O BEHAVE!Issue 7 • October 2014

Q: How Effective are Persuasion Techniques? 3

A: Depends!

Bias of the Month 4

An Evening with Nicholas Christakis 5

Don’t Feed the Trolls 6

The Illusion of Mental Depth 7

Real Life Nudge of the Month 9

Upcoming Events 9

CONTENTS

Griskevicius, V., Goldstein, N. J., Mortensen, C. R., Sundie, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., & Kenrick, D. T. (2009). Fear and loving in Las Vegas: Evolution, emotion, and

persuasion. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(3), 384-395.

Q: HOW EFFECTIVE ARE PERSUASION TECHNIQUES? A: DEPENDS!

All marketers know that although people can be completely engaged in a TV

programme, once the adverts come on many become significantly more

disengaged. They start to process these adverts on a very shallow level and start

making judgments and decisions using heuristics. For this reason marketers need

to employ persuasive techniques that appeal to this style of judgment and

decision making, two of the most popular being social proof and scarcity.

Adverts that employ social proof tactics are seeking to imply the notion that if

many others are doing it then it must be good and do so by saying that a product

is a “top seller” or “most popular”. Adverts that employ the scarcity persuasion

technique are seeking to imply the product is rare and unique. What many

marketers don’t consider, and a new area of research, is whether the content (TV

programme) surrounding the advert influences the effectiveness of the persuasive

technique. Recent research from Griskevicius and colleagues (2009) has shown

that in fact they do.

In an experiment they showed participants a scary or romantic movie. They were then either shown an advert designed to

persuade people to visit an art museum which employed a social proof message: “Visited by over 1 million people this

year”, or the same advert but with a scarcity message: “Stand out from the crowd”. Results found that people who were

shown the scary movie were more persuaded by the social proof ad than the scarcity ad, whereas the opposite was true

for those who viewed the romantic movie.

From an evolutionary perspective these results make sense. When one feels scared or in danger they seek out the

company of others to stay safe, a survival technique we have developed over millions of years. Conversely, when one is in

a romantic mood and wants to attract a mate, it is necessary to stick out from the crowd somehow - think of the peacock

displaying its tail to attract peahens. When one is in this frame of mind they are no longer interested in fitting in, they want

to stand out, be unique and noticed. This research illustrates that marketers not only need to be clever about the types of

persuasion messages they use in their adverts but also the types of shows surrounding the advert to ensure the

persuasive message has the intended consequence.

BIAS OF THE MONTH

The Ikea Effect

Have you ever had a garage sale and been completely insulted

when a customer has offered an “insulting price” (in your opinion)

for a cabinet that you once assembled?

If so it is because you are experiencing the IKEA Effect.

This effect explains the findings that we place disproportionately

high value to self-made products and we find it hard to part with

them.

An experiment illustrating this by Norton and colleagues (2012)

gave two groups of partipcants IKEA boxes. One group were given

fully assembled boxes whereas the other were given unassembled

boxes which they had to put together. In a subsequent bidding

environment the second “unassembled” group were willing to pay

significantly more for their box than the first “assembled” group.

Marketers should take this into account and be mindful that

customers will pay more for something they have put effort into

rather than something ready made.

Norton, M. I., Mochon, D., & Ariely, D. (2012). The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love.

AN EVENING WITH NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS

This month, #ogilvychange welcomed Professor Nicholas Christakis, Yale sociologist and TED speaker, to discuss his work on

social networks, how they affect us and those around us.

The nature and structure of our social networks are innate and are consistent across countries and cultures. For example, the

Hadza people, a hunter-gatherer society living in Tanzania, show the same social network structures as samples of Western

populations. In addition, the number of friends a person has and their likelihood to introduce their friends to each other have

also been shown to be heritable traits (Fowler, Dawes & Christakis, 2009).

An important part of Christakis’ research is how behaviour spreads through

social networks; in other words, focusing not on how a particular stimulus

or treatment affects one individual, but how it affects those in their network

who were not in the treatment group. In a classic public goods game,

Fowler and Christakis (2009) showed that one act of altruism can create a

cascade of subsequent altruistic acts with a whole new group of people,

spreading up to three degrees of separation; experimental evidence for the

‘pay it forward’ phenomenon.

Other types of behaviour have been shown to spread through networks,

from obesity and smoking to happiness and ideas. One study that may

have appeared in your Facebook newsfeed allowed people to indicate that

they had voted and see who among their friends also had, during the 2010

US congressional elections. This had the direct effect of encouraging over

50,000 more people to vote, but almost 300,000 people who were not

directly linked to the original posters also voted. This shows how just

powerful our social networks can be in influencing our behaviour.

We’d like to thank Nicholas for sharing his fascinating research with us!

Follow him on Twitter @NAChristakis or visit www.NicholasChristakis.net

and www.HumanNatureLab.net for more information.

DON’T FEED THE TROLLS

The headlines have been ablaze with stories about Internet trolls, particularly focusing on the McCanns and the

aftermath of the media exposing Brenda Leyland’s identity. Trolling is defined as “behaving in a deceptive, destructive

or disruptive manner…for no apparent instrumental purpose”, and it is that sheer pointlessness that characterises it and

distinguishes it from other forms of cyber-bullying, where often the victim and perpetrator know each other.

