John Gourville, professor of marketing at Harvard, says: Many innovations fail coz consumers irrationally overvalue the old while companies irrationally overvalue the new!

Put differently, user habits are a competitive advantage for the brands that have habituated them. Any new brand that attempts to change the customer routine will find it difficult to do so. Reason why, Gourville says brands that warrant a high degree of behaviour change generally fail if their benefits are not clear and substantial.

For instance, once you start reading a certain newspaper, you find it difficult to change the brand. The same is the case with your bank. Most often, the first bank you open your account in happens to be your last as well.

John Gourville claims that for new brand to stand any chance of converting the customer, it just can’t better than the old one but ten times superior, if not more. Apple moved us from Nokia coz it was not just better. It was superior!

Look at the keyboard of the device you are holding. What you have there is the QWERTY keyboard. Wonder what it is? Just look at how the letters Q W E R T Y are arranged there. Thus, the name!

This keyboard was first developed in the 1870s for the now-defunct typewriter. It was designed so the commonly used characters are spaced wide apart thus preventing typists from jamming the metal type bars of those early typewriters.

Better designed keyboards were invented during the 20th century. The one invented by August Dvorak placed the vowels in the centre row that increased the typing speed and accuracy. Yet, even the electronic typewriters that replaced the old-styled typewriters didn’t have them incorporated.

The QWERTY keyboards still remain the standard despite the invention of far better layouts. From typewriters to their modern-day cousins, computers. Truly an anachronism in this digital age!

Qwerty has survived and continues to flourish thanks to the high costs of changing user behaviour. One kind of humans, me included, learned typewriting and, hence, found it hard to change our typing pattern. The rest, instinctively learned to place their fingers in response to their thoughts with little or no conscious effort thanks to practice. Switching to an unfamiliar keyboard even if it is more efficient will force me and others to relearn how to type. And that is not going to happen.

Therefore, Qwerty lives on, no matter how quirky it is!

If you wish to be on a diet, go on a diet with words first!

Say you want to avoid pizza or other junk food that is offered. You tend to use the word ‘can’t’, right?

‘The pizza looks delicious, but I can’t have it coz I am trying to eat healthy’.

Yet, you wonder why you finally yield to your temptation!

In 2010, two consumer psychologists asked people who were interested in healthier eating to participate in a study about ways to do so more effectively. Participants were told that each time they were faced with temptation they should try a specific strategy to avoid giving in.

Half the people were asked to take the normal approach of saying ‘I can’t’.

Other people, were asked to asked to say, ‘I don’t’.

They were then asked a few questions and were made to complete certain tasks that were actually unrelated to what the psychologists actually had in mind.

When the participants finished the tasks and were about to leave, they were offered a choice between two snacks as thanks for agreeing to participate in the study. They either could have a candy bar or a healthier granola bar.

75% of people who said ‘I can’t’ picked a candy bar. But among those who said ‘I don’t’, the number of people picking the candy bar was cut in half.

Saying ‘I don’t’ rather than ‘I can’t’ double people’s ability to avoid temptation and stay with healthier foods.

Psychologists have an explanation for this behaviour. When we say ‘I can’t’, we are telling ourselves we are unable to do something coz of some external constraints. In other words, saying ‘I can’t’ imply that we want to do the thing but something or someone else is getting in the way.

On the other hand, when we say ‘I don’t’, it suggests something more permanent. It sounds we are reflecting an entrenched attitude within us. It helps you avoid temptation coz it makes you feel empowered. It tells you are in control. This feeling of empowerment helps trump temptation. Since, those goals were yours in the first place!

If you wish to diet, eat your words first!

Would copying help?

In an exam, yes, as long as you don’t get caught. It life, it works too. If you do it without making it look obvious.

Imitation, as they say, is the best form of flattery. In psychology, imitating someone is called Mirroring. Also called Isopraxism, Mirroring, is a neurobehaviour we display in which we copy others, their speech patterns, vocabulary, tempo, tone of voice and body language – for our benefit!

If you don’t believe, look at young couples who have just fallen in love. You will see them walking in the beach with their steps in perfect synchrony. You can spot newlyweds standing in almost similar manner.

