what is unconscious mind in marketing research

Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman's latest book, How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market, delves into the subconscious mind of the consumer—the place where most purchasing decisions are made. The question: How can marketers understand unconscious consumer thinking? HBS Working Knowledge staffer Manda Mahoney questioned Zaltman about the new book, published by Harvard Business School Publishing.

Mahoney: You state that 95 percent of all cognition occurs in the subconscious mind. How can marketers begin to understand behaviors and attitudes of which customers themselves are not aware?

Zaltman: There are several helpful approaches. One is to double check stated beliefs with actual behavior. For example, many consumers report handling competing brands and comparing prices at the point of purchase. However, observations of these same consumers often reveal that they don't even look at alternatives to the chosen brand. Another option uses physiological or response latency measures. These often reveal that what consumers actually believe or think, as measured by unconscious physical reactions, contradicts what they say when asked directly. Another very productive approach is to study the metaphors consumers use to express their thoughts and feelings. This involves in-depth probing in one-on-one interviews for the hidden meanings contained in their metaphors.

Q: The idea of exploring the subconscious of the customer is traditionally linked to advertisers. Is this an expanding advertising strategy, or something different?

A: Probing the unconscious mind of the consumer has tremendous value beyond advertising. For example, learning that a communications device or even a personal care product invokes deep thoughts and feelings about social bonding can be very helpful to R&D experts. In the case of a communications device, this suggests that tactile experiences of social bonding be "engineered in" through the design of how the product is gripped in the hand and in the choice of finish in the device's housing material. In the case of a personal care product, colors and scents known to be evocative of social bonding experiences can be used. In both cases, the basic idea of connection is central to the product's value proposition and becomes a more profound basis for developing marketing strategy than, say, technical superiority or long-lasting benefits. While the latter attributes are important, it is because they serve the deeper needs of connection or social bonding.

Q: Your research points to the ineffectiveness of focus groups. What techniques should managers be employing to elicit information from customers?

A: Many researchers tell us that one-on-one interviews are superior to focus groups. That is, even a few conventional one-on-one interviews yield essentially the same data as several focus groups. Additionally, there is now a lot of evidence that personal interviews yield deep insights that can't be obtained from focus groups. So, my preference is to conduct in-depth, one-on-one interviews that are enriched by using various techniques from clinical psychology and sociology. Often, the results of such interviews can be used to design more comprehensive surveys. And properly designed surveys, when subjected to careful statistical analyses, can yield further insights into unconscious consumer thinking.

Q: At what point in the product life cycle are these insights most helpful? Is this a product planning strategy?

A: The insights offered by methods that probe the unconscious mind are relevant at all stages of the product life cycle. For instance, when introducing a radically new product, it is necessary to understand how consumers currently frame their experience of the problem addressed by the new offering. That is, no matter how radical a new product is, it will always be perceived initially in terms of some frame of reference. It is essential that this frame be understood, especially if it is an inappropriate one detrimental to early trial of the product. For a mature product, insights about the category or a specific brand can lead to modifications that will extend its life and sustain its economic value to the firm. One firm with a very "tired" brand explored consumers' hidden thoughts and feelings and discovered a relevant, basic emotion that had been overlooked by all brands in the category. They were able to connect this emotion with their brand giving it a major sales boost. Other firms use the hidden treasures of the unconscious mind to identify new product opportunities. Using metaphor-elicitation techniques, firms providing farming supplies, home appliances, office systems, and beauty care have identified important unmet needs. R&D departments use information about the architecture of these needs to identify opportunities for new products and services.

Q: What do you say to those who may be upset by the idea that businesses are privy to the inner workings of the human mind?

A: All knowledge can be used in constructive, socially responsible ways just as it can be used harmfully. The more knowledge we acquire, the more we are faced with this dilemma. If we want the opportunity to use knowledge to benefit consumers we should not shy away from learning more about the inner workings of the human mind. This also runs the risk that some people might use that same knowledge in ways we consider inappropriate. Here I think all of us have a special responsibility to making clear, to consumers and managers alike, what we consider appropriate and inappropriate uses of knowledge. This at least will help lessen inadvertent misuse of knowledge.

Q: Are there companies that are ahead of the game? How do these companies use these techniques effectively?

A: There are several companies that are ahead of the game in terms of acquiring advanced knowledge about consumer behavior and in using that knowledge to benefit consumers. These firms include McNeil Consumer Health Care, McCann-Erickson, Procter & Gamble, Hallmark, Bank of America, Kraft, Samsung Electronics, IBM, Pfizer, J. Walter Thomson, and General Motors among others. Their use of these techniques range from the development of new product ideas all the way to the repositioning of established brands. One of these firms just recently used the techniques mentioned above to identify an opportunity for a new product line and to guide the actual design of products within that line. The same research was helpful in crafting a communication strategy for the new line and in selecting a name for this new offering.

Q: We hear a lot about how technology is revolutionizing our ability to understand customers. Is this aspect overrated? Is science the future of marketing?

A: Technology is indeed revolutionizing our ability to understand customers. Insights about the workings of the cognitive unconscious including memory, attention, information processing, the nature of human universals, and socially shared cognitions, and the neurobiology of figurative thinking, for instance, have already outdated most thinking and current practices among managers. Many of these advances are the product of advances in research techniques. Still, the use of scientific advances requires the imaginative translation of scientific findings into effective practice in the marketplace. This is the art that goes hand-in-hand with science. Imaginative thinking by managers and market researchers is required to successfully apply insights from metaphor-elicitation and neuro-imaging techniques, for example, to generate helpful new products, more informative communications, and more rewarding in-store experiences.

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Values-Cues Research

General Motors uses metaphors in its Value-Cues Research program for designing vehicles, advertising, and dealership appearances. In a recent study, GM hired researchers to ask consumers to bring objects expressing "optimism" to a one-on-one interview. One participant brought an image of a champagne flute. The interviewee explained that the flute's simple, open design expressed many things, including the dawning of a new day. GM's designers then used this understanding to convey optimism in their car designs. One design-team member remarked, "It would be impossible to do this relying only on verbal cues. Getting customers to express themselves in the same design vernacular we use goes right to the heart of how we connect with them."

In another metaphor-elicitation project, General Motors' designers asked consumers to show them photos of "friendly" watches. Respondents chose watches that were easy to read and could stand up under abuse. The dominant design features of these watches included a large face, easily legible numbers, and a low-tech, nonindustrial "feel." Study participants also chose watches that appeared "fun." "Fun" was expressed through color; "innocent, silly" shapes; a round face; and designs "that make you smile," look comfortable, and invite comments from others.

