The Many Sciences Related to “Yes, And”
A scientific guide to the value of improv
By Dr. Troy H. Campbell
Chief Scientist at On Your Feet
Intro
This article enumerates some of the broad and nuanced powers of applied improvisation by looking at the sciences related to its most famous phrase, “yes, and.”
“Yes, and” can help you better create, collaborate, communicate, persuade, and much more, and science can be a helpful guide in this. This list is thus both an argument for the value of improv and a unique source of scientific insights into how to better use applied improv in diverse and precise ways.
The article concludes with some caveats, further readings beyond “yes, and,” and information on how this list will be expanding over time and how you can contribute.
The List
Whether you are trying to create something amazing, persuasively communicate to someone else, or collaborate with others for better results, “Yes, And” can help you powerfully do so.
Here are the sciences of why and how. Click each title to learn more about the scientific effects and theories.
1. Established Neural Nets and Familiarity Effects
It is often easier for someone to understand a new idea when that idea is connected with an idea that is more established in their brain’s neural nets due to familiarity or expertise.
When you “yes, and” someone’s idea in the workplace or elsewhere, you are often “anding” something they have thought a lot about or even have expertise in. Thus, it is usually easier for them to process your new idea, as it is connected to something they already know well and can require less new information to process.
This effect is one of the reasons this article is focused on the science of “yes, and.” You are likely more familiar with the idea of “yes, and” than any other idea in improv, and, thus, beginning with this familiar idea makes it easier to share new science with you. It’s like the article is “yes, anding” what you already know.
2. Present Focus
People experience less stress, perform better, and have reduced “cognitive load” when they are temporally focused on the present rather than the future or past.
The act of “yes, and” can help you and others be “present” as you become focused on responding to what is happening in the moment, leading to reduced cognitive burdens and, in turn, better or at least different results.
3. Flow State
The famous and coveted flow state can be achieved when one’s skills continually fit with the challenge of a task.
When you “yes, and,” you can more easily achieve a flow state. This happens due to the breaking down of a challenge into continually small achievable moments.
It is often difficult to get into a flow state, because tasks are usually either too hard or too easy, and thus any sense of continual progress or flow is not achieved.
However, when you “yes, and” it can make your large and hard tasks manageable and easier to approach as you can make continually progress with each “yes, and.” It can also transform your easy tasks into opportunities to exceed expectations as you can continually “yes, and” and enter into an enjoyable flow state that can result in specular results.
4. Psychological Momentum
When people feel positive about their recent progress, they feel more optimistic about their future success, and this often leads to a self-fulling prophecy of success.
“Yes, and” can often instantaneously create psychological momentum, as the first successful “yes, and” builds confidence and the idea immediately gets better. This can lead to expectations and, eventually, attainment of positive future results.
5. Constrained Creativity
People often enjoy and perform better in creative experiences when they have some constraints to focus their creative efforts.
The act of “yes, and” can productively constrain and focus you as it requires you to say “yes” to something specific and build from it.
6. Top of Mind Effect
It is easier for people to fluently process an idea that is related to what has recently been activated in their brain’s neural networks.
When you “yes, and,” you are often responding to what has just been said or thought—the stuff already active in the brain. This can make things easier to process for yourself and others.
7. Shared Reality
People usually desire to share a similar view of reality as others around them. Doing so makes them feel a sense of order, safety, and community.
The act of “yes, and” is a reality-creating and sharing activity.
The people in conversation or creation are constantly focused on the same ideas to construct a shared understanding of something, such as a problem at work or a scene on an improv stage. “Yes, and” is often the opposite of debate where views of reality clash.
8. The IKEA Effect
People like, value, and care about things more when they feel they have had a part in building or contributing to them.
When you “yes, and,” you can end up building with others’ ideas. This means that your ideas will, in part, be their ideas and, as a result, others will then value your ideas.
9. Reciprocity Effect
People have a moral sense of fairness that leads them to return “in kind” what others do for them.
“Yes, and” can activate the norm of reciprocity, such that when you say, “yes,” to others’ needs or ideas, they are likely to say, “yes,” to your needs.
10. Loss Aversion
People have a general tendency to not want to lose what they have, be it their money, property, status, progress, or ideas.
