"OLD BRAIN" review ( Article-10 )

INTRODUCTION

Recently I enrolled for a Mini-degree in "Digital Psychology and Persuasion" from CXL Institute. I would love to share whatever I will learn from this Mini-degree through a series of articles.

This is my 10th "Digital Psychology and Persuasion" review article in a series of a total of 12 articles. I will be posting an article on each weekend for consecutive 2 upcoming weeks in which I will cover all the tactics and principles of Digital psychology, Consumer Behavior, and Persuasion and Neuro-Marketing which will surely help anyone passionate about marketing.

OLD BRAIN IS SELFISH!

The old brain is responsive to anything pertaining to self. Why? It is completely self-centered. Think of the old brain as the center of “ME,” with no patience or empathy for anything that does not immediately concern its own well-being and survival. If you were to have the misfortune of seeing someone injured right in front of your eyes, your old brain wouldn’t really care: it couldn’t afford to. It would be too busy being relieved that you were not the one who was hurt. Emotionally, of course, you might empathize or, rationally, you may be concerned about the consequences of what just occurred, but these reactions occur at the middle or new brain level. This stimulus example explains why 100 percent of your message as a seller should focus on your audience, not on you. If you take a critical look at your typical presentation, your Web site, or even your brochures, you will find that a lot of content relates to your business, your people, your history, your values, and your mission statement - none of which is of any particular interest to the survival brain of your audience. Your audience must hear what you can do for them before they will pay any kind of attention to you.

CREATE CONTRAST

The old brain is sensitive to clear contrast, such as before/after, risky/safe, with/without, or fast/slow. Contrast allows the old brain to make quick, risk-free decisions. Without it, the old brain enters into a state of confusion leading to a delayed decision or no decision at all. Fundamentally, the old brain is wired to pay attention to disruptions or changes of state. It is hard not to notice when someone enters a room, when a cellular phone vibrates or when a light is turned on. These sorts of disruptions may signal important cues to what is going on in our environment, so they receive some priority in the way they are processed by our old brain. In fact, as much as we believe we are reactive to changes or disruptions, scientists have actually proven that our senses proactively scan our surroundings for such pattern interrupters. All of this means that you must create contrast to get your customers’ old brain’s attention. Using “neutral statements” such as “we are one of the leading providers of ” is disastrous to your presentation. This type of language does not help your audience to quickly sort out information and trigger a decision.

SIMPLE AND RAW INPUTS

Since the old brain is not qualified to process written language, the use of words -especially complicated ones-will slow down the decoding of your message and automatically place the burden of information processing onto the new brain. Your audience will want to “think” about making the decision more than they will want to “act” on that decision. This is why the old brain needs tangible input: It is constantly scanning for what is familiar and friendly, concrete and immutable, and recognizable. The old brain cannot process concepts like “a flexible solution,” “an integrated approach,” or “scalable architecture” without a great deal of effort and skepticism. It appreciates simple, easy-to-grasp, concrete ideas like “more money,” “unbreakable,” and “24-hour turnaround time.

BEGINNING AND END

Why do most of us remember the beginning and end of the movies we see and forget everything in the middle? The brain is constantly looking to conserve vital energy and will tend to drop information in the process. If the old brain can easily anchor a situation with a strong beginning point and a strong end point, it will not seek to use energy to retain content in the middle because it may not be necessary or vital to what the situation requires. The old brain enjoys openings and finales and often overlooks what is in between. Such a short attention span has huge implications on how you as a seller should construct and deliver your messages. Placing the most important content at the beginning is a must, as is repeating it at the end. Anything in the middle of your message will be mostly overlooked. If you have the choice of presenting first or last, you should always choose to present first, because you have an opportunity to anchor the first “beginning” point against which all other presentations will be measured.

VISUAL INPUTS ARE BETTER

The old brain is visual. This may be because the optic nerve, which is physically connected to the old brain, is forty times faster than the auditory nerve, the nerve from the ear to the brain. Neuroscience demonstrates that when you see something that looks like a snake, your old brain warns you instantly of danger in about two milliseconds-causing you to react even before your new brain physically recognizes the object is a snake. Neurons connect with one another at the speed of one millisecond, so the visual processing capability of our brain is near the speed of neuronal transmission. When we see a stick that looks like a snake, our old brain cannot afford to wonder if it is really a snake; it will highjack our entire body and trigger a movement to move us away from danger. This “low path processing” happens so fast that the higher functions of the brain are simply not informed. Still, a full 500 milliseconds will have passed until it concludes that the stick was not a snake. Since humans cannot rely on the speed at which the new brain processes information, we are hardwired to make decisions that are mostly based on visual input. By using visual stimuli, you ensure that you tap into the processing bias that the brain has developed over thousands of years.

EMOTION

The old brain is only triggered by emotion. Scientific studies show that emotions create electrochemical responses in our brains. These reactions directly impact the way we process and memorize information. For example, we have over 100 billion neurons in the gray matter of our brain. The cells are not that extraordinary on their own. But when we experience an emotion like sadness, anger, joy, or surprise, a cocktail of hormones floods our brain and impacts the synaptic connections between our neurons, making them faster and stronger than ever before. As a result, we remember events better when we have experienced them with strong emotions. If your customers cannot easily remember your message, how can you expect them to choose your product? That is why ignoring your audience’s emotions is not an option.

As a conclusion, we must not underestimate the powers of human behavior and marketing psychology in order to get success as a good marketer and to grow our business exponentially.

Congrats! You are now one step ahead in the competition after understanding Marketing Psychology and Consumer behavior.

Stay tuned for the next Article!

 (This article is a review for the mini degree, "Digital Psychology and Persuasion" from CXL institute". Content is inspired from available online resources.)

Thanks :-)

Gaurav Panwar