The operating words here are ‘just fallen in love’ and ‘newly weds’. Since passage of time tends to change things drastically.

Psychologist Richard Wiseman did a study using restaurant waiters to understand if Mirroring worked better than waiters flattering their customers. He wanted to know how waiters could connect with total strangers.

He made one group of waiters lavish praise on customers, who ordered, using words like ‘That’s a great choice’, ‘No problem, I can do this for you’ etc.

He made the other group of waiters just Mirror the customers language. After the customer gave the order, the waiters noted down the order and simply repeated it to the customers to ensure they had got it right.

The average tip of the waiters who Mirrored the customers were 70% more than those who flattered!

You don’t need to be only a waiter to practice Mirroring. It will help if you are in Sales too. When you wish to build rapport with your customer, subtly imitate his behaviour during the sales interaction. If he folds his hands, do the same slowly and subtly. Your client will feel a sense of acquaintanceship and comfort with you – starting point for a successful conversation!

Mirroring works. Irrespective of whether you wish to induce or seduce someone!

Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away? There is enough evidence to the contrary. Yet why do we continue to believe it?

Blame it on the rhyming nature of the aphorism!

When sentences are spoken rhymingly, it ‘enhances processing fluency’, say linguists and cognitive scientists. Rhymes sound nice, are easily understood and, hence, we equate that smoothness with accuracy. We even believe they are true!

In a famous study, two psychologists, Matthew McGlone and Jessica Tofighbakhsh gave participants 60 aphorisms and asked them which one were accurate descriptions of human behaviour.

30 of them were lines that rhymed. For example, Woes unite foes. Life is mostly strife.

They took 30 other rhyming aphorisms but modified them to make them non-rhyming. For example, Woes unite enemies. Life is mostly struggle.

Participants rated the aphorisms that rhymed as far more accurate than the ones that didn’t rhyme. Though each pair essentially meant the same thing!

This cognitive bias can be used effectively by marketers to make their work more memorable and engaging. They could use rhymes to make brand names, baseline, advertising copy, social media posts and what have you. Customers will remember them easily and, importantly, believe them to be true too!

The smart ones already have. Take brand names: 7-Eleven, Krackjack, Cakes & Bakes etc.

And baselines too. Rocotile, the roof tool tiles brand claims: ‘No need for AC, Cooling your home is easy’. Gillette sums it up even better: ‘The best a man can get’.

Rhymes can enhance reason. Processing fluency being the reason!

Spoken words of a person carries far less weight compared to his body language. In the scope of human evolution, language is a relatively recent addition and invention. Humans had been interacting well before languages were found and formed and were communicating through nonverbal modes.

In fact, nonverbal communication is hardwired into our brains, much deeper than our language-processing abilities.

We don’t realize it but our body sends out thousands of signals every minute. These are part of the millions of body functions controlled by our subconscious mind. The scientists say there is far too much body language for us to control consciously. For instance, without looking, do you know which way your legs are placed?

You had to look down to find out yourself, right? Simply put, we can’t micromanage body language.

Also, our body language represents our mind and mental state irrespective of whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not. Our facial expressions voice, tone, posture and every little component of our body is broadcasting our mental and emotional condition every single minute of every single day!

Since we don’t control our body language consciously, whatever we think will end up in the way our body speaks.

MIT Media Lab proves, after extensive studies, that it could predict the outcome of negotiations, telephone sales calls and business plan pitches with 87% accuracy by just analysing the participants’ body language, without even listening to a single word that was spoken in the process. The mind controls our body!

But you can fool your mind! How?

Human mind cannot differentiate fact from fiction. While watching a movie, we are moved to tears. When someone scratches a board, we cringe. When we see someone eating, we feel hungry. Even imaginary events make our mind produce real physical reactions. Like I said, our brain cannot distinguish imagination from reality. The brain will send the body commands assuming the situation is real.

Case in point is the Placebo Effect in medicine. When patients are told they have received a medical intervention when in fact nothing has been done, they experience a real improvement in their medical condition.

Mind affects body. But since mind can’t distinguish imagination from reality, what we imagine impacts our body language!

‘The Tonight Show’, hosted by Johnny Carson, ran on American television for 30 years. While most of the episodes were downright hilarious, some were controversial and a few taught life’s hidden truths!

