First off, we see how data shows us the power of the word "you".

A new study offers a neurological explanation as to why generations don't understand each other.

And the science of how telling audiences what to do can have the opposite effect.

And don't forget we're here to help. From improving your marketing with psychology and data to making your communications more persuasive. Tell us what you're trying to do and we'll show you how we can help.

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The power of YOU

People are more likely to highlight book passages in their Kindle that are addressed directly to them – i.e., use the word “you”.

“Using crowd-sourced data from the Amazon Kindle application, we demonstrate that passages that people highlighted—collectively, over a quarter of a million times—were substantially more likely to contain generic-you compared to passages that they did not highlight.”

Across four experiments, the researchers showed that ideas expressed with you were more resonant.

Photo by Designecologist

Why we don’t understand younger generations

Every generation seems to struggle to understand the next.

Why is this? Different experiences? Just being old and grumpy?

Well, a new study from the University of Essex suggests that there might be neurological reasons.

Constantina Maltezou-Papastylianou has shown that the brain’s ability to ability to correctly recognise emotional cues in voices actually declines as we age.

Researchers found that older people were not as good at detecting emotions as younger ones.

“Pensioners struggled to correctly identify the emotion of happiness from speech - with younger adults 17% better at picking it up in voices. Older adults were only successful 35% of the time, whereas the younger people studied identified it 52% of the time.”

And this applied to negative emotions, too - “they were 13% worse at decoding the emotion of disgust in voices and grasped anger five per cent less of the time.”

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

Don’t tell me what to do

Telling people what to do can backfire and have the opposite effect.

We all need to feel as though we have some control - a sense of autonomy. So when we are instructed, this can often cause an affect called “reactance”.

It can be triggered by framing messages a certain way; also some personality traits are particularly likely to display it.

For example, this study found that Uber’s “no mask, no ride” messaging not only harmed perceptions of the brand but also made people less likely to wear a mask, largely due to reactance.

The study recommends that “brands should be careful when using “threat to freedom” language”.

Photo by Budgeron Bach

As ever, if there's anything we can help with, do get in touch.

James, Patrick and Dan

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