What Heroin Addiction Can Teach Us About Behavior Change

Several years ago, I stumbled upon a groundbreaking study while listening to NPR. The story was so engrossing that I couldn’t help but realize its profound implications for us in sales and marketing.

The bottom line is that environmental cues are critical to changing behavior.

You can read the article HERE for more detail, but here is the gist:

The article discusses a groundbreaking study conducted during the Vietnam War that shed light on the nature of addiction and habit formation.

In 1971, the well-respected psychiatric researcher Lee Robins investigated heroin use among U.S. soldiers in Vietnam, revealing that 20% of service members self-identified as being addicted to heroin. This finding raised concerns about a potential addiction epidemic as soldiers returned home.

However, a surprising discovery emerged from follow-up research. Upon their return, only 5% of the addicted soldiers relapsed within a year, and 12% relapsed within three years. This was a significantly lower relapse rate than the 90% typically observed in heroin addicts treated in the U.S.

Something unexpected was going on.

The study’s key insight was the importance of the environment in shaping habits and addictions. Soldiers who had become addicted in the stressful, unfamiliar context of Vietnam found it easier to quit when they returned to their familiar home environments. This finding challenged the prevailing notion that addiction was solely a result of chemical hooks in drugs.

The research highlighted two crucial factors in breaking bad habits:

1. Identifying triggers: Understanding the cues that prompt a habit is essential for changing behavior.
2. Changing the environment: Altering one’s surroundings can significantly impact habit formation and breaking.

These findings have had a lasting impact on addiction treatment and our understanding of habit formation. They emphasize the importance of environmental factors in shaping behavior and suggest that changing one’s context can be a powerful tool for breaking unwanted habits.

My Thoughts About the Study:

• Both intention/motivation and environmental cues play essential roles in behavior change, even for highly habitual behaviors. This article does not present evidence to contradict that belief.

• Though returning soldiers indeed experienced a radical change in their environments that was critical to their ability to avoid relapse to heroin use, they also experienced other radical changes that influenced their MOTIVATION to change their behavior:
  • A substantial reduction in stress (reducing the need to self-medicate or escape with heroin),
  • A dramatic reduction in the social acceptance of heroin use (among soldiers in Vietnam vs. in the general population in the U.S.) and
  • A huge increase in the negative consequences associated with using heroin (it is alleged that the U.S. military turned a blind eye to this behavior while in combat)

• Ultimately, while environmental factors play a significant role, behavior change is not possible without the individual’s motivation to change. 

• Even in the example of smoking behavior in the article, simply changing environmental cues would have little effect if the smoker was not motivated to quit smoking.

Why Sales and Marketing Professionals Should Care

In our work in sales and marketing, we are tasked with influencing both consumers’ perceptions and their behavior, precisely, purchase behavior.

If we succeed at increasing brand affinity, for example, but this does not translate to increased sales (i.e., purchase behavior), then something is missing. We haven’t finished the job, and our clients would not be particularly impressed with our performance.

When it comes to influencing customer behavior, we must take into account BOTH the motivational factors (e.g., needs, desires, intentions, emotional drivers) and the environmental factors (e.g., triggers, sensorial cues, barriers to purchase) that drive this behavior in the first place.

In my experience, this is not an either/or situation; effectively promoting lasting behavior change requires intervention for both motivation and environmental factors. One without the other simply won’t cut it.

This is why I created and believe so strongly in the B=M2+C model of behavior change in which

• B = behavior,
• M2 = Motivation & Means, and
• C = Cue

This simple equation enables a careful examination and understanding of the core factors that underlie customers’ behavior. We can then design strategic interventions targeting specific motivational and environmental elements to influence lasting behavioral changes that increase sales and drive business growth (without feeling gross, of course).

If you are interested in learning more about B=M2+C and how it can improve sales and marketing effectiveness, please reach out to me by filling out the contact form on this site. I’d be happy to share more information and discuss how I can empower you and your team with an unfair advantage over your competition.

I trust you found this study as fascinating and applicable as I did. The insights it offers are truly invaluable in our line of work.

Now, go forth and be awesome,

Chris