Once Carson was interviewing a girl scout who had set the record for selling the most cookies. He asked her the secret of her success. She said she would ask people if they would donate $30,000 to girl scouts. Obviously, people said no. The girl said she would then ask them, ‘Would you at least buy a box of cookies!’ People generally obliged and bought!

Psychologists call it the Anchoring Effect. It is a cognitive bias that makes us rely more on the first piece of information that we get. When we are fed subsequent information, we interpret the newer information from the reference point of our anchor i.e., the first piece of information, instead of looking at it objectively.

Put simply, once an anchor is formed, it creates a bias that fashions how our brain perceives subsequent information. The brain uses the anchor as its starting point and contrasts the new information with it. We don’t realize this is happening within our mind!

Behavioural scientists Jerry Burger set up a cupcake stand. He priced them at 75 cents. 44% of the people bought it.

Burger then changed the price of cupcakes were presented. He said the cupcakes that used to cost $1 was now priced at 75 cents. 73% of the people bought it!

This is how Anchoring Bias anchors our mind. You can use it to your advantage if you know how to use it smartly.

Imagine you are a salesman in an apparel shop. People who generally come in to buy a suit also might need a shirt and tie. The suit costs Rs. 15,000. The shirt Rs. 3,000. And the tie Rs. 750.

Which one would you show first?

If you understand the Anchoring Bias, the answer is simple. You should present the most expensive item i.e., the suit first. A customer who buys a Rs.15,000 suit will perceive the shirt as less expensive and the tie to be even less and might well end up buying all three.

Try showing the other way around and you may well lose the customer!

If you haven’t started saving for your retirement, have you ever wondered why you have not?

It’s coz, deep inside, you would rather spend money on yourself rather than having it to give it to a stranger even if that stranger happens to be an older you!

Hal Hershfield, a social psychologist at New York University did an experiment. He made the participants strap on a virtual reality headset. Half of them saw a digital representation of themselves for a minute and then had a chat with a researcher.

The other half also saw an avatar of themselves – but their faces were altered to make it look like how they would be at age seventy. This group gazed at the seventy-year-old version of themselves for about a minute and then had a chat with a researcher.

Later, the participants were told they had received an unexpected $1,000 and were told they could spend on themselves or save it.

Participants who saw images of their current selves put an average of $80 into the retirement account. But those who saw images of their future selves allocated more than twice that amount, $172!

In another, but similar, experiment, some participants saw a morphed image of an old man and some saw a morphed image of them that looked like they were seventy.

Again, participants who saw the image of themselves at age seventy saved more than those who had simply seen a picture of some seventy-year-old.

Hershfield says, ‘Thinking about the future self, elicits neural activation patterns that are similar to neural activation patterns elicited by thinking about a stranger. Do you understand what he is saying?

Envisioning yourself far into the future is not easy and you think of that future self as an entirely different person. Reason why, you would rather spend the money today rather than having it saved for a stranger. Even if that stranger is the older you!

Now you know why ads of mutual funds and investment options are not working as much as they should. And here is what they should do…

They need to make you think of yourself today being the same as the one who would be in the long-term. In other words, they need to morph your picture and make you look like a seventy-year-old and mail it to you. With their brand message.

You will see it and will feel sorry for yourself. Or, at least, for that older you. And will start saving!

You have that one colleague or acquaintance who doesn’t like you. He or she disagrees with you about everything. He or she despises you every time. At times you wish you could kill that person. Right?

Relax. There is another way. A simpler way. No, not killing him or her but to kill his or her dislike for you.

Ask him or her to do you a favour!

WTF, you think. Yeah, I heard your mind voice!

It was actually Benjamin Franklin who said it. It was later proved right by behavioural scientists and psychologists.

America’s first major inventor, scientists and philosopher always used this simple technique to win over his political opponents. If he found an adversary he wished to win over, he just asked them a favour.

Once, there was this adversary who hated Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin wanted to win him over. He wrote a letter to him asking him if he could lend him a certain rare book that his adversary had in his possession.

Surprisingly, the adversary complied. He sent the book to Benjamin who promptly returned the book after reading it with a huge thank you note.

