💔 Intimacy famine, falling in love with phones and forgetting
First off, we show how categorising makes people think differently and how people change when they're permanently online.
We look at how forgetting can be good for us and how "intimacy starvation" is making people actually fall in love with their mobile phones.
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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How categories make us think differently
The way people categorise things can change their overall perception, according to this work by Dasa Zeithamova at the University of Oregon.
As cognitive misers, people try to reduce mental effort in daily life. One such approach is to categorise. For example when food shopping, we might have a mental category of healthy or treat. Or sort other areas by size, colour, weight.
It’s very efficient for the brain. What’s fascinating is it also creates a perceptual bias. People tend to perceive things WITHIN the category as being more similar to each other than something OUTSIDE the category; even when they are equally dissimilar.
The existence of category labels mean that “people discounted the information they actually need for the task,” Zeithamova said.
Her team found that category labels could change the way people viewed faces after even just a few exposures. “It’s surprising that this happens so rapidly,” she commented.
Read more here.
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How to use psychology to improve your marketing
Would you like a new psychological layer to your insights? Showing you underlying audience traits, motives and triggers?
You’ll be able to see and size up audience segments and opportunities. Then we can show you powerful ways to address them based on their psychological makeup.
It’s reduced cost per acquisition by 39% for one client.
Do get in touch to see how psychology can improve your business.
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How we change when we're permanently online
A sense of being “permanently connected” can give us a sense of togetherness and make us more likely to share our political views.
With modern connectivity and devices, we can now remain in more or less constant touch with friends and acquaintances all over the world; indeed this has become a habit for many of us.
To explore this, Assistant Professor Slgi (Sage) Lee from Pusan National University, Republic of Korea, examined how what she calls "permanently connected behavior", and the nature of "permanently connected perception".
"We tend to think that heavy use of internet-connected media and being always connected with others can cause stress, anxiety, and negative emotions, and does more harm than good. However, the current study offers a more optimistic view in which perpetual contact can produce positive psychological (i.e., a feeling of being together with others) and behavioral outcomes (i.e., sharing news and political information)," says Dr. Lee.
This is because of information sharing efficacy - the belief that our peers will respond when we share information with them. A belief that is increased when people feel a sense of this "permanently connected perception", causing people to feel more motivated to share news stories and political information.
Why forgetting can be good for us
Rather than a problem, our ability to forget may be a deliberate, beneficial function of our brains.
According to a new study published in Nature Science, the way we forget - often a source of frustration for many - may actually help us interact better within our environments.
Indeed, the study says, “[F]orgetting some memories can be beneficial, as this can lead to more flexible behavior and better decision making.
“If memories were gained in circumstances that are not wholly relevant to the current environment, forgetting them can be a positive change that improves our well-being.”
The study observed that “in many cases, forgetting rates are modulated by environmental conditions” and as a result they propose “that forgetting is a form of neuroplasticity” that helps us change our thinking when faced with “mismatches between expectations and the environment”
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Would you like your marketing to be more persuasive?
Clients usually hire us to find opportunities they think they might be missing.
We’ll help you identify psychological motivations and triggers at critical points.
Then apply cognitive biases and “nudges” for you to optimise your customer journeys, experiences and communications.
It increased conversion by nearly 3% for one client.
Drop us a line to find out about a more scientific way to improve your results.
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Are we falling in love with our phones? (Rather than our loved ones)
Yes, that’s right. The mobile phone is filling the “intimacy famine” that many are experiencing.
Developmental psychologist Michelle Drouin points out that modern tech innovation and the pandemic have ended up “prohibiting or impeding many types of friendly and professional touch and sending many of us deeper into our online worlds.”
As a result “our opportunities for deep, intimate moments have dwindled”, creating what she calls an “intimacy famine”.
Drouin herself admits “I’m actually in a relationship with my phone. Through its lights, sounds and vibrations, my phone makes bids for attention, and I respond.”
She explains that responsiveness is actually a crucial element of parenting. And that our responses to our demanding phones, create behaviour akin to nurturing a child.
“I carefully wipe its screen to remove smudges (social grooming). I carry it with me everywhere I go in either my purse, hand or pocket (skin-to-screen bonding). I get nervous if I cannot find it (separation anxiety)”, she continues before admitting, “we are bonded, and I am smitten.”
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