Psych Eye for the Innovation Guy3 Must-Have Innovation Insights from Consumer Psychology

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Dr Paul Marsden Consumer Psychologist

@marsattacks

3 psychological insights for consumer innovation

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WHAT TO INNOVATE HOW TO APPEAL TO THE CONSUMER MIND

HOW TO BRAND INNOVATIONS

Say hello to your incredible shrinking brain!(don’t panic it’s still the world’s most powerful computer)

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1.5KG 1,200CC

78% WATER 100BN NEURONS 100TR SYNAPSES

-10% SIZE VS. 20K YEARS

Our minds evolved uniquely and exclusively to solve problems - solving problems is what minds are for

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PROBLEM RECOGNITION

INFORMATION SEARCH

ALTERNATIVE EVALUATION

CHOICE

POST-EVALUATION

East, R., Wright, M., & Vanhuele, M. (2013). Consumer behaviour: applications in marketing. Sage.

Without problems to solve we’d probably adopt the same strategy as sea-squirts, and eat our own brains

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Dennett, D. C. (1993). Consciousness explained. Penguin UK. Chicago

Psychologists like problems - understanding people’s problems and helping solve them keeps us in business

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Problems also keep innovators in business - without problems to solve consumer minds are closed for business

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So rather than focus on what people want, desire or say they need, focus innovation on peoples’ problems

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But not all problems are obvious, they may be private or unrecognised and it’s here psychology can help

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Using an interpretive lens, psychology reveals problems driving behaviour that are private or even unconscious

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For example, motivational psychology interprets behaviour through the lens of three ‘implicit’ core problems (‘APA’)

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ACHIEVEMENT - NO SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

POWER - NOT FEELING IN CONTROL

AFFILIATION - NO FEELING OF BELONGING

PSYCH PROBLEMS ‘THE BIG 3’

Sokolowski, Kurt, et al. "Assessing achievement, affiliation, and power motives all at once: The Multi-Motive Grid (MMG)." Journal of Personality Assessment 74.1 (2000): 126-145. APA

Whilst evolutionary psychology interprets behaviour through the lens of fundamental ‘adaptive’ problems

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1. SELF-PROTECTION 2. DISEASE AVOIDANCE 3. AFFILIATION 4. STATUS 5. MATE ACQUISITION 6. MATE RETENTION 7. KIN CARE

7 CORE PROBLEMS

Griskevicius, V., & Kenrick, D. T. (2013). Fundamental motives for why we buy: How evolutionary needs influence consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(3), 372-386.

We’re driven to solve ‘adaptive’ problems because we’re hardwired emotionally to reward such behaviour

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For instance, the appeal of luxury brands for women may lie in helping solve adaptive ‘mate-retention’ problems

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Wang, Yajin, and Vladas Griskevicius. "Conspicuous Consumption, Relationships, and Rivals: Women’s Luxury Products as Signals to Other Women." JCR 40.5 (2014): 834-854.

So whilst every innovation project should begin with a ‘problem audit’ of product and activity-related problems…

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UTILITY

SAFETY

COMFORT

AESTHETICS

PROBLEM PYRAMID PROBLEM

WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?

WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?

WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?

…the use of a ‘psychological lens’ can help you prioritise problems and identify unsolved hidden problems

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1. SELF-PROTECTION 2. DISEASE AVOIDANCE 3. AFFILIATION 4. STATUS 5. MATE ACQUISITION 6. MATE RETENTION 7. KIN CARE

So the first insight from psychology for innovation is ‘problem-primacy’ - problems matter most

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The second psychological insight is that innovations can appeal to our unconscious mind

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Problems are so important that psychologists now believe we have all evolved two problem-solving minds

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Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.