To its amazement, the design team also learned that "slight changes in design can drastically change the metaphor conjured up by customers." With watches, as with human faces, the difference between a mean and friendly look can be very subtle indeed. That's why the Value-Cues Research program uses "in-depth one-on-one interviews rather than focus groups to probe deeply and figure out why a subtle change in design produces a major change in the metaphors used to describe one design option versus another," according to Dr. Jeffrey Hartley, a psychologist and manager of Brand Character and Theme Research at General Motors.

By asking consumers to use nonautomobile examples, the researchers gained a more complete understanding of the diverse meanings of "friendly" as potentially relevant to automobiles. In fact, in most of its metaphor-elicitation research, Olson Zaltman Associates asks consumers to bring in pictures that don't show the product in question, but depict their thoughts and feelings about that product, service, or experience. Thus, in a study of the essence of Mickey Mouse, OZA asked consumers not to choose pictures relating to or including Mickey or Disney in general. As a result, consumers thought more deeply about the topic and produced more valuable insights that a company's competitors can't easily access through traditional research methods.

Metaphors involve mental models Metaphors do not exist as words in memory, but as networks of abstract understandings that constitute part of our mental imagery. 23 We call these networks consensus maps when a group of people shares them. Figure 4-1 shows a simple consensus map of consumers' understandings of Chevrolet trucks in terms of a rock, in response to Chevy's "Like a rock" advertisement, one of Chevy's most successful. The company designed it based on metaphor-elicitation research with consumers; as a result, it effectively identified the associations present in the thinking of dedicated Chevy truck owners and then, through advertising, established these associations in the thinking of a broader truck-buying public (see figure 4-1 ).

The phrase "like a rock" inspires four basic associations in consumers' minds: "rock" with "take abuse"; "Chevy" with "reliable"; "Chevy" with "rock"; and "take abuse" with "reliable." When consumers make a connection between the idea of a Chevy truck and the idea of a rock, they attribute certain rocklike qualities, such as the ability to take abuse, to Chevy trucks and translate them into notions of reliability and ruggedness. Figure 4-1 shows how these qualities enter consumers' awareness directly through advertising or other marketing decisions.

What Freud Can Teach Us About Neuromarketing

Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, would likely have something to say about neuromarketing. Freud’s theories have fallen out of favor with many academics and therapists. But, his practices and ideas can still form useful metaphors that help us understand how to connect with our customers.

Here’s how we can interpret Freud’s theories and apply them to marketing best practices today…

Encouraging people to talk freely

Freud was the father of psychoanalysis, also known as ‘the talking cure’. During psychoanalysis, patients would lie on a couch and talk freely about their thoughts. In doing so, Freud hoped to uncover the underlying reasons for their symptoms.

Indeed, some neuromarketing firms like Olson Zaltman still use in-depth interviews. While not therapeutic, they can be lengthy and are designed to identify underlying emotions and associations.

As business owners, one of our primary aims is to get customers talking about our products . Even today, word of mouth remains 92% more effective than all other forms of advertising. We want our customers to be engaging with us. We want them taking photos and videos, sharing on social networks, and recommending the brand to family and friends.

In other words, we must encourage people to talk freely, just as Freud did. Building customer reviews and forum functionality into your website is one way. Another is to be active on social media. This provides a space for visitors to interact with your brand (and each other).

Give your followers the right cues and incentives to get them to open up, and you will likely find not only positive responses but also areas for improvement.

Tapping into the unconscious mind

Freud would often use the analogy of an iceberg when it came to describing the unconscious mind. On the surface, you have the tip of the iceberg – or consciousness. But, the largest and most significant part is below the surface – the unconscious . According to Freud, the most important part of the mind is the part we cannot see.

In the early days of neuromarketing, nearly everyone included an iceberg image in their presentations or marketing. In more recent years, the iceberg metaphor has become a cliche. (Roger Dooley pointed this out in his “Obligatory Iceberg” slide, circa 2013.)

Freudian theory assumes the unconscious mind governs our behavior, probably more than people imagine. It’s not surprising that advertising strategies often appeal to both the conscious and the unconscious mind. There are all sorts of psychological triggers that influence where and how we choose to spend our money.

So perhaps Freud was onto something here. According to some scientists,  95% of our day-to-day decisions are made by the unconscious mind . Package design and store environment, color and tone of voice, and many other factors affect our non-conscious mind.  This impacts how we feel about a brand and its products.

Freud and your customers’ psyche

Later in his career, Freud came up with a structural model of the human mind. He proposed three distinct entities: the id , the ego , and the superego .

The first entity, the id, is present from birth. The id forms our most basic instincts, driving our need for pleasure and gratification. As we move past infancy, the ego develops. It teaches us to satisfy the demands of the id in a socially acceptable manner. Finally, the superego evolves, bringing with it our sense of morality.

It is widely acknowledged that to sell to the ego, you have to talk to the id . The best sales copywriters know this, and always write to the ids of their audience. They try to appeal to primitive drives, whether that’s seeking pleasure or avoiding pain.

Edward Bernays , hailed in his obituary as “the father of public relations”, was one of the first to take Freud’s ideas and apply them to consumer marketing. Bernays, Freud’s nephew, became famous for his ability to manipulate the minds of American consumers.

Greed and sexuality

Freud believed that humans are intrinsically greedy. He noted that people could always justify their decisions – however ludicrous – with their own reasoning. In cognitive science, this is known as ‘ post-purchase rationalization ’ . As humans, we tend to retrospectively ascribe positive attributes to our choices.

To some extent, consuming products allows us to fill an empty space, at least for a time. And so, we often make impulse purchases driven (at least in part) by our subconscious.

Likewise, Freud also had a lot to say about our psychosexual lives. And it’s not altogether surprising to note that advertising often uses sexually charged imagery and language to drive its audience to make a purchase – because it (usually) sells . (Whether or not sexual imagery or content is appropriate in a given situation is a different topic.)

Freud and research bias

Finally, let’s consider how Freud himself conducted his research. There’s a reason many of his theories have since fallen out of favor.

First, Freud  would often base his conclusions on an unrepresentative sample of the population. His subjects were mostly his patients, one child, and himself. Therefore, his findings do not necessarily apply to a wider demographic.

The second is that he was known for showing research bias . Freud sometimes paid attention to evidence that supported his theories and dismissed less supportive data. This is not uncommon, even for scientists. Freud certainly won’t have been the first (or last) academic to allow cognitive bias to skew findings.

But, false beliefs can do us harm when it comes to marketing. Say you’re undertaking market research. If your data isn’t accurate, then you’re not going to take the most appropriate action for your business. Even good data can be abused by acting on findings you agree with while rejecting contrary data.

