O BEHAVE!Issue 21 • December 2015

Toying with Christmas 3

Bias of the Month 4

The Power of Male vs Female Eyes 5

Time vs Money- Which is more important? 6

New Year New You 7

Real Life Nudge of the Month 8

Upcoming Events 8

CONTENTS

TOYING WITH CHRISTMAS by SUCHIT KAKAR

Christmas is soon upon us! It’s a time for joys, it’s a time for toys. But when the festive season simmers away, who’ll buy

toys that day? This is actually a serious problem faced by many a major toy manufacturer – how does one tackle the

inevitable post festive sales slump?

Just increasing advertising or giving discounts, though logically sound, are surprisingly not too effective ideas. It’s not the

children that need to be swayed; it’s their unfortunate and very shopping-fatigued parents that form the real barrier.

Perhaps, then, a behaviour-focused, persuasion-led endeavour instead?

Advertising before and during the holiday season is actually a great idea, to help kids know exactly what it is they want for

Christmas. Parents are also duly informed in the process, and often more than willing to comply; making promises that they

genuinely want to keep.

But when you, a parent, turn up to the store and find the (intentionally undersupplied) toy completely sold out, what can you

do but buy something else? Not that it really matters what the alternate gift is anyway. You’ve disappointed and let your

child down. You couldn’t keep your word.

Cialdini, R. (2009). Commitment and Consistency. In Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (pp. 64 - 66). Harper Collins.

Christmas comes and Christmas goes, time moves on and the wound

will heal, you suppose. Then lo and behold! What is this you hear? The

TV says the toy is back this New Year!

Naturally, a promise you made is a one you would want to keep, or at

least that’s what your child will remind you persistently for a week. So

begrudgingly you’ll go back to the store and buy what you originally

intended for. Finally! Your child is happy, you are happy and oh, the toy

manufacturers are too, having found a way to sell twice as many

products.

So yes, though Christmas time is here, watch out for all the tricks and

retailer tactics out there. Here’s wishing you don’t fall a victim of

commitment and consistency as well!

BIAS OF THE MONTH

The Denomination Effect

Raghubir, P., & Srivastava, J. (2009). The denomination effect. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(4), 701-713.

I am sure I am not alone when I find myself needlessly spending

money in a shop to “get rid of my change”. This is due to what is

known as the “Denomination Effect” which is a finding that we are

less likely to spend larger bills than the equivalent value in smaller

denominations.

In one study illustrating this effect university students were given

a dollar, either in quarters or a single dollar bill. They were then

given the option to either save the money they had been given or

to spend it on sweets. Consistent with this bias the students given

the change were more likely to spend the money than those given

the bill.

If you are someone who hates spending money needlessly and

someone who owes you money says “Do you mind if I give you

change” say “NO”!.. Take the bills!!

THE POWER OF MALE VS FEMALE EYES

It is a well known phenomenon in behavioural science that pictures and smells can prime our behaviour and cognition.

Previous studies have found that citrus smells prime us to act generously (Lilijenquist et al., 2010) whereas pictures of eyes

looking at us prime us to behave honestly (Bateson et al., 2006). It has now been found that these two elements can also

prime us to act in a way that may save lives.

Hand hygiene is the single most important procedure in preventing hospital acquired infections, which can lead to disease

and death for vulnerable patients. The number of staff washing their hands is often scarily low in these environments and

encouraging staff to wash their hands is a task that many hospitals struggle with…….until they discovered the magic of

citrus smells and eyes.

To tackle the problem of poor hand hygiene in hospitals, researchers placed a pair of male or female eyes above a hand

sanitizer and pumped a citrus smell into the air at a hospital in Miami. They then observed the behaviour of 404 healthcare

workers to see if they used the hand sanitizer next to the door before entering the patients room. For their control group they

found that only 15% used the sanitizer whereas for the citrus group an amazing 45% of people used the sanitizer.

Where the results got really interesting is when they placed a pair of male or female eyes above it. When the healthcare

workers were exposed to male eyes, 33% of them used the sanitizer whereas this dropped to 10% when they were exposed

to the female eyes.

King, D., Vlaev, I., Everett-Thomas, R., Fitzpatrick, M., Darzi, A., & Birnbach, D. J. (2015). “Priming” Hand Hygiene Compliance in Clinical Environments.

Prof Vlaev, one the leading researched noted that “This may be because

male eyes cue different feelings, thoughts, or emotions than female eyes. In

many previous studies examining gender differences in exerting social

influence more generally, men have been found to exert more influence than

women and this may explain the differences seen.” He also stressed that the

male eyes showed more facial muscles which can often be perceived as

anger or thread which may have played a role.

Hand hygiene is a big problem in hospitals and is often tackled with big

expensive solutions such as educational programs etc. This study shows that

little clever ideas can have big impactful effects.

TIME VS MONEY- WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT?

References to time and money are pervasive in the consumer landscape. Take for example the marketing campaigns for two

brands of beers 1) Miller- “Its Miller Time” appeals to consumers by guiding attention to time whereas 2) Stella Artois- “Perfection

has its price” campaign appeals to consumers by focusing on money. These concepts are rife in communications but despite their

popularity there is little known about which if either is more effective in terms of creating positive consumer attitudes towards the

product. To address this question researchers conduced a series of experiments in both a lab and field study.

