Living in Uncertain Times

Nowadays, there is a lot of stress to go around -- just watch the news for a couple of hours. When we’re stressed, our body releases cortisol and this is a natural biological response as it heightens our ability to deal with potentially dangerous situations. It is great for our ancestors who needed to use that “fight-or-flight” mechanism often in order to survive.

Modern-day stress, however, can be counterproductive. Here is just one example:

Researchers from University College London had 45 volunteers play a computer game. The game consisted of different types of rocks, which sometimes had virtual snakes under them. For those that selected rocks with snakes under them, they would get a mild electric shock. Some types of rocks were more likely to have snakes and others were less likely, and researchers changed the odds throughout the experiment and tracked physiological indicators of stress to come to some pretty interesting conclusions.

It turns out, unsurprisingly, that most people don't want an electric shock, no matter how mild and favored rocks that were certain to be free of virtual snakes. But, when given the choice between having a 100% chance of finding a virtual snake and being shocked and a 50% chance, people would rather be guaranteed to have a shock. The reason?

Uncertainty drives people insane and as this experiment proves, it can also cause more stress than inevitable pain.

Fast forward to March 2020, we saw shelves empty at the beginning of the pandemic with toilet paper becoming so in-demand is was almost a new form of currency and scarcity of canned goods. This is because people’s innate reaction to uncertainty is to make sure their basic physiological needs were fulfilled and gain a sense of control and normalcy first and foremost.

There is still a lot more uncertainty upcoming economically, politically, socially, etc, and while no one has all the answers yet, Future Festival Virtual is looking to provide consumer insights, marketing and innovation leaders with a way to dissect some of the trends occurring and predict where they are likely to head next as we rechart our course. We have over 6,000 people joining us so far and if you'd like to be one of them, check out FutureFestival.com to register. Day 1 is free, but if you're looking for ways to drive action on your team, this is our last day for our 4-for-1 special for our full 3-day experience which includes experiential trend reports, workshops and so much more!