Cognitive bias can affect all of us,  almost always without our realizing it. It can be an issue of framing, social standing, feeling more comfortable with familiar options, or many more cognitive biases . Hence, it’s especially important to make business decisions – and customer research – with an open mind.

While we may not want to rely on Freud’s findings too heavily, we can still draw useful parallels. Whether that’s taking a more id-focused approach to content, being aware of the power of the unconscious to influence decision-making, or ensuring truly representative research, we can all do something to connect with our customers on a deeper level.

I love discovering what drives customers to make purchases. From content and branding to web design and social advertising, we all have much to learn about what the future of selling online will look like – and those with a firm understanding of neuromarketing will undoubtedly benefit.

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Hi Victoria as a sales trainer in Italy rentlessly used to say that 95% or so reps’ selling power is hidden into his unconscious… Great to find someone else sharing that…

great article, i love neuroscience, is something magical

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Home > Books > The Science of Emotional Intelligence

Neuromarketing: The New Dawn and Disruption in Marketing Research

Submitted: 21 April 2021 Reviewed: 07 May 2021 Published: 25 June 2021

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.98299

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The 21st Century is termed as the ‘Century of the Brain’ and the ‘Human Brain’ has 100 billion neurons and each neuron is connected to 10000 other neurons. ‘Meme’ is a unit of information that is stored in the brain and these units are effective at influencing a person who is making choices and decisions within 2.6 seconds. The ‘Neuromarketing’ is emerged from the realms of ‘Neuro Science’ as a new dawn and digi-driven disruption in the arena of ‘Marketing Research’ that studies the cognitive and emotional brain responses to marketing stimuli. The ‘Consumer Neuro Science’ by instigating brain wave tools figuring out what customers’ thoughts and brain responses are towards a product, service, advertisement, or even packaging. Neuromarketing mapping the activities in specific regional strata of the brain, capturing and predicting the psychological as well as physiological behavioral changes of buyers and/or consumers at a point-of-sale. The chapter intends to present the conceptual focus of ‘Buying Brain’ viz., Neuro Marketing, the role of ‘Memes’ in buying decisions, besides the tools and techniques adopted in persuading Buyers as Consumers and/or Prosumers that remain unearthed and unexplored.

Author Information

Kovvali bhanu prakash *.

• MN Infra Pvt., Ltd., India

Appidi Adi Sesha Reddy

• School of Management Studies, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering (LBRCE), India

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

The ‘Mind’ is what the ‘Brain’ does and the ‘Brain Science’ was emerged from the realms of Neuro Sciences. The Neuro Science deals with the ‘Mind’ while Neuromarketing corroborates the ‘Brain Responsiveness’. The impressions created in mind are stimulated and expressed by brain. A unit of information stored in ‘Brain’ is referred as ‘Meme’ i.e., the basis for Neuro Science and ‘Neurons’ are the cells that fire together, wire together and responsible for the biological basis of our cognitive responses. ‘Memes’ influence buyers to make choices and decisions within 2.6 seconds and stayed in memory are targeted by Market Researchers ( Table 1 ) [ 1 , 2 ]. Neuromarketing is a relatively nascent and inter-disciplinary field in Marketing Research emanated from the Neuroscience, and Psychology. The Neuromarketing assesses the needs of consumers, monitors and measures the cognitive and emotional responses to various marketing stimuli [ 3 , 4 ]. The Neuroscience is considered to be in its infancy, and Neuromarketing will be clearly at an embryonic stage [ 5 ].

Human brain - the factsheet.

Source: Ref. [ 3 ].

1.1 Neuromarketing: the premiere

The fusion of Neuropsychological and Marketing Sciences was trace back at the beginning of the 21st century when Neuroscience and Economics integrated as Neuro Economics [ 6 ]. Neuromarketing is an ontology of Neuroscience that reveals the true motives, real intentions, or inner essential truth of the naked, unconscious or intuitive consumer [ 7 , 8 ].

The analytics and applications of Neuroscience have been facilitating the product marketing from the stages of introduction to decline enroute growth, and maturity [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Marketing is an activity and a kingpin that sets the economy revolving (Adam Smith) prima facie creating and delivering standard of living to society (Paul Mazur and Malcom McNair). The journey towards moment of truth to moment of promise is merely for the fulfillment of immediate needs and wants, promising customers, clients, partners, and society at large keeping in view the futuristic outlook and direction i.e., Neuroscientific Research [ 12 ].

The term ‘Neuromarketing’ is at first coined by Gerald Zaltman of Harvard University and conceptualized by Ale Smitds of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam defined it as a ‘Consumer Neuroscience’ mapping the activity of conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious state of the brain stimuli [ 13 ]. The exhibited external behavior of the consumer is naked and unreliable, yet, the brain response i.e., pre-frontal cortex is real and reliable [ 14 , 15 , 16 ].

Neuromarketing is an interdisciplinary and a relatively nascent field in Marketing Research that was connected by Neuro Science, Behavioral Economics and Social Psychology [ 17 ] to study consumer reactions and responses to specific marketing related stimuli [ 18 ]. The prime objective of Neuromarketing is to study how the brain is physiologically affected by advertising and marketing strategies. The application of ‘Neuroscience’ and adoption of ‘Neuromarketing’ tools and techniques intelligibly touched and touted the ‘Marketing Mirrors’ during 1990–2000 and thereafter gained momentum [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].

The Neuromarketing or Consumer Neuroscience is defined as an application of Neuroscientific tools and techniques viz., fMRI, EEG, MEG, Eye Tracing, SST, PET, Eye Tracking, IAT, SC, Facial Coding and other brain wave tools to assess, analyze and gauge the consumer decision-making and brand consumption-comprehension processes and figuring out the customers, consumers as well as prosumers thoughts towards a product, service, advertisement, or even packaging [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. The revolutionary and radical shift termed as Moment of Promise (SAS, Google) steering prosumers than targeting consumers or users. This seismic shift from near sighted Marketing Myopia (Theodre Levitt) i.e., Moment of Truth (‘I Want To Know-Go-Do-Buy) (A.G. Lafley, Pete Blackshaw - P&G, Google) to Moment of Promise (apple).

1.2 Neuromarketing: from the lens and mirrors of neuro science

The Human Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology is the basis for Neuromarketing (Neuroco and Neurosense in UK, Bright House Neuro Strategies and Neuro Insights in USA Sales Brain in France, and Neuro Insight in Australia), and it studies the ‘Consumer Behavior’ from a brain perspective. Neuro Imaging as a standard tool or technique in Marketing Research adopted to analyze the situations-scenarios of Cognitive Psychology. The Neuroscience has widely applied by Economists in economic decision-making [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ].

