotten more money,

poderían ter entregado máis traballo e recibido máis cartos

facendo un esforzo menor.

and put less effort into it.

But what about the ignored condition?

E que houbo da condición ignorada?

Would the ignored condition be more like the acknowledged

Pareceríase máis á recoñecida ou á da trituradora,

or more like the shredder, or somewhere in the middle?

ou sería un punto medio?

It turns out it was almost like the shredder.

Aconteceu que foi case igual que a da trituradora.

Now there's good news and bad news here.

Isto supón boas e malas novas.

The bad news is that ignoring the performance of people

As malas novas son que ignorar o traballo da xente

é case tan negativo como triturar o seu esforzo diante dos seus ollos.

is almost as bad as shredding their effort in front of their eyes.

Ignoring gets you a whole way out there.

Ignorar ten consecuencias moi negativas.

The good news is that by simply looking at something that somebody has done,

As boas novas son que simplemente mirar o traballo que alguén fixo,

scanning it and saying "Uh huh,"

examinalo e dicir "ahá"

that seems to be quite sufficient

semella abondo

to dramatically improve people's motivations.

para aumentar considerablemente a motivación da xente.

So the good news is that adding motivation

Ou sexa, as boas novas son que aumentar a motivación non semella tan complicado.

doesn't seem to be so difficult.

The bad news is that eliminating motivations

O malo é que eliminar motivacións

seems to be incredibly easy,

semella ser tremendamente sinxelo

and if we don't think about it carefully, we might overdo it.

e se non pensamos nisto con xeito, poderiamos pasarnos.

So this is all in terms of negative motivation,

Todo isto é en termos de motivación negativa

or eliminating negative motivation.

ou de eliminar a motivación negativa.

Na seguinte parte quero mostrarvos algo acerca da motivación positiva.

The next part I want to show you is something about positive motivation.

So there is a store in the U.S. called IKEA.

Sabedes que hai unha tenda nos EE.UU. que se chama IKEA.

And IKEA is a store with kind of okay furniture

IKEA é unha tenda con mobles aceptables que leva moito tempo montar.

that takes a long time to assemble.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

I don't know about you,

E non sei vós, pero a min, cada vez que monto un deses mobles,

but every time I assemble one of those,

it takes me much longer, it's much more effortful,

lévame moito tempo, moito esforzo, é unha lea moi grande.

it's much more confusing, I put things in the wrong way --

Poño as pezas ao revés.

I can't say I enjoy those pieces.

Non podo dicir que desfrute montándoos.

Non podo dicir que desfrute do proceso.

I can't say I enjoy the process.

But when I finish it,

Mais cando o remato, semella que eses mobles de IKEA

I seem to like those IKEA pieces of furniture

more than I like other ones.

me gustan máis que ningún outro.

(Laughter)

And there's an old story about cake mixes.

Hai unha anécdota sobre preparados de torta.

So when they started cake mixes in the '40s,

Cando apareceron os preparados de torta nos anos 40,

consistían nun po que viña nunha caixa

they would take this powder and they would put it in a box,

and they would ask housewives to basically pour it in,

e o que tiña que facer a ama de casa non era máis que botalo, engadir auga,

stir some water in it,

remexer, meter no forno e voilá! A torta estaba lista.

mix it, put it in the oven, and -- voila -- you had cake.

But it turns out they were very unpopular.

Pero resultaron ser un fracaso.

People did not want them,

A xente non as quería.

and they thought about all kinds of reasons for that.

E consideraron os máis diversos motivos de fracaso.

Pode que non souberan ben.

Maybe the taste was not good?

No, the taste was great.

Non, o sabor era estupendo.

What they figured out was that there was not enough effort involved.

O que descubriron foi que se precisaba demasiado pouco esforzo.

It was so easy that nobody could serve cake to their guests

Era tan doado que ninguén podía servirlles a torta aos seus invitados

and say, "Here is my cake."

e dicirlles: "Velaquí a miña torta."

No, it was somebody else's cake, as if you bought it in the store.

Non, non, non, era a torta doutra persoa.

Era como comprala xa feita da tenda.

It didn't really feel like your own.

Non daba a sensación de ser túa.

So what did they do?

Entón, que foi o que fixeron?

They took the eggs and the milk out of the powder.

Quitaron os ovos e o leite do po.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

Now you had to break the eggs and add them,

Agora tiñas que romper os ovos e engadilos.

you had to measure the milk and add it, mixing it.

Tiñas que medir o leite e engadilo, mesturándoo.

Agora a torta era túa. Agora todo ía ben.

Now it was your cake. Now everything was fine.

(Laughter)

(Aplausos)

(Applause)

Now, I think a little bit like the IKEA effect,

Penso que é un pouco como o efecto IKEA:

by getting people to work harder,

pedíndolle á xente máis traballo

they actually got them to love what they're doing

o que acadaron foi que a xente desfrutase máis do que facía.

to a higher degree.