When you “yes, and” others’ ideas, it can often spare them from an experience of loss aversion, as it acknowledges and uses their idea, instead of ignoring it or throwing it away.
11. Acknowledgement
Humans have a fundamental need to feel acknowledged and seen by others.
The “yes” in “yes, and” tells your audience that you have seen their ideas. Further, using someone else’s ideas or directly building on them when “anding” can further show acknowledgement.
12. Ignoring Effects
A famous social psychology researcher once summarized the results of their work, stating that, for humans, “Being ignored can feel the same as being hated,” as one may infer that ignoring is a signal that others simply don’t care about thier welfare.
When you “yes, and,” you prevent this inference. Simply saying, “yes,” repeating back someone’s idea, or building off their idea can make it completely clear that you have heard them, and not ignored them.
13. Autonomy
People desire to feel a sense of autonomy and control over their life and work.
When you “yes, and” others’ ideas, you affirm that they have some control over the outcome of the situation and allow them to feel a sense of autonomy.
14. Competence
People desire to feel capable and have others recognize their competence.
When you “yes, and” others’ ideas you affirm that you believe others have competence that is valuable to you.
15. Belonging
People have a strong need to connect with others and feel cared for, or what researchers often call, “the fundamental need to belong.”
When you “yes, and,” you can affirm a positive connection with others, that you care about them, and that you are in a relationship of some sort with them.
16. Reducing Self-Censorship
People often maximize their creativity when the parts of their brain associated with self-censorship become less activated, such as the lateral prefrontal cortex.
When you practice “yes, and” or improv generally, you are responding to ideas in the moment and, in doing so, the self-censorship part of your brain is more likely to be metaphorically “turned off.” This allows you to be more creative and, as some research finds, to achieve more honest self-expression.
17. Repetition
People better remember things when the information is repeated in the moment and more frequently retrieved from memory.
When you practice “yes, and” you often repeat information in the moment or recall information from the past (e.g., “yesing” a past conversation), this can lead the information to be remembered better.
Conclusions and Caveats
Using Science to Argue for the Value of Improv and Guide Better Practice
Oddly, “yes, and” is both something that is popular and something that people don’t understand well. Because of this, there are lots of doubts about its actual value, as well as errors or missed opportunities in how it is applied.
As a scientist and an applied improviser, I believe that understanding the science of improv is useful not just to know that it has value, but also to know how to better practically apply it.
When you understand the nuanced science of anything (e.g., storytelling, habits, memory, choice, Disney Park ride design) you can do that thing much better. Improv is no different. When you understand the nuanced science of improvisation, you can better maximize improv’s many powers for creativity, communication, and connection in your life and work.
In the list above, the qualifiers “often” and “can” are used frequently when describing effects because, of course, not every situation or use of “yes, and” will lead to the effects above. But, the more you think about the science, the more you can see possible effects and the more you can tailor your “yes, ands” and other improv techniques to lead to more joy, less fear, and better results in whatever you are doing.
Why the Focus on “Yes, And”?
This article focuses on the phrase “yes, and” because of its popularity and also because, as a short and simple phrase, it is perfect for exploring precise science effects.
Improv, however, is much more and much bigger than “yes, and.” It is, therefore, more fully understood through The Improv Mindset and a larger set of practices.
To learn more about these ideas, you can read the book Do Improv or explore a brief summary of the Improv Mindset including the science and practical application, written by myself and colleagues.
These further readings examine how quality improv occurs when you follow the Improv Mindset to “let go,” “notice more,” and “use everything.” When you do “yes, and” well, you do these three things.
There’s More Coming
This document will be continually updated.
If you want to suggest a “yes, and” benefit or scientific effect you don’t see on this list, e-mail hello@oyf.com with the subject line, “Yes, And Science.”
About The Author
Dr. Troy H. Campbell works at the intersection of business, art, and science with motto “scientific mind, artistic heart.” He has published many influential academic research papers in social psychology, bias, memory, empathy, and more. He has a PhD from Duke University, is a former University of Oregon Business professor, a former Disney Imagineer, a designer, and our chief scientist where he brings science to everything we do and leads specific science-focused services.