Neuro Science is in primitive stage while Neuromarketing still in infancy. The Frontal Lobe is the seat of Executive Function (EF) that controls short memory, and does the best of thinking i.e., planning. The Frontal Lobe is responsible for the emotional instinctive behavior. The R-Complex or the Reptilian Brain is the critical component and responsible for buying behavior. The Reptilian Brain focuses on pre-verbal processes of virtual stimuli without the use of visual cortex i.e., image preference over words and experiences over explanations. The mass of a ‘Consumer Brain’ is 2 per cent of Body Mass Index (BMI) and it burns 20 per cent of energy. The remaining 80 per cent of ‘Brain Energy’ is necessary to sustain rest state or default mode that continues to be perplexing for Neuroscientists ( Figure 1 ).

Human brain—the anatomy.

The individual preference to brand familiarity [ 31 , 32 ] and product preference [ 33 , 34 ] have been correlated with neural activity in Neuromarketing. The ‘Brand Image’ awaken the emotions that can become more powerful than the direct effect of the product. The medial Pre-Frontal Cortex (mPFC) as a repository of linkages between factual knowledge and bio-regulatory states translating the product information into experiences and linked the positive affect in advertising [ 35 , 36 ].

1.3 Neuromarketing: the triune signal system (TSS)

The Triune Brain is a signaling system and a key instigator of the ‘fight and flight’ mechanism [ 37 , 38 ]. The Triune Brain (3-Imbricate Structures) consisting of (i) R-Complex (Reptilian) or Primitive Brain; (ii) Limbic System or Emotional Brain; and (iii) Neo-Cortex or Rational Brain focus on primitive emotions that are overruled by conscious thoughts ( Figure 2 ) [ 39 ].

Triune brain - the neuro warning signal (NWS). Source: The triune brain, science of psychotherapy, 26th Oct, 2016.

1.3.1 The R-complex (reptilian) or lizard or primitive brain

The consumer psychology has been the bedrock for marketing strategies and R-Complex helps Marketing Researchers to understand how consumers’ Reptilian Brain reacts and responds to the moment. In order to satisfy the ‘Need Hierarchy’ (physiological, safety and security needs), the Primitive Brain responds very quickly with a strategic intent (act, react, withdraw or wait). A well- developed and healthy Neo-Cortex monitors the R-Complex in smart and sentient buying [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ].

1.3.2 The limbic system or emotional brain

The Limbic System or Paleomammalian Cortex is a set of brain structures that deals with emotions, feelings, attention, general attitude, pleasureor annoyance, agreeable or disagreeable experiences, and memory. It regulates autonomic or endocrine function in response to emotional stimuli [ 46 , 47 , 48 ].

The Limbic Structure is composed of hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, and hypothalamus. The Limbic Brain is at the seat of the decision-making and value judgments that exerts a strong influence on Buyers’ Behavior ( Figure 3 ).

Limbic brain - the anatomy. Source: Ref. [ 50 ].

1.3.3 The neo-cortex or rational brain

The Neo-Cortex or the Rational Brain positioned in between two large cerebral hemispheres that are playing a dominant and responsible role for the development of human language, abstract thought, imagination, and consciousness. It analyses the choices of the products and/or services and suggest the best choice amongst alternatives based on the need rather than the features of the product.

The Neo-Cortex has the features of rationality, flexibility and infinite learning abilities that are used to solve problems logically and develops innovative and rational thinking. The Rational Brain thinks, the Emotional Brain feels and the Reptilian Brain makes decisions ( Figure 4 ) [ 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ].

Neo-cortex/rational brain - the regions. Source: Ref. [ 55 ].

The activation of medial Pre-Frontal Cortex (mPFC) is an effective corollary measure that affects the fear conditioning [ 53 ], eating disorders provocation [ 54 ], and startle responses [ 55 ]. The reward system [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ], money [ 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ], brand preference [ 64 ], price and quality can also influence the consumers in a placebo-like manner [ 65 ].

1.4 Neuromarketing: the analytics & applications

Today’s Experience Economy (EE) has been effectively monitoring and measuring the efficacy of emotions, feelings and opinions of Buyers as well as Consumers. The non-invasive and intrinsic to Neuroimaging Techniquesfor measuring and mapping the brain activity inter alia include: a) functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), b) Electro EncephaloGraphy (EEG), and c) Magneto EncephaloGraphy (MEG) [ 66 , 67 ]. These 3-Neuro ImagingTechniques are non-invasive and therefore can be used safely for Marketing Research purposes ( Figure 5 ).

Neuro-imaging tools and techniques - an overview. Source: www.frontiersin.org.

The other prominent and prevalent Neuro Scientific Methods are: Steady State Topography (SST), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Eye Tracking and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). An fMRI peer deeps into brain by using strong magnetic fields to track changes in blood flow across the brain. But, an EEG reads the brain-cell activity using sensors over fractions of a second. Unlike both EEG and MEG, the fMRI modality scans and catches the BOLD Signal (Blood Oxygen Level Dependant) Flow Image of the brain i.e., the prime source of intervention and intermediation [ 68 , 69 ].

1.4.1 Neuromarketing: the functional magneto resonance imaging (fMRI)

The functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has been widely used neuroimaging technique since mid-1980s’and its rapid application in mapping the brain’s circuitry fueled the growth of Neuropsychology (study of cognitive processes), Neurophysiology (study of nervous system), Neuroethology (evaluationary and comparative study of animal behavior and human nervous system) and Neuroanotomy (study of neural structures of human nervous system).

The fMRI studies the refractions of magnetic field and radio waves thereby producing a signal that allows viewing the brain structures in detail [ 70 ]. The first empirical study on fMRI and its impact and incidence on Neuromarketing inferred that different brain areas are activated when people know the ‘Brand Consumed’ compared to when they do not know it (Coca-Cola Vs Pepsi) [ 71 ]. Further, stated that when people knew the brand Coca-Cola over Pepsi their ‘Frontal Lobe’ was activated, an area that coordinates attention, controls short-term memory and directs thinking especially planning. However, when they did not know the brand, they have reported that they prefer Pepsi, and the ‘Limbic System Structure’ activated i.e., responsible for emotional and instinctual behavior. The findings emerged from the study revealed that emotional stimuli used as a product brand affects the cortical activity in ‘Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex’ and thus can influence the buying behavior ( Figure 6 ) [ 72 , 73 , 74 ].

Neuro science - the science of consumer behavior. Source: Ref. [ 78 ].

