With a large dollop of market/economics thrown in: > Deborah Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ...I think the discussion of intuitive vs. > scientific > > thinking misses how science actually works...
> > IMHO, intuition works best when combined with > rigor. > > In science at least, > > one can make an intuitive leap to get to the idea, > > but one is responsible > > for going back and connecting the dots to make > > sure one's intuition is correct... > I had written: > "...from my observations & experience > a lot of "intuition" is actually based on > essentially sub-conscious > integration of observations with prior knowledge... Real-world application: consumer manipulation. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/rapaille.html This is from a PBS Frontline interview with market researcher Clotaire Rapaille; he isn't correct about the cortex 'being in place after age 7' - it is functioning before we speak, frex Ronn!'s bowl-dropping toddler, and we know that the last bit of major pruning and refinement occur at ~ age 21 (although tiny changes continue probably until death) - but his views on the emotional out-weighing the rational in everyday life I think are correct. Unless one is aware of that, and tries to compensate for it. "...And so I was lecturing at Geneva University, and one of my students asked his father to come to my lecture. And at the end of the lecture the father told me, "You know, doctor, I have a client for you." And I said, "Is it a little boy, little girl, doesn't speak?" [He said], "No, no, this is Nestlé." And I was very surprised. I say: "Nestlé? What can I do for Nestlé?" "Well, we try to sell instant coffee to the Japanese, and obviously we might have the wrong code, because we're not very successful." Today, more than 30 years later, it sounds obvious, but at the time they were trying to get Japanese people to switch from tea to coffee. And of course when you know that there's a very strong imprint of tea in Japan -- it's almost a religious dimension there -- you cannot really have a strategy to get them switch from tea to coffee... ...the Japanese don't have a first imprint of coffee. What first imprint they have is tea. And so when you go into this category, in what we call taxonomy, mental taxonomy, it's like a mental category they have, and you cannot compete with this category. So you have to create the category. And so we started, for example, with a dessert for children with a taste of coffee. We created an imprint of the taste of coffee. And then we acknowledge the Japanese want to do one thing at a time, and the Swiss understood that very well. They start with this kind of a product. They start selling coffee, but through dessert, things that were sweet, get the people accustomed to the taste of coffee, and after that they followed the generations. And when they were teenagers they start selling coffee, and first there was coffee with milk at the beginning, and then they went to coffee, and now they have a big market for coffee in Japan... ...Now, my experience is that most of the time, people have no idea why they're doing what they're doing. They have no idea, so they're going to try to make up something that makes sense. Why do you need a Hummer to go shopping? "Well, you see, because in case there is a snowstorm." No. Why [do] you buy four wheel drive? "Well, you know, in case I need to go off-road." Well, you live in Manhattan; why do you need four wheel drive in Manhattan? "Well, you know, sometime[s] I go out, and I go -- " You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that this is disconnected. This is nothing to do with what the real reason is for people to do what they do. So there are many limits in traditional market research... ...What is it that make[s] the PT Cruiser a reptilian car? First, the car has a strong identity. What people told us is that "We're tired of these cars that have no identity. I have good quality, good gas mileage, good everything else, but when I see the car from a distance, I have to wait till the car gets close to know what it is, and I have to read the name." When you go to see your mother, she doesn't need to read your name to know who you are, you see? We want this reptilian connection. And so this notion of identity, absolutely key, was very reptilian for a car... ...How can I decode this kind of behavior which is not a word? My theory is very simple: The reptilian always wins. I don't care what you're going to tell me intellectually. I don't care. Give me the reptilian. Why? Because the reptilian always wins..." I agree. Unless you're aware of the distinctions, which allows you to step back mentally and reassess. If you can't do that, you don't have nearly as much control over your thoughts, actions and very life as you believe. Debbi whose reptile is a dragon, limbic system a wild horse, and cortex a hummingbird __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
