Category: Social Studies

The framing effect is a psychological theory that says people will have different reactions to similar statements that are framed differently. This theory has been researched by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman.

Okay, I’m going to give you two statements.

Then, after reading them, I want you to write down the option you are going to choose:

• Statement 1: Option A will allow you to save $300.
• Statement 2: Option B has a 42.8 percent chance of you saving $700 and a 57 percent chance you will lose everything.

Which statement did you choose?

See, this is a framing effect.

The two options are exactly the same, but they’re framed (or written) differently.

You chose one over the other (you probably picked Statement A, but we’ll talk about that later) because you probably saw one as safer. Continue reading “What Is The Framing Effect and How Is It Used In Ads?”

The Foot-in-the-Door Method is a tactic that many salespeople used in the past. Curious, three psychologists decided to experiment it by doing door-to-door fundraising.

I remember back in the late 90s, there were always door-to-door salespeople coming to my house.

They would advertise knives, books, or even services.

There was this one time… I was maybe 11 or 12 years old… this lady came knocking on my door asking if I wanted to buy children’s encyclopedias.

Now, if you don’t know what these are, they’re basically sets of textbooks with a bunch of information in them.

It’s like Wikipedia, but in textbook form and written by (actual) professors and professionals.

Since I was just a kid, I said yes.

She asked if she can talk to my parents and I said sure and went to grab them. My parents came over and, instead of kicking her out, asked her to sit down.

Right at this moment, she probably felt that she was going to for sure make a sale.

And she rightfully should have, because according to the foot-in-the-door theory, this is an indication that the customer is willing to buy.

This psychological theory says that people are more willing to agree to a larger request if they first agree to a smaller one. Continue reading “What is the Foot-in-the-Door Method and How Is It Used in Sales?”

What is the Law of Reciprocity? According to a social psychologist, it is the feeling of obligation… the obligation of returning a favour.

Have you returned a favour recently? Why did you do it? Also, how did you feel while you were deciding on returning a helping hand?

Did you feel some sort of pull or pressing needs to return it?

My guess is you probably did. Continue reading “Dennis Regan’s Law of Reciprocity and How It’s Used in Marketing”

How can Solomon Asch’s Conformity Experiment be applied to marketing (or what does it say about consumer culture)? 

I’ve talked about this theory before, but I want to go back to it for this post. I want to look at it within a different realm and show you how it is used in marketing.

However, before I do that, here’s a recap of what the Asch Conformity experiment is and what it revealed about people. Continue reading “Asch’s Conformity Experiment and Marketing”

Marketing is really just the psychology of persuasion.

I once had a professor who said that behind every marketing campaign was a psychologist.

The reason, she said, was that marketing is really just the art of persuasion.

And persuasion is something that affects the mind.

And the study of the mind and its processes is psychology.

That’s why marketing really is just psychology, or more specifically, social psychology. Continue reading “Psychology of Marketing”