1.4.2 Neuromarketing: the electro encephalography (EEG)

The Electro Encephalo Graphy (EEG) is a non-invasive brain imaging technique detects the brain activity using different electrodes placed on the scalp [ 75 ]. An EEG reads and measures the brain-cell activity by using sensors and tracks the changes in brain activity over fractions of a second. The analytical insights and operational owes by adopting EEG can be helpful to assess triggers, and motivators in the entire brain. A left–right asymmetry of the Frontal EEG signals (an indication of happiness or amusement) reflects the consumer desirability of a product. The brain image of EEG is considered in Brand Selection Research i.e., shift in brand preference by a TV Advertisement, Brand Positioning and Processing and Product Selection. In Consumer Neuroscience Research, the EEG investigates the cognitive processes such as attention, arousal, emotion, engagement, excitement, memory, reward, sensory perception and valence [ 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ].

The functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) points out the changes in activity in parts of the brain while Electro Encephalo Graphy (EEG) and Steady State Topography (SST) measure the brain activity in specific regional spectra of the brain response. The bio-sensors gauge the changes in one’s physiological state also known as Biometrics (Heart Rate and Respiratory Rate, Galvanic Skin Response) to know why consumers make the decisions? Which brain areas are responsible for making the decisions? [ 81 ].

1.4.3 Neuromarketing: the magneto encephalo graphy (MEG)

The neurophysiological and non-invasive technique viz., Magneto Encephalo Graphy (MEG) presents an analytical view of brain mapping and the neuronal activity in the living human brain (VOXELS) with milli-second precision. The MEG is concerned with the upper most layer of the brain i.e., Cerebral Cortex. By using Magnetic Field Tomography (MFT) the Market Researchers can assess and predict the cognitive processes that govern the buyer behavior. [ 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 ].

1.4.4 Neuromarketing: the steady state topography (SST)

The Steady State Topography (SST) is another tool used in Cognitive Neuroscience as well as in Neuromarketing Research for observing rapid changes in human brain activity [ 86 ]. The SST measures variations in delay (latency) between the stimulus and the steady state that is visually evoked potential response over extended periods of time. This offers new insights based on neural processing speed as opposed to the more common EEG amplitude indicators of brain activity. The following are some of the techniques adopted by the Market Researchers in order to obtain more insights about the buyers’ response either to buy a product or to try a product.

1.4.5 Neuromarketing: the positron emission tomography (PET)

The Positron Emission Tomography (PET) maps normal human brain by taking physiological images with spatial resolution similar to fMRI and recording the radiation from the emission of positrons from the radioactive substance administered to the subject (the radio-active chemicals in blood).

1.4.6 Neuromarketing: the eye tracking methods

The Eye Tracking Methods study the behavior and cognition of buyers without measuring brain activity. The Eye movements fall into two categories viz., Fixations and Saccades. The pause in eye movement in a certain position is termed as a ‘Fixation’ and ‘Saccade’ deals with switching of eye movement to another position. The resulting series of Fixations and Saccades are called ‘Scan Path’, and they are used in analyzing visual perception, cognitive intent, interest and salience. The technique of Eye Tracking can be useful in promotion of advertisements and its impact assessment, concept testing, logo and package designing, online usability, micro-site development and in-store marketing [ 87 ].

1.5 Neuromarketing: the biological responses and reactions

The biological reactions to stimuli can also provide information about buying preferences, tastes and behavior of consumer. The Marketing Researchers can predict the emotional state by monitoring heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductivity (affected by sweat, measuring arousal level), stress hormone from saliva, facial muscles contractions and facial expressions of emotions per se.

An Implicit Association Test (IAT) can be used to measure individual behavior and experiences towards certain stimuli. The IAT measures the underlying attitudes (evaluations) of the subjects by assessing reaction times of two cognitive tasks and also identifying the speed of two different concepts (stimuli such as advertisements, brands, concepts) to different evaluative anchors (attributes) with which these can associate. It also measures the amount of time between stimuli appearance and its response (response time or reaction time).

The Skin Conductance Technique (SCT) analyses the subtle changes and measuring arousal in Galvanic Skin Responses (GSR) when the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is activated. It can also predict the market performance and perfections better than self-reports [ 88 ].

The Facial Coding identifies micro-expressions and record these in the form of ‘Coding’ and measuring non-conscious reactions based on the activity of the facial muscles. Facial expressions are spontaneous and provide real time insights but are based on subjectivity in deciding when an action has occurred or when it meets the minimum requirements for coding. The Facial Electro Myo Graphy (Facial EMG) evaluates the physiological properties of facial muscles, examines voluntary and involuntary facial muscle movements that reflect conscious and unconscious expressions of facial actions and emotions recorded in a bi-polar manner (on both sides of the face) ( Figure 7 ) [ 89 , 90 ].

Neuromarketing - The Functional Areas of Buying Button. Source: Ref. [ 78 ].

1.6 Neuromarketing: the dawn and disruption of marketing research

The 21st Century is termed as the ‘Century of the Brain’ and the Human Brain has 100 billion neurons, and each neuron is interconnected to 10000 other Neurons. The integration of ‘Marketing’ with ‘Neuro Sciences’ is undoubtedly a promising and progressive direction in the arena of ‘Marketing Research’. Despite of flaws in Neuromarketing, it is evinced that the application of Neuromarketing Tools and Techniques to ‘Product Marketing’ has recently gained popularity because of Neuro Imaging will become cheaper, faster and it providesreal and reliable information and insights to the Market Researchers at right time, at right place that is not obtainable through conventional marketing methods.

The tools and techniques adopted to persuade the buyers are reliable and valid. However, each of these have specific strengths and weaknesses and also expensive. Keeping in view the ethical, sociological and technological implications, it is suggested that devise and develop new mechanics which are more appropriate to understand the thoughts, emotions, feelings, needs of consumers and prosumers in relate to the marketing of products and offering of services [ 91 ].

Neuromarketing provides indelible insights about the decision-making choices of buyers, consumers and prosumers [ 92 ], besides assessing their buying behavior, buying pattern, unconscious thoughts, emotions, feelings and desires about purchase decision [ 93 ]. The corporate giants viz., Intel, PayPal, Pepsi, Coke, Google, HP, IBM, GITI, Micro Soft per se mining and hacking the brains and spending millions to plumb the brains of the buyers ( Figure 8 ). Therefore, future research in this arena will focus precisely on understanding the cause-effect relation between the activities of a brain area in general and the (re) actions of the Buyers or Consumers in specific.

Source: Ref. [ 93 ].

