Psychology

The Rise of Digital Humans in Storytelling Marketing

By: Dr. James McFarland, People Scientist Parables, childhood antidotes, juicy gossip, humans love a good story. With trends coming and going, marketing has evolved over the years, but storytelling will remain a timeless and incredibly powerful way to focus, captivate, and motivate consumer interest. Especially today when content overload and instant gratification are the norm. … Continued Read more →

The Power of Touch

By: Dr. James McFarland, People Scientist This week we are going to talk about physical touch. No, wait. That sounds cringey. I mean, we are going to explore the incredible power that touch has over us as human beings… Hmmm, that didn’t help. Let’s just say physical touch can play a safe, constructive, and legitimate role in your marketing strategy.  As part of the Sensory Marketing arsenal, physical touch and experiential marketing campaigns can help inform and transport consumers along their purchasing journeys, … Continued Read more →

A Tale of Two Consumers

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Okay, maybe that is a bit much for an opening, but stay with me here, Charles Dickens’s famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities, might have more in common with the psychology of modern-day consumers than first meets the eye. Read more →

Masstige and Happiness

Okay, who here is familiar with the term “Masstige?” Don’t feel bad if you aren’t. It’s one of those five-dollar terms that makes you sound smart at dinner parties. A term that your Econ 101 instructor may have used at some point, but the passage of time (yes, let’s go with that) has since erased its meaning from your college memories. Read more →

Connecting With The Disconnected (Part 2)

In our previous blog post, we covered the effects of ostracism on today’s consumer and how warm and “cuddly” messages (including images of teddy bears) can reduce those lonely feelings and help build brand preference and loyalty. This week we are diving even further into some of the best scientifically proven ways to connect with those who are feeling disconnected. Read more →

Connecting with the Disconnected

Have you ever been ignored in a collective game of catch, or were purposely excluded from a social group at school or in the workplace? If so, you have first-hand experience with what psychologists refer to as ostracism. Read more →

The Rise of Influencer Avoidance

A lot has changed in the last twenty years. In 2004, MySpace made history as the first online networking site to acquire a total of a million monthly active users, a momentous milestone at the time. Read more →

Paint Me a Picture

Over the last few years, an illuminating series of studies about false beliefs and misperceptions about the state of the world has been underway. In the first of these studies (known as “The Gapminder Misconception Study”) published back in 2017, the researchers discovered that misperceptions among the general population appear to be the norm rather than the exception, especially among citizens of wealthier nations. Read more →

The Danger of Boredom

What do you think would happen if you spent 6-15 minutes in a room with nothing to interact with but your own thoughts? If this idea gives you an uneasy pause, you are not alone. Read more →

Balancing Profit and Customer Love

Although an essential component to the overall success of market economies, profit-seeking is often viewed negatively within many social circles. In fact, for-profit businesses struggle to achieve even a small measure of the goodwill automatically garnered by their non-profit counterparts. Read more →