Hal Hershfield had mixed feelings when he sat down to video chat with the serial killer. But Hershfield, a behavioral economist at the University of California, Los Angeles, believed that Pedro Rodriguez Filho could teach us something about how we all make better decisions.
Rodriguez spent a total of 41 years in prison on charges including murdering 71 people. During the conversation, he told Hershfield how one day his mindset changed dramatically. He said that while confined to his cell after murdering a fellow inmate who assaulted him, he vowed to speak to God and change.
After being released from prison a second time in 2018, Rodriguez claimed to have stopped killing, started exercising, and started educating others about the dangers of crime on YouTube. “I consider myself a new person now,” he told Hershfield.
This dramatic change “was a real-life example of how we can become different people over time,” says Hershfield. in his book, future selfHershfield believes that those who feel closer to their future selves and who recognize that they may be different than they are today are encouraged to make better decisions, such as following the law and staying on the right side. is showing. They do well in college, are financially strong, and tend to be happier.
Unlike Rodriguez, it doesn’t take a religious spark to make such a change. Dr. Hirschfield is testing a variety of techniques that allow us to engage with our future selves. This includes writing letters to your future self and even talking to them in virtual reality. This can change not only the way you relate to yourself, but also the way you behave in society.