Neuromarketing is an ontology of Neuroscience with the dynamics of agility, accuracy and transparency. Mere, ‘Humanoids’ cannot transform the latent and latest talents and skills. Be ensure the ‘Human in the Loop’ (augmenting marketing skills by systems to deliver actionable and operational rich insights), ensue Marketing-as-a-Service (MaaS), infuse Emotional Intelligence and instil ‘Human Touch’. Be a Market Intelligent and the be an Altruist and above all Be a Humane. The Promises transcend into realities will require a unique ‘Customer Experience Management’ that spans channels i.e., the then-versus-now story. Undoubtedly, ‘Neuromarketing’ emerges as a hope, a utopia, a scintillating scientific and spontaneous drive and urge. This is reality and realism.

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared that no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The rights are exclusively vested with the main author.

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Marketing to the Unconscious Mind: The Real Driver of Consumer Choice

Marketing for dummies.

Sign up for the Dummies Beta Program to try Dummies' newest way to learn.

If the research is true, you’re wasting 90 percent of your budget by appealing to just the 10 percent of the brain that drives the decisions people make. That doesn’t make for good marketing returns.

The unconscious mind makes rapid judgments about marketing materials and messages and dictates immediately how it should “behave.” These thoughts and actions are driven by our “schema,” or set of preconceived thoughts and beliefs that drive what we believe to be “truth,” real, and valuable.

The influence of schemas and the unconscious mind

Pew Research shows that scientists and the public are far apart when it comes to believing evidence of opinions about key social issues, such as vaccines, GMOs, and climate change. And no matter what people hear about their chosen politicians, religions, and other sources of ideology, they tend to believe what they’ve chosen to believe and ignore contradictory facts despite the sources of the scientific, validated data. For example, 88 percent of scientists say research shows that GMOs are safe. Only 37 percent of the public believes them.

Think about the things you’ve believed most of your life. How much would it take for you to change your attitudes and beliefs? Convincing customers to change brands, acknowledge your brand’s distinctions and value, and try your product over another is not always that much different. You need to build a powerful case to get consideration and trial. And you’re best able to do this by applying psychological principles related to choice rather than just sound marketing messages and personalized promotions triggered by automated CRM systems, data management platforms, and more.

Just like these mental schemas that guide expectations when listening to music, aligning with political and religious organizations, and more, people have “brand schema,” or preset expectations for experience with brands they trust.

These schemas associated with products and brands are largely built on prior experiences, memories, and people’s conscious and unconscious values.

The conscious and unconscious minds often disagree

• Most interesting is that the unconscious mind results showed “helpfulness” as dead last, 16 of 16 variables tested, while the conscious mind put it as the number‐one value.
• The conscious mind listed “sexual fulfillment” as number 14 of 16 variables, even though it shows up in the number‐two spot for the unconscious mind. Perhaps people don’t like to admit consciously that they need others in their lives to be happy? Most people probably like to think they’re fine and independent on their own, but years of psychology studies show that people are all generally happier, more fulfilled, and reach their greater potential much more when they have fulfilling relationships with others.

What you can take from this is that what people say and think is often not what they really do. This alone has huge implications for what marketers need to emphasize most in marketing content, which is not what they’ve typically been doing.

Psychological drivers apply to B2B even more then B2C

• B2B customers are more emotionally connected to their vendors and service providers than B2C consumers.
• When personal values are present in a business choice, purchasers are eight times more likely to pay a premium price.
• In contrast, only 14 percent of business purchasers see a real difference between suppliers and are willing to pay for that difference.

(To delve more into this research, check out “ From Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B customers to Brands. ”)

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Jeanette McMurtry, MBA, is a global authority, columnist, and keynote speaker on consumer behavior and psychology-based marketing strategies. Her clients have included consumer and B2B enterprises ranging from small start-ups to Fortune 100 brands. A marketing thought leader, she has contributed to Forbes, CNBC, Data & Marketing Association, DM News, and Target Marketing magazine.

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Neuromarketing: The Key to Understanding Subconscious Consumer Behavior

How do you best understand why consumers choose your brand versus a competitor’s (or vice versa)? Research tools such as focus groups, interviews, and surveys provide unique and helpful insights. Yet each have limitations that prevent us from obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the behaviors, needs, and preferences that influence the consumer decision-making process.

Neuromarketing is often defined as the future of marketing because it works to understand the subconscious behaviors of consumers. It’s becoming more and more apparent that this plays a key role in our ability to understand and discover underlying consumer needs, wants, motivations, and preferences.

In this article, we’ll answer the burning questions behind neuromarketing, such as:

What exactly is neuromarketing?

What tools and techniques are used for neuromarketing?

Why is neuromarketing so important?

Is it a trendy buzzword, or is neuromarketing changing the future of marketing?

Neuromarketing Defined + Its Impact on Marketing

By applying the combination of neuroscience and cognitive science to traditional marketing, we are able to augment our marketing endeavors for better results and greater success. This involves studying the subconscious responses and behaviors of the human brain and body when encountering marketing, branding, advertising, packaging, etc.

The study of subconscious behavior reveals information that can’t be derived from traditional forms of consumer and market research. For example, monitoring neurological responses can help us understand ad effectiveness and product desirability as well as give insights into attitudes towards price or emotions triggered by promotions.

This gives marketers a greater sense of how to create brands, marketing materials, campaigns, and innovations that are more effective and are designed to better resonate with their target audiences.

The Techniques/Tools Used for Neuromarketing

There are a variety of tools and techniques used to perform neuromarketing studies. In this section, we briefly describe several of these tools and how they’re used.

fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) – Technically known as functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI is used to detect blood flow in the brain associated with increased neural activity. The technology observes changes in oxygenated blood flow in response to cognitive tasks. This type of technology can measure certain levels of consumer engagement; for example, fMRIs can be used to gauge how consumers feel about factors such as price. It’s important to note that this kind of machinery is expensive–and testing must be performed in a lab with the participant lying still inside a machine–so fMRI isn’t as easily accessible or convenient as other neuromarketing tools.

EEG (Electroencephalogram) – Known as a more cost-effective alternative to the fMRI, the EEG is a neuroscience tool that provides valuable information on brain activity. EEGs are a non-invasive electrophysiological brain imaging technique in which values of marketing stimulus can be evaluated for metrics such as memory, engagement, positive/negative perception, and attention. The equipment is lightweight, portable, and comfortable to wear. Participants’ natural behaviors are captured using sensors applied to the scalp to measure brain-generated electrical waves.

Eye-Tracking – This technique, just as the name implies, measures eye movements and tracks where subjects move their gaze. Eye tracking is useful to analyze what captures consumers’ attention, what confuses them, and how fast they can recognize brand elements. This technology cannot measure emotion, so it should be used in addition to techniques such as biometrics to get a full understanding of the subconscious mind. There are a variety of eye-tracking devices, such as stationary eye-trackers, eye-tracking glasses, eye-tracking virtual reality glasses, and eye-tracking through webcams (although webcam eye-tracking is the least precise of all the devices). Because these devices are so affordable and easy to use, eye-tracking is one of the most common techniques used in neuromarketing research.

