How fast is a perception?

Malcolm Gladwell describes this decision making process in his book Blink… how fast is a perception? Psychologist Nalini Ambady asked her students to review three ten-second videotapes of a teacher without any sound.  She then asked them to rate the teacher.  She did the same exercise again giving the next class five seconds to rate the teacher.  Finally she gave a class two seconds to rate the teacher.  The ratings were basically the same for all three classes. After a full semester of classes she asked a different set of students to rate the professor again. The ratings were essentially the same.

            Students watch a two second videotape of a professor and reach the same evaluation as a student who attended the professor’s class for 5 months. Psychologists call this the ability to make judgments with our adaptive unconscious. Or what is perception?

You do the same thing in evaluating prospective employees, sales people, new products and services.  You know within two seconds how you feel about that person, product or service. You may listen and mull things over for a while, but your subconscious has already made the decision.

What happens if you are walking outside and your eye catches movement and you see something that looks like a snake?  You jump back immediately. You don’t take time to think and decide what to do you just take action.  Our “primitive” brain controls this immediate reaction.

What is perception? We make snap decisions and judgments all the time. We have been told from a very early age ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’  But we do.  We pick up a book, look at the design on the cover, read a few sentences describing the book and receive all sorts of information, feelings, thoughts and images. We form an opinion and make a judgment to purchase or not.   And often it’s done within two seconds.  We may consider whether we can afford it or if it is wise, but we have made the decision.

Up until a few years ago neurologist and philosophers had assumed that emotions were irrational and that someone without emotions would make much better decisions.  Two generations of Trekies have been led to believe that the emotionless Dr. Spock is far more capable of making rational decisions than his passionate human shipmates. However, neurologists have discovered that emotions are a crucial part of the decision-making process. In fact, if we had no feelings the most ordinary decisions would become impossible.  Without emotions we can’t make a decision. This has been proven by studies of people who have lost their orbitofrontal cortex.  They are incapable of making the most basic of decisions.

I am paraphrasing Jonah Lehrer from his book How We Decide as he explains—the orbitofrontal cortex is located behind our eyes and at the bottom of the frontal lobe.  It is believed that a significant part of the orbitofrontal cortex is involved with emotions.   Neurologists think that the orbitofrontal cortex integrates emotions into the decision-making process.   It connects the feelings generated by the “primitive” brain—the brain stem and the amygdala—to the stream of conscious thought.  When a person has a “feeling” about something his mind is trying to tell him to make the choice.  The subconscious has already analyzed the data and made the decision. The end result is that when we trust our intuition—subconscious—more often than not we make good decisions.   Every waking moment we are gathering, making evaluations and storing information in our subconscious. This is why branding works.

We use advertising and design to let our prospects experience and evaluate our products and services virtually—their subconscious is at work. We help create their perception. If you know your customer and your prospects, then you know what their interests are and how your product meets their expectations.  You know what to tell them that will make a connection.  When they need your services their subconscious will have the information it needs to make the decision.  The challenge is for your brand to communicate your differentiation in a manner that evokes feelings and emotions. Good design is often the easiest way to do it because it’s visual…‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’

We buy with our eyes.

Advertise.  It pays.

About Ken Gasque

Ken Gasque is a brand image-maker, marketing planner and designer. Ken works with small companies and Fortune 500 companies who recognize the need to differentiate their products and services to stand out in a cluttered market. Ken is a highly visual, outside-the-box-thinker on advertising, branding and marketing—his work reflects his belief that “We buy with our eyes.” Ken writes and lectures on brands, design, images and brand development.