Archive for the ‘Persuasion and influence’ Category

Subliminal Advertising: Should we be worried?

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

In 1957, a gentleman by the name of James Vicary created a new concept: Subliminal advertising. He flashed the words “Eat Popcorn” and “Drink Coca-Cola” for a fraction of a second during a film, and claimed increases in sales of these products of 18% and 57% respectively.
But, there’s one other thing that bugged me [...]

How to make people “get with the program”

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

You know those loyalty stamp cards you get in coffee shops?  Ever wondered why you get a few stamps free when you get them?  It’s because of something called the endowed progress effect -  you’re more likely to keep working towards a goal if you think you’ve already made some progress towards it.  So you’re [...]

6 simple ways to get more tips as a server

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Being a waiter or waitress is hard work!  You’re on your feet all day, watching other people eat, laugh and have fun, and often the pay isn’t all that great; particularly in the US.  But, you have one ace in the hole – tips.  It is pretty much the norm these days to tip, even [...]

Mindless behaviour: How to skip to the front of a queue

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

If there’s one thing us Brits are good at, it’s queuing.  We love it.  One day I want to get a few people and form a fake queue, leading directly to a brick wall, and see how many people we can get to join the queue.  I predict that this would work, and we could [...]

What happens when we label people?

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Ever been labelled? Ever labelled someone yourself?  Everyone’s done both, sometimes it’s benign, sometimes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s a bad thing.  It starts from an early age and continues through life - he’s a jock, he’s conscientious, she’s a troublemaker.  Assigning labels to things seems to be part of how our brain [...]

How to increase survey response rates using Post-It notes

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

I love Post-its.  I use them everyday, to leave myself reminders, as bookmarks, and sometimes to make little stick-man animations; just a small part of my productive and fulfilling private life!  And this youtube video showing creative uses of Post-its, is pretty cool.
But Post-its are not merely a tool of convenience and fun; they are also [...]