assimilated, better system design might well come out of our legislatures and

courts.

 

Of course, money is now the main reward that drives habits. A monkey can be

trained to seek and work for an intrinsically worthless token, as if it were a

banana, if the token is routinely exchangeable for a banana. So it is also with

humans working for money—only more so, because human money is exchangeable for

many desired things in addition to food, and one ordinarily gains status from

either holding or spending it. Moreover, a rich person will often, through

habit, work or connive energetically for more money long after he has almost no

real need for more. Averaged out, money is a mainspring of modern civilization,

having little precedent in the behavior of nonhuman animals. Money rewards are

also intertwined with other forms of reward. For instance, some people use money

to buy status and others use status to get money, while still others sort of do

both things at the same time.

 

Although money is the main driver among rewards, it is not the only reward that

works. People also change their behavior and cognition for sex, friendship,

companionship, advancement in status, and other nonmonetary items.

 

“Granny’s Rule” provides another example of reward superpower, so extreme in its

effects that it must be mentioned here. You can successfully manipulate your own

behavior with this rule, even if you are using as rewards items that you already

possess! Indeed, consultant Ph. D. psychologists often urge business

organizations to improve their reward systems by teaching executives to use