Neuromarketing

March 6, 2014

Can a President’s Happy Talk Hurt the Economy?

It’s known that fantasizing about an ideal future makes individuals decrease their effort, but can the same effect be seen on the scale of a national population? After studying U.S. presidential inaugural addresses, a team led by A. Timur Sevincer of the University of Hamburg in Germany concluded that the answer is yes: Positive thinking about the future, as expressed in these speeches, predicted declines in GDP over the subsequent presidential term. Happy talk may prevent people from preparing for difficulties, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Positive Thinking About the Future in Newspaper Reports and Presidential Addresses Predicts Economic Downturn

March 5, 2014

It Matters Which Avatar You Choose When Gaming

Research participants who had played a 5-minute computer game using a Superman avatar were subsequently kinder to other people, and those who had played as the evil Voldemort were less kind, say Gunwoo Yoon and Patrick T. Vargas of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After the computer game, the participants were instructed to provide an unspecified amount of chocolate and hot chili sauce to other people who they believed would be required to eat it all (untrue); those who had been “Superman” provided about twice as much chocolate as chili sauce, while those who had been “Voldemort” did the reverse.

SOURCE: Know Thy Avatar: The Unintended Effect of Virtual-Self Representation on Behavior

February 27, 2014

You Might Give a Wrong Answer Just to Demonstrate Your Truthfulness

When research participants were asked to publicly identify words shown on a screen, those whose vision had been blocked nevertheless sometimes disagreed with those who had been able to see the screen–in fact, they disagreed at least 27% of the time, says a team led by Bert H. Hodges of Gordon College and the University of Connecticut. Why did they intentionally make statements that everyone knew to be wrong? Out of a desire to honestly communicate their own ignorance, the researchers say. The findings demonstrate that human interactions aren’t always guided by simplistic parameters such as accuracy or even conformity; sometimes, people make surprising choices in order to convey such internal values as truthfulness.

SOURCE: Speaking From Ignorance: Not Agreeing With Others We Believe Are Correct

February 24, 2014

Why You Spend More Hours at Work When Your Relationship Is Going Well

Do people in bad relationships escape to the relative sanctity of the office and devote more time to work, as has been hypothesized? Just the opposite, says a team led by Dana Unger of the University of Mannheim in Germany. People put more time in at work when their intimate relationships are going well, cutting back in order to invest in their relationships when things aren’t smooth at home, the researchers found in a diary study of 154 dual-earner couples. A healthy relationship at home gives people emotional, cognitive, and physical vigor, which allows them to put in more hours at work.

SOURCE: A question of time: Daily time allocation between work and private life

February 23, 2014

Customers Are Willing to Pay More When They’re Warm

Shoppers on a popular web portal were about 46% more likely to go to a “To Purchase” page when the daily temperature averaged 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) than when it averaged 20 degrees (68F), say Yonat Zwebner of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Leonard Lee of Columbia, and Jacob Goldenberg of the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel. The researchers also found that people in a warm room were willing to pay more than those in a cool room for 9 of 11 consumer items shown to them, and other participants were willing to pay 36% more for items when holding warm, versus cool, therapeutic pads. Exposure to physical warmth activates the concept of emotional warmth, eliciting positive reactions and increasing product valuation, the researchers say.

SOURCE: The Temperature Premium: Warm Temperatures Increase Product Valuation

February 18, 2014

When You’re Preparing for a Task, Say “You Can Do It,” not “I Can Do It”

People who referred to themselves as “you” or by their own names while silently talking to themselves in preparation for a five-minute speech were subsequently calmer and more confident and performed better on the talk than people who had referred to themselves as “I” or “me” (3.6 versus 3.2 on a combined five-point scale, in the view of judges), says a team led by Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan. The research participants who talked to themselves in the second or third person also felt less shame afterward. By distancing us from ourselves, the use of the second and third person in internal monologues enables us to better regulate our emotions, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Self-Talk as a Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters

February 14, 2014

Multiscreening Is Not All About TV in the UK

Multiscreening, or dividing attention between more than one screen, is an established phenomenon amongst consumers, and it’s often considered to be the use of a laptop or smart mobile device while watching TV. Switching between screens is already a distraction for TV watchers, but research from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK indicated that around one-third of multiscreening among UK smartphone owners did not involve the TV at all.

Of the 34% of multiscreening that did not involve the TV, more than half took place between a smartphone and laptop, although this dropped significantly for those 55 and older. Over one-quarter of respondents used a desktop computer while using their smartphone; this was higher for males, at 33%. One-fifth of non-TV multiscreening took place between a smartphone and tablet, which increased to one-quarter amongst parents. With internet TV now becoming more and more prevalent, and video driving ad revenues for digital publishers, users may be watching TV on their laptop, desktop or tablet and then second-screening with a smartphone.

Still, the most popular “connected” device to use simultaneously with TV is neither the smartphone nor the tablet, but the laptop. Deloitte research released in September 2013 suggested that more than nine in 10 UK internet users used a laptop at least weekly while watching TV, compared with 89% and 83% who used a smartphone or tablet, respectively. For daily users, the laptop was still the leader, with nearly six in 10 using such a device as they viewed TV each day.

Read more at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Multiscreening-Not-All-About-TV-UK/1010584#C33pXLSGgFZ05P7M.99

February 12, 2014

NeuroMarketing tip: Thoughts of Fast Food Hinder Your Ability to Derive Happiness from Small Pleasures

Living in a nano second World might not be the best for us.

Research participants who had seen a picture of a fast-food burger and fries subsequently rated themselves less happy upon viewing 10 photographs of natural scenic beauty (4.86, on average, versus 5.45 on a seven-point scale), say Julian House and two colleagues from the University of Toronto. Exposure to the idea of “fast food” makes people more impatient and impairs their ability to derive happiness from pleasurable stimuli; this effect could have a long-term negative effect on people’s experienced happiness, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Too Impatient to Smell the Roses: Exposure to Fast Food Impedes Happiness

February 10, 2014

Why It Might Not Be a Good Idea to Tackle Moral Issues in the Afternoon

Le’ts negotiate in the morning folks!

In a series of experiments, Maryam Kouchaki of Harvard and Isaac H. Smith of the University of Utah found that people were 20% to 50% more likely to lie, cheat, or be otherwise dishonest in the afternoon than in the morning. The experience of ordinary activities over the course of the day appears to gradually deplete people’s ability to regulate themselves, an effect that’s most pronounced for those who are the most honest. Organizations might do well to be particularly vigilant in the afternoon about combating customers’ or employees’ unethical behaviors, the researchers say.

negotiation skills
SOURCE: The Morning Morality Effect: The Influence of Time of Day on Unethical Behavior

February 5, 2014December 23, 2016

Residents of Poor Countries Have a Great Advantage: Religion

An analysis of polling data from 132 nations shows that religious belief appears to be the main reason why people in poor countries see greater meaning in life than residents of wealthy countries, say Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia and Ed Diener of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Among the nations with the highest sense that life has meaning are Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo, Ethiopia, Laos, and Ecuador. By connecting daily experiences with a coherent belief system, religion plays a critical role in helping people construct meaning out of extreme hardship, the authors say.

SOURCE: Residents of Poor Nations Have a Greater Sense of Meaning in Life Than Residents of Wealthy Nations