Pupillometry – This is an eye-tracking technique used to measure the dilation of the subject’s pupils. Marketers can use the results to determine how engaging their marketing creative and communications are. Increased dilation can indicate that participants are more entertained or engaged by the testing materials. Luminance (lighting) changes occurring during testing will also affect pupil dilation, so pupillometry testing must be highly controlled in order to deliver accurate data.

Biometrics – For years, marketing researchers have employed biometrics to measure physical responses to different stimuli, such as online and digital experiences, television, messaging, print advertising, products, and services. This neuroscience technology measures skin conductance, heart rate, and respiration to determine how consumers feel about and respond to marketing media.

Facial Coding – The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is a software that measures subtle changes in facial expressions. This technology is used to measure a range of emotions (such as anger or happiness) and emotional valence (positivity and negativity). This cost-effective neuroscience tool can help marketers understand brand perception and consumer emotions in response to marketing stimuli. It’s important to note that, although this technique is considered to have a lot of potential, some professionals feel that it is more subjective and less reliable than other neuromarketing tools.

Why Neuromarketing Is Important

Why is neuromarketing so important?  

Let’s be real. Most of us don’t put a lot of time into thinking about why we buy what we buy. And if we aren’t sure about the why, how accurate can our responses be in surveys and feedback?

The purpose of neuromarketing is to uncover authentic reasoning and purpose behind consumer decisions and behaviors. We seek to analyze the subconscious part of the human psyche in order to truly understand why we purchase particular products and services (and why we don’t). By focusing on the behavioral sciences, we are able to bypass conscious bias and identify automatic reactions that tend to be universal across all human beings.

In other words:

Neuromarketing brings us one step closer to understanding the true intentions behind consumer decision-making.  

By gathering a shared understanding of human behavior, marketers can use their talents to deliver creative and messaging that better attracts, engages, and aligns with their target audiences, their preferences, and their needs.

Examples of Neuromarketing

The subject of neuromarketing can be a bit overwhelming if not paired with practical examples for reference. Below are a couple of studies that show the benefits neuromarketing using eye-tracking and fMRI tools:

Eye-tracking Utility Study

Usability Specialist James Breeze conducted a study to see how people view baby ads. When the subjects were presented an ad with the baby staring straight at the camera, the eye-tracking heatmap indicated that viewers’ attention were completely focused on the baby’s face and not the marketing messaging.

When the viewers were presented with another ad where the baby was facing the messaging, the results were very different. While the baby still garnered attention, the marketing messaging did as well, simply due to the fact that the baby was looking at it.

The takeaway? As humans, we’re drawn to, and take more notice of, people looking straight at us—especially if the person staring is an adorable baby! To ensure that your audience assimilates the imagery and messaging equally—and in the right order—it’s important to incorporate visual hierarchy into the design. And if you’re using people in your ads, consider the benefit of them looking at, and/or or in some way bringing attention to, important messaging.

fMRI Study – National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute performed an interesting neuromarketing study using fMRI technology to determine the effectiveness of an ad campaign. In the study, thirty-one participants were shown three different ads. Each ad included messaging that encouraged those who wanted to quit smoking to call the Institute’s hotline.

The participants were asked to write a self-report in which they ranked the ads in order of least to most favorite. A 3-T Siemens Trio scanner was used to provide imaging data of each person’s neural activity when viewing the ads.

In addition to this, the Institute also measured the number of calls the hotline received after each ad was aired. The study determined that the ad with the highest neural response was also the ad that yielded the greatest number of calls. The interesting part is that these results contradicted the self-report rankings the participants filled out.

This study and others like it are important, proving that consumer surveys, focus groups, and feedback aren’t always accurate or reliable. Neuromarketing works to uncover subconscious desires and preferences that consumers are simply unaware of, which helps marketers communicate with their target audiences more effectively.

The Takeaway

Is it just a trendy buzzword, or is neuromarketing changing the future of marketing?

Neuromarketing has indeed influenced the future of marketing. Such an in-depth understanding of consumer wants, desires, and preferences empowers innovators and marketers with a greater ability to meet the needs of their customers.

At IDealogic®, we believe there are long-term benefits—for both companies and their target audiences—when brands can connect to consumers on a deeper, more meaningful level. We focus on building profitable relationships between companies and the people who purchase from them. Schedule your introduction call today to learn more about how we can help your organization create Brand to Human® connections with ideal consumers.

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Unconscious

Unconscious branding, elucidating the unconscious mind helps marketers help consumers.

Posted November 12, 2012

• What Is the Unconscious
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Every year an absurd tragedy occurs in our lagging market economies. Billions of dollars are wasted asking consumers questions they can’t answer. In the U.S. an abysmal 2 out of 10 product launches succeed because what people say in traditional market research surveys can’t reliably predict what they actually do. We’re all playing a game without knowing the rules.

That’s because humans, i.e., consumers, make the vast majority of decisions in life quite unconsciously. What is a no brainer to cognitive scientists remains mind boggling to marketers. Markets flounder because consumers can’t articulate their deeper desires and companies fail to reach these unmet hidden needs. The blind leads the blind.

Steve Jobs was the exception. When asked how much research was conducted to guide the launch of the iPad, he famously quipped, “None. It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.” The iPad, according to some measures, would become the most successful consumer product introduction in history and Apple the most valuable company of all-time.

Businesses have been asking the wrong question. Instead of asking why consumers do what they do, we need to ask how. We need to shift from measuring the outward expressions of beliefs to better understanding the inward causes. That is, how do our minds process information and form the often- unconscious beliefs that drive motivation ? Fortunately there is a sequence and structure to this process and elucidating it will help both sides of the free market fence.

As a marketing strategist and researcher my frustration with the tools of my trade led me to search for better answers. I found them not in market research, but rather in the research of cognitive and behavioral authorities. I also became a behavioral change therapist and learned how to help everyday people who were interested in changing their lives…not because of emotional illness but for self-improvement and a more fulfilling life, the same things people seek in brands.

Through that work, I noticed first hand how the unconscious was the key to that change. So I began reverse engineering what I learned from neurobiology, evolutionary psychology and behavioral economics , starting with the things that were proven to yield real results quickly in real people. I created a seven-step process to change behavior, one that I have been applying to marketing strategies with remarkable success ever since.