Next time when Benjamin and his adversary bumped into each other, the adversary came to Benjamin himself and started talking with great civility. This had never happened before. So much so, they two became good friends!

What happened here?

Psychologists say if you do someone a favour, your mind thinks you must like them. The mind thinks you wouldn’t have agreed to do a favour for someone you dislike. So, your mind tells itself it likes that person. Poof. The dislike vanishes!

If you feel embarrassed asking for a favour from the person who dislikes you, at least ask them for something they can give without incurring any cost – their opinion. Ask them for their opinion about something saying you value it very much. Same result would ensue. The person’s dislike for you will disappear!

It works. So much so, it’s even called The Benjamin Franklin Effect!

P.S: By the way, I know you don’t like me. Yet, I value your opinion a lot. Can you share your opinion about how I can improve my writing please!

Circa 2002. Cognitive psychologist Nobel Kahneman is awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. So, what’s the big deal given that the prize is given every year to someone?

He was the first psychologist to win the coveted prize!

The inherent value in his research was the proof that decisions are not ruled by logic but by psychological principles that govern the perception of decision problems and the evaluation of options. One of the psychological principles that heavily impact human decisions is Loss Aversion.

Imagine India was going to experience an outbreak of a deadly disease that will kill 600 people and there were only two options for combating it.

Option 1: This option guarantees that 200 of the 600 people will live

Option 2: This option provides a one-third probability that all 600 people will live, but it also comes with a two-thirds probability that no one will live.

Which one of the two options would you choose?

I know you would have chosen Option 1. Most participants in Kahneman’s research chose Option 1.

Here is another set of options. Courtesy Kahneman again.

Option 1: This option guarantees that 400 people will die.

Option 2: This option provides a one-third probability that no one would die and a two-thirds probability that 600 people would die.

Which of these two options would you choose?

You chose Option 2, I know. Most respondents also chose Option 2.

Did you realize a minor shift in the way the options were worded has considerably changed the choices that were made? In both scenarios the options are identical!

Though the mathematical probabilities did not change, what was modified was how the options were framed. You just rejected the options that emphasized the loss. And so did most in Kahneman’s research.

Long story short, we feel the pain from losses about twice as much as we feel the joy of equivalent gains.

Think about two scenarios. You gain Rs. 10,000 in a lottery. You lose Rs. 10,000 in the same lottery. Which one impacts your emotions harder? Exactly!

Imagine you are considering lending money to one of the two following people.  They are the same age, race and gender, live in the same area and have the same level of income and credit score.

Person 1: I am a hardworking person, married for 25 years, and I have two wonderful boys. Please let me explain why I need help. I would use the Rs. 10,000 loan to fix our roof. Thank you, God bless you, and I promise to pay you back.

Person 2: While the past year in our new place has been more than great, the roof is now leaking, and I need to borrow Rs. 10,000 to cover the cost of the repair. I pay all bills on time.

Which of these people do you think is more likely to pay the money back?

Person 2 will repay. Person 1 is a Vijay Mallya in the making!

Let me explain with an interesting study done by researchers who analysed more than 120,000 loans requests. While they studied financial and demographic material given by the applicants, they especially analysed the words used in the application.

Financial and demographic information were pretty useful in predicting who would default. No surprises there. But the words and text were as predictive in telling who would repay and who would default.

Researchers found that repayers were more likely to use words and phrases related to their financial situation or improvements in financial ability. They used words and phrases that indicated their financial literacy. They also wrote about their school, employment, interest rates, monthly payments etc.

Defaulters used a distinctly different language. They mentioned words or phrases related to financial hardships or their distress. They used words that tried to explain their situation more. Moreover, they pleaded for help or invoked God more often!

Also, defaulters focused more on the near term while repayers focused on the longer term. Defaulters talked more about others while repayers talked about themselves.

Thus, researchers were able to prove that our words reveal our future actions. No matter how much we try to hide our true intentions and feelings, our words reveal it in black and white. Literally!

By the way, dear reader, I am in desperate need of some money. It was not my fault. Some friends cheated me. I am in big trouble. Can you kindly lend me Rs. 10,000. I swear to God, I will repay it within two days. Please help me.

Hello…. bro……why the hell are you running away…. hey stop!