The first round of experiments found highlighting time over money on lemonade and an iPod produced not only more favourable

attitudes towards the products but also increased the amount of money the consumer was willing to spend on the them: “Spend a

little time, and enjoy C&D’s lemonade” (time) vs “Spend a little money, and enjoy some C& D’s lemonade (money).

Recognizing that activing money simply highlights costs whereas the activities of time highlights the benefits of the product the

researchers then sought to examine whether the activation of time (vs money) would lead to more favourable attitudes even when

spending time, like money was explicitly tied to a negative consequence. They asked participants to think about how much time or

money they spent trying to fix their laptop and then asked to share their thoughts on their laptop. Results showed that like the

previous experiments, those who were asked to think about time reported the most favourable attitudes towards their laptops.

Mogilner, C., & Aaker, J. (2009). “The time vs. money effect”: Shifting product attitudes and decisions through personal connection. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 277-291.

All products mentioned have been experiential products for which product

usage is more important than product possession. Does highlighting time vs

money always lead to favourable attitudes or is it to do with the type of

product. The final experiment in this set of studies sought to see if the time vs

money effect could be reversed for prestige possession and found that yes it

can. Participants were asked to rate how much time or money they spent on

either an experiential experience (going to restaurant) or a prestige product

(designer jeans) and then rate their attitudes towards that product. Results

found that for the experiential purchase, those asked to think about time (vs

money) noted more favourable attitudes whereas those asked to think about

money (vs time) for the prestige possession noted the most favourable

attitudes. Time and money are important concepts for marketers to consider

but this research shows it is imperative that they think carefully about the

nature of the product before deciding which to highlight.

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU

With a new year approaching, lots of us are looking to shed our old, flawed selves and get closer to the ideal version of us.

It’s estimated that around 30% of Brits, and 45% of Americans, regularly make new year’s resolutions, even though only

around 10% of these resolutions translate into real change.

Dai, H., Milkman, K.L., & Riis, J. (2015). Put Your Imperfections Behind You: Temporal Landmarks Spur Goal Initiation When They Signal New Beginnings. Psychological

Science, 26 (12), 1927-1936.

But what is so special about the new year? A recent study by Dai, Milkman and Riis (2015) has provided causal evidence

that temporal landmarks – dates that particularly stand out due to their cultural significance, such as the new year or start of

a week, or personal significance, such as birthdays or anniversaries – increase motivation to initiate new behaviours in

pursuit of our goals. They asked a group of participants to describe a personal goal they were planning to pursue, and

offered a range of dates for a reminder email to be sent. These dates included 20th March 2014, which was either framed as

the third Thursday of the month or the first day of spring. Participants were a massive 3.5 times more likely to choose March

20th when it was framed as the first day of spring, which demonstrates that people are much more motivated by temporal

landmarks that demonstrate a new beginning, rather than arbitrary dates. This is also culturally dependent: Jewish

participants were much more motivated by the 5th October when framed as the day after Yom Kippur than when framed as

the 278th day of the year, an effect that wasn’t found for non-Jewish participants.

It is hypothesised that the mechanism underlying this is based on

the divide between our past and future selves. The more

important the new beginning feels, the greater the divide, which

makes us feel a greater degree of separation from our imperfect

past selves and previous failures. With the slate wiped clean, we

can perceive ourselves as different, better individuals and

therefore act in a way that feels consistent. This can also be

explained by prospect theory – with a reset reference point, any

small deviation in behaviour feels like a much greater loss than

another small loss added to many others from the preceding year.

It’s also worth remembering that people who explicitly set goals

for themselves are ten times more likely to achieve them than

those who don’t, so it may be worth writing some resolutions on

the clean slate of 2016.

Spotted: Commitment device in Boots

If you bought some cold or flu medicine from Boots earlier this year, it’s

likely you may have also received this voucher for 1/3 off your next related

medicinal purchase, along with the information that the average cold has

six symptoms. This works in a number of different ways: it’s a commitment

device to get you to return to Boots for your next purchase, it enhances

their authority as a pharmacy and you may even feel grateful towards them

for their thoughtful offer. Most importantly, it normalises buying several

different remedies for your individual symptoms, which means you’ll be

more likely to buy something for your cough, your sore throat, and your

blocked nose, rather than one treatment for all three.

REAL LIFE NUDGE OF THE MONTH

UPCOMING EVENTSBehavioural Boozeonomics with the London Behavioural Economics Network

Monday 11th January, 6.30-11.00pm

The Comedy Pub, Piccadilly

Emotions: do they control us?

Monday 18th January, 6.30-8pm

LSE’s Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Global Conference on Business Management and Social Science

Thursday 28th – Friday 29th January

Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre

Cíosa Garrahan

@CiosaGarrahan

ciosa.garrahan@ogilvy.com

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Juliet Hodges

@hulietjodges

juliet.hodges@ogilvy.com