Como tratamos esta cuestión de forma experimental?

So how do we look at this question experimentally?

Pedímoslles a unhas persoas que construísen figuras de papiroflexia.

We asked people to build some origami.

We gave them instructions on how to create origami,

Démoslles instrucións de como crear as figuras

and we gave them a sheet of paper.

e démoslles unha folla de papel.

And these were all novices,

Eran todos principiantes e construíron figuras máis ben feas...

and they built something that was really quite ugly --

nothing like a frog or a crane.

nada de ras nin de grúas.

Entón dixémoslles: "Mira, esta figura perténcenos a nós.

But then we told them, "Look, this origami really belongs to us.

You worked for us, but I'll tell you what, we'll sell it to you.

Traballaches para nós, pero vouche propoñer unha cousa: podémoscha vender.

How much do you want to pay for it?"

Canto pagarías por ela?"

And we measured how much they were willing to pay for it.

E medimos canto estaban dispostos a pagar por ela.

And we had two types of people:

Tiñamos dous tipos de persoas.

We had the people who built it,

Tiñamos as persoas que a construíran

and the people who did not build it,

e tiñamos persoas que non a construíran e que eran observadores externos.

and just looked at it as external observers.

And what we found was that the builders thought

O que descubrimos foi que os construtores achaban

that these were beautiful pieces of origami --

que eran figuras preciosas de papiroflexia

(Laughter)

e estaban dispostos a pagar por elas cinco veces máis

and they were willing to pay five times more for them

than the people who just evaluated them externally.

que a xente que soamente as avaliaba de forma externa.

Now you could say -- if you were a builder,

Se vós construísedes a figura,

do you think [you'd say], "Oh, I love this origami,

pensariades: "Encántame esta figura, pero sei que a ninguén máis lle vai encantar"?

but I know that nobody else would love it?"

Or "I love this origami, and everybody else will love it as well?"

Ou pensariades: "Encántame esta figura e aos demais tamén lles vai encantar"?

Which one of those two is correct?

Cal das dúas é correcta?

Turns out the builders not only loved the origami more,

Resultou que aos construtores non só lles gustaba a figura moito máis,

they thought that everybody would see the world in their view.

senón que tamén pensaban que todo o mundo tería a mesma opinión.

Pensaron que a todo o mundo lle encantaría.

They thought everybody else would love it more as well.

Na seguinte versión tentamos acadar o efecto IKEA.

In the next version, we tried to do the IKEA effect.

We tried to make it more difficult.

Tentamos facelo máis difícil.

A algúns démoslles a mesma tarefa.

So for some people, we gave the same task.

For some people, we made it harder by hiding the instructions.

E a outros puxémosllelo máis difícil agochando as instrucións.

Na parte superior da folla puxemos pequenos diagramas de como dobrar a figura.

At the top of the sheet, we had little diagrams

of how you fold origami.

Pero, nalgúns casos, eliminamos esa parte.

For some people, we just eliminated that.

Co cal agora era máis difícil. Que aconteceu?

So now this was tougher.

What happened?

Pois sendo obxectivos, as figuras eran máis feas: fora máis difícil.

Well in an objective way,

the origami now was uglier, it was more difficult.

Cando analizamos as figuras fáciles,

Now when we looked at the easy origami, we saw the same thing --

vimos o mesmo: aos construtores gustábanlles máis, aos avaliadores gustábanlles menos.

builders loved it more, evaluators loved it less.

When you looked at the hard instructions,

Cando analizamos as figuras difíciles,

the effect was larger.

o efecto era maior.

Why?

Por que? Porque agora aos construtores gustábanlles aínda máis.

Because now the builders loved it even more.

(Laughter)

They put all this extra effort into it.

Esforzáranse máis en facelas.

E aos avaliadores? Gustábanlles aínda menos.

And evaluators?

They loved it even less.

Because in reality, it was even uglier than the first version.

Porque en realidade eran máis feas que as da primeira versión.

(Laughter)

Por suposto, isto dinos algo sobre como avaliamos as cousas.

Of course, this tells you something about how we evaluate things.

Now think about kids.

Agora pensemos en fillos.

Imaxina que eu che preguntara: "Por canto venderías os teus fillos?"

Imagine I asked you, "How much would you sell your kids for?"

Your memories and associations and so on.

As memorias, as asociacións etc.

Most people would say for a lot, a lot of money.

A meirande parte da xente diría que por moitos, moitísimos cartos...

(Laughter)

On good days.

nun bo día.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

But imagine this was slightly different.

Pero imaxina se isto fose un pouco distinto.

Imagine if you did not have your kids.

Imaxina que non tes fillos

e un día vas ao parque e coñeces uns cativos

And one day you went to the park and you met some kids.

They were just like your kids,

que fosen como os teus fillos.

and you played with them for a few hours,

Xogas con eles unhas horas.