In perhaps the best-named research paper of the year, “Trolls just want to have fun”, Buckels, Trapnel and Paulhus

(2014) explored the personality traits that correlate with engaging in online trolling, focusing particularly on the Dark

Tetrad: psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism and sadism. Unsurprisingly, they found that participants who

indicated they had spent time trolling scored more highly for these characteristics. Furthermore, they found that this

effect was specifically mediated by sadism, leading to the conclusion that trolls behave the way they do simply because

they enjoy causing others’ distress. However, it is possible that these people have created their online persona as

villainous, un-empathetic and careless, which could lead them to answer these online surveys in a consistent manner.

Further work needs to be done to establish whether this is a pattern that continues into people’s ‘real’ lives.

Buckels, E.E., Trapnell, P.D., & Paulhus, D.L. (2014). Trolls just want to have fun. Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming.

There has been debate over whether something about the Internet causes

people to behave this way, or if these people really are unpleasant all the time.

Internet psychologist John Suler (2004) suggests there are six features of the

internet that cause disinhibition: People are anonymous so don’t need to worry

about repercussions, people are also invisible so don’t need to worry about

usual interpersonal cues, stop/start communication allows conversations to be

put on hold and dealt with later, reading written communication means the

words of others literally become voices in your head, the online world is

abstract and feels imaginary, and it is also not policed in any demonstrable

way. These factors can mean the Internet becomes a melting pot for people to

express themselves without inhibition, but the initial findings of Buckels et al

suggest that only people who are already obnoxious become trolls.

Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, co-founder of the research consultancy

Decision Technology, and 'science advisor' and co-presenter on Radio 4's The Human Zoo. He is also on

#ogilvychange's panel of experts.

His MOOC, The Mind is Flat: the Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology, started its third run on Monday 13th

October, and already has 12,457 registered participants.

THE ILLUSION OF MENTAL DEPTH

“Our everyday conception of how our minds work is profoundly

misleading. We are victims of an ‘illusion of mental depth’ - we

imagine that our thoughts and behaviours arise from hidden

motives and beliefs and that we can understand ourselves by

somehow uncovering these hidden forces, whether through

therapy, lab experiments or brain scanning.

The Mind is Flat course will show you that the very idea of these

‘mental depths’ is an illusion. When this is stripped away, our

understanding not only of minds, but also morality, markets and

society is transformed.”

Do you have a favourite example of mental shallowness?

There are so many! One lovely study shows that men who have just walked across a high and rather scary bridge feel

more attracted to women on the other side. They entirely misinterpret the adrenaline rush as generated by attraction,

not fear. What does this mean? That we can't 'look deep inside' ourselves to draw out of inner our thoughts and

feelings---instead, we quite literally make them up as we go along.

What originally led you down this avenue of research?

My starting point was thinking about perception. The perceptual world seems rich and detailed---but this is an illusion.

As soon as I wonder, for example, about the colour of the book on the table, then my eyes (and my attention) flick over

to the book, and tell me. But I have the illusion that I knew it all along and just consulted my 'inner eye' (and lots of

clever experiments, from many decades, show this really is a trick---e.g., if you change bits of the image we're not

looking at, we just don't notice). The natural step was to think that perhaps not just the perceptual world, but the mind in

general, is a trick---that we are inventing our thoughts rather than dredging them from a hidden, inner realm.

OUR INTERVIEW WITH NICK

Sign up to The Mind is Flat MOOC on Future Learn here.

Do you find any people feel uncomfortable about your 'mind is flat' theory?

Yes, it can be disconcerting - but I think it is really a liberating viewpoint. We

don't have to feel enslaved by a mysterious subconscious self; but, to some

extent at least, we are able to creatively shape our lives and ourselves.

Did you expect your MOOC to be as popular as it has been, with over 20,000

people signing up for the last one?

The MOOC has been very popular - and has generated lots of great discussions

from students (which we give feed back on, by making a short video, each

week) and, I'm happy to say, positive feedback. There are interviews, on-line

experiments, quizzes and more. My colleagues at Warwick Business School

and I are really looking forward to the third 'run.'

Spotted: Breast Cream, New Zealand

Checking one’s breasts regularly is the best way to find any irregularities,

making early detection of cancer more likely which increases survival rate.

However, few women do this as part of their daily routine, and furthermore,

they may do it so irregularly that they do not notice changes. To tackle this,

the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation have made Breast Cream, a

moisturiser designed to be used on the breasts every day, to form a habit that

encourages women to become more familiar with that area and be able to

detect any changes. The bright pink bottle itself also serves as a salient

reminder to do so. Order yours here.

REAL LIFE NUDGE OF THE MONTH

UPCOMING EVENTS

Behavioural Boozeonomics with the London Behavioural Economics Network

Tuesday 11th November, 7.00-10.30pm

http://www.meetup.com/London-behavioural-comms-monthly-informal-drinks/events/195888472/

Risk Behavioural Finance Forum

Tuesday 18th November

http://www.riskbfforum.com/london

ESRC Workshop on Preferences and Personality, University of Stirling

Friday 21st November

http://economicspsychologypolicy.blogspot.ie/2014/04/november-21st-esrc-workshop-on.html

Cíosa Garrahan

@CiosaGarrahan

ciosa.garrahan@ogilvy.com

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Juliet Hodges

@hulietjodges

juliet.hodges@ogilvy.com