These are the seven steps: 1) Interrupt the Pattern, 2) Create Comfort, 3) Lead the Imagination , 4) Shift the Feeling, 5) Satisfy the Critical Mind, 6) Change the Associations and 7) Take Action.

This new shift from a cultural to a biological view of behavior is one of the most promising opportunities in the history of humanity. There is so much fertile ground but woefully few farmers. We need an organizing framework to put these insights into practice. Because many of the most outward, pervasive and economically significant manifestations of our culture--such as the products and services we buy everyday and the advertising that moves us most —often have clearly explainable neurobiological determinants. Piggybacking culturally relevant messages atop these cognitive truths exponentially increases impact.

Take for instance an ad we created at Deutsch LA for Volkswagen, which leveraged Star Wars fame and the first of my seven steps: Interrupt the Pattern. The pathway to our unconscious best begins by galvanizing our conscious attention . But awareness of our surroundings occurs only when the things we perceive violate our expectations. We only really notice the car driving in front of us when its’ brakes are slammed. Our mind is a prediction machine that works via pattern recognition . When something unexpectedly defies our prediction, our expected pattern, we are forced to take notice. This is the biological basis of how consumers learn and how marketers break though clutter.

The commercial we created interrupted perceptions of the concept of the evil Dark Lord by featuring an adorable pint-sized version that quickly became a global phenomenon. In the ad, mini-Darth Vader is seen in a series of unsuccessful attempts to use “the Force” on various household items, each time predictably failing, until he encounters the new 2012 Passat. This time the pattern is interrupted as the car comes to life by the power of his little raised hands after his dad secretly starts the engine using the remote start feature on the key fob.

“The Force” generated a staggering 54 million views on YouTube and a reported 6.8 billion impressions worldwide and more than $100 million in earned media. We were merely building upon Volkswagen’s great legacy of using pattern interrupts. In 1959 they introduced “Think small”, a refreshing campaign counter to an industry of conspicuous consumption that boasted big. A zig among zags that Advertising Age ranked the top ad campaign of the century.

“The Force” also generated an outpouring of support from delighted brand fans inspired by the charming tale and a magical moment in the life of an imaginative little boy. And the Volkswagen brand enjoyed a remarkably successful sales year, achieving its highest market share in decades. A “win win” for both company and customer.

If you'd like to learn more, visit my website at: www.unconsciousbranding.com

Douglas Van Praet is the author of Unconscious Branding: How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing . He applies unconscious behaviorism, neurobiology, and evolutionary psychology to business.

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Can the Unconscious Mind be Persuaded? An Overview with Marketing Implications

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Beyond Reason: 8 Subconscious Marketing Techniques to Boost Sales and UX

According to research by Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, up to 95% of our purchase decisions are directed by subconscious mental processes.

As digital marketers, we know this intuitively. How many articles have you read that advised you to appeal to the emotional, irrational, subconscious part of the brain?

Despite this evidence, a majority of marketing efforts still focus on making logical appeals to a rational mind.

This approach leads to a sub-optimal user experience and poor conversion rates because it ignores how the human brain actually works.

So, how do we effectively target the subconscious brain? Well, we first need to understand the nature of subconscious decision making, including the role of emotions and the mechanisms that trigger attention.

Table of contents

Do we buy what we like or like what we buy, how do we target the subconscious mind, what are the key implicit motivations, 1. certainty, 2. belonging, 3. recognition, 4. individuality, 6. self-development, 7. sexuality, 8. physiology, how do we measure the strength of implicit motivations, how can digital marketers apply these learnings, how good is our subconscious brain at making decisions.

A lot has been written about how our decision making is prone to bias , and as a result, people often make poor judgements. While this may be true some of the time, research by Alex Pouget  found that people can often make optimal decisions, and usually do so if the choice is made by the subconscious mind.

So, users will trust their gut instinct – because it is often right! This is why if an offer doesn’t come across as credible (e.g. it is too good to be true), visitors will often reject it. Psychologists have also found that the goals which direct much of our behavior are often activated by our subconscious mind .

Neuroscience research has also found that when our subconscious brain identifies a good opportunity to achieve a goal it produces a positive emotion. The brain then automatically triggers a decision to seek goal fulfillment.

The opposite is true when our subconscious brain identifies something that we don’t expect to help us meet an active goal. A negative emotion is triggered and we avoid the behavior associated with that outcome.

Our conscious mind, System 2 , on the other hand is much more deliberative and conservative in thinking.

Don’t worry though, it only tends to be in control when we do mental math or if there is a problem of some kind. System 2 uses up a lot of energy so it gets depleted easily.

That’s why marketers should be ruthless with removing clutter on a website and create an intuitive design. A design that is easy and simple to navigate does not activate System 2 and so the user’s mental energy does not get depleted so rapidly.

Neuroscience research by Gregory Berns and Sara Moore from Emory University found subjective likability is a poor indicator of sales.

Instead, activation of the brain’s reward center was much more predictive of future sales than subjective likability. It’s true that we like what we buy, not buy what we think we like.

So how do you increase online sales? Target the subconscious.

To target the subconscious brain, we have to communicate that our brand meets implicit or psychological goals that activate our reward center.

When this happens, we trigger an emotional response which leads to a quick decision. When there is no strong emotion involved, we are more likely not to make a decision – at least immediately.

So, what kind of psychological goals do people have? It’s complicated, but many of these goals relate to protecting us from harm or building strong social ties. Indeed, our brain is hard-wired to make decisions that optimize our survival chances. That’s why we find movement on a screen so distracting. We can’t stop ourselves looking towards a moving object as in the past it could have signaled potential danger.

Whatever the motivation , we almost can’t help ourselves when we see an opportunity to achieve such a goal .

“Implicit motives determine which actions are experienced as rewarding and satisfying,” said Joachim Brunstein , Professor of Psychology at the University of Giessen. “Goals that do not align with implicit motives, cannot bestow feelings of reward or satisfaction.”

One benefit of identifying your visitors’ most important implicit motivations is that you can include relevant psychological goals in your value proposition and content to improve engagement and intent.

Marketing consultancy Beyond Reason  has developed the first comprehensive model of implicit motivations by combining insights from a number of psychological and neuroscience studies . The model has eight overriding implicit motivations, each of which is then broken down into four individual motivational categories. The eight implicit emotions are:

• Individuality
• Recognition
• Self-Development

Each of the thirty two categories also has four expressions/manifestations to enable marketers to identify the detailed nature of each motivation category.

This model, in its precise level of detail, avoids the ambiguity that many traditional behavioral models suffer from. Marketers get clear feedback on how to craft messages to engage the subconscious mind.

What follows is a number of examples outlining the effective use of these implicit motivations on the web.

Using the