There’s an associative, fast and mostly unconscious problem-solving mind (‘System 1’)

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‘SYSTEM 1’ FAST

AUTOMATIC UNCONSCIOUS

And a conscious, slow, deliberate and reasoned problem-solving mind (‘System 2’)

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‘SYSTEM 1’ FAST

AUTOMATIC UNCONSCIOUS

‘SYSTEM 2’ SLOW

DELIBERATE REASONED

Most problem-solving goes on below the threshold of awareness, using ‘System 1’

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Li, W., Moallem, I., Paller, K. A., & Gottfried, J. A. (2007). Subliminal smells can guide social preferences. Psychological science, 18(12), 1044-1049.

Although we do like to post-rationalise - justifying the ‘System 1’ auto-pilot with ‘System 2’ excuses

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So the innovation opportunity is to appeal to the ‘System 1’ problem-solving mind, not the System 2 excuse machine

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‘SYSTEM 1’

‘SYSTEM 2’

System 1 appeals are powerful because they ‘feel’ right and responses are experienced as ‘intrinsically’ motivated

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Verwijmeren, Thijs, et al. "The workings and limits of subliminal advertising: The role of habits." Journal of Consumer Psychology 21.2 (2011): 206-213.

Fortunately, we’re beginning to understand how System 1 problem-solving works and how to appeal to it

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So here are five ways your innovation can appeal to the System 1 problem-solving mind

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First, your innovation should ‘feel’ effortless - give instant and easy gratification (present bias)

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Second, your innovation should ‘feel’ good by evoking positive associations (emotions, memories) (affect heuristic)

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Third, your innovation has to feel ‘right’ because it’s consistent with what people already do (confirmation bias)

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Fourth, your innovation should ‘feel’ familiar by building on category norms (availability heuristic)

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Fifth, your innovation should ‘feel’ empowering - giving people control over their lives (optimism bias)

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So that’s the second psychological insight for innovation - appeal to the ‘System 1’ problem-solving mind

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‘SYSTEM 1’ FAST

AUTOMATIC UNCONSCIOUS

‘SYSTEM 2’ SLOW

DELIBERATE REASONED

Finally, let’s turn to the third psychological insight for innovation - how to brand your innovation

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Traditionally, the psychological role of branding in innovation is to reduce the perception of risk

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But in advanced consumer markets, the risk-reduction role of branding innovations often diminishes

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Instead, the utility of a brand is not what it says about the product but what it says about the user

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Miller, G. (2009). Spent: Sex, evolution, and consumer behavior. Penguin. Chicago

People use brands for ‘impression management’ - to help manage what other people think about us

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Like a peacock tail that displays good genetic traits, we use brands to visually display our own positive traits…

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…not only to other people - allies, rivals, mates - but also to ourselves (our ‘looking glass ’)

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So how can innovations be branded to best harness their display value in impression management?

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Whilst we’re all different, psychology reveals that we all share six core personality traits ‘iOCEAN’

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Intelligence

iOCEAN is your unique ‘trait tattoo’ made up of general intelligence & the ‘Big Five’personality dimensions

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iOCEAN TRAIT TATTOO i128-O80-C41-E63-A73-N01

Through a psychological lens, the branding opportunity in innovation is to help people display a desired trait

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CONSCIENTIOUSNESSOPENNESS AGREEABLENESS NEUROTICISMEXTRAVERSION

BRAND PERSONALITY

Inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious

(Mini vs. Buick?)

Careful/dependable vs. easy-going/

careless (Honda vs. Jeep?)

Outgoing/energetic vs. quiet/calm (BMW

vs. Lexus?)

Friendly/cooperative vs. formal/driven

(Acura vs. Mercedes?)

Sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident

(Volvo vs. Porsche?)

By helping people display a core personality trait, you’ll be branding your innovation with deep psychological appeal

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So that’s it, three top insights from a consumer psychologist for driving your next innovation success

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1. PROBLEM PRIMACY 2. SYSTEM 1 APPEAL 3. TRAIT TATTOOS

For more practical marketing psychology digitalintelligencetoday.com

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Dr Paul Marsden Consumer Psychologist

@marsattacks