E cando estás a piques de marchar, os seus pais dinche:

and when you were about to leave, the parents said, "Hey, by the way,

"Oes, por certo, antes de que marches, se che interesa, están á venda."

just before you leave, if you're interested, they're for sale."

(Laughter)

(Risos)

How much would you pay for them now?

Canto pagarías por eles agora?

Most people say not that much.

A maioría da xente non moito.

E isto é porque os nosos fillos son tan valiosos

And this is because our kids are so valuable,

not just because of who they are,

non só por quen son

but because of us,

senón por nós, porque están conectados a nós

because they are so connected to us,

and because of the time and connection.

e polo tempo e a conexión.

Por certo, se credes que as instrucións de IKEA non son boas,

By the way, if you think IKEA instructions are not good,

what about the instructions that come with kids, those are really tough.

pensade nas instrucións que veñen cos cativos.

Esas si que son difíciles.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

By the way, these are my kids, which, of course, are wonderful and so on.

Por certo, estes son os meus fillos, que por suposto son fantásticos e todo iso.

Which comes to tell you one more thing,

O que me leva a dicirvos unha cousa máis:

which is, much like our builders,

que, igual que os construtores

when they look at the creature of their creation,

cando miran o resultado da súa creación,

nós tampouco nos damos conta de que os demais non ven as cousas como as vemos nós.

we don't see that other people don't see things our way.

Permitídeme facer un último comentario.

Let me say one last comment.

Se pensades en Adam Smith comparado con Karl Mark,

If you think about Adam Smith versus Karl Marx,

Adam Smith had a very important notion of efficiency.

Adam Smith falaba dunha noción moi importante: a eficiencia.

He gave an example of a pin factory.

Usou como exemplo unha fábrica de alfinetes.

He said pins have 12 different steps,

Dicía que un alfinete ten 12 fases distintas

and if one person does all 12 steps, production is very low.

e se unha persoa fai as 12 fases, a produción é moi baixa.

But if you get one person to do step one,

Pero se unha persoa fai a primeira fase,

and one person to do step two and step three and so on,

outra persoa a segunda fase, outra a terceira e así sucesivamente,

production can increase tremendously.

a produción pode aumentar enormemente.

And indeed, this is a great example,

E de feito este é un exemplo moi bo e a razón da Revolución Industrial e a eficiencia.

and the reason for the Industrial Revolution and efficiency.

Karl Marx, por outra banda,

Karl Marx, on the other hand,

said that the alienation of labor is incredibly important

dixo que a alienación do traballo é de grande importancia

in how people think about the connection to what they are doing.

para a forma na que a xente se sente conectada co que están a facer.

And if you do all 12 steps, you care about the pin.

E que se fas as 12 fases, vaiche importar o alfinete.

But if you do one step every time, maybe you don't care as much.

Pero se fas sempre unha única fase, quizais non che importe tanto o alfinete.

E eu penso que na Revolución Industrial

I think that in the Industrial Revolution,

Adam Smith estaba máis no certo que Karl Marx,

Adam Smith was more correct than Karl Marx.

But the reality is that we've switched,

pero a verdade é que mudamos

e agora estamos na economía do coñecemento.

and now we're in the knowledge economy.

You can ask yourself, what happens in a knowledge economy?

E podemos preguntarnos: que acontece nunha economía do coñecemento?

Is efficiency still more important than meaning?

A eficiencia é aínda máis importante que o significado?

I think the answer is no.

Penso que a resposta é non.

I think that as we move to situations

Penso que a medida que avanzamos cara a situacións

in which people have to decide on their own

nas que a xente ten que decidir pola súa conta

about how much effort, attention, caring, how connected they feel to it,

canto esforzo, atención, cariño, canta conexión senten,

se están pensando no traballo de camiño a el, na ducha etc.,

are they thinking about labor on the way to work,

and in the shower and so on,

all of a sudden Marx has more things to say to us.

de súpeto Marx ten máis sentido para nós.

So when we think about labor,

De xeito que cando pensamos no traballo, xeralmente pensamos en motivación e paga como a mesmo

we usually think about motivation and payment as the same thing,

but the reality is that we should probably add all kinds of things to it --

pero en realidade deberíamos probablemente engadir todo tipo de cousas:

meaning, creation, challenges, ownership, identity, pride, etc.

significado, creación, retos, propiedade, identidade, orgullo etc.

The good news is that if we added all of those components

E a boa nova é que se engadísemos todos eses compoñentes e pensaramos neles,

and thought about them --

en como crear un significado de noso, orgullo, motivación,

how do we create our own meaning, pride, motivation,

and how do we do it in our workplace,

e como facelo no lugar de traballo para os empregados,

and for the employees --

I think we could get people to be both more productive and happier.

penso que poderiamos facer que a xente fose máis produtiva e á vez máis feliz.

Thank you very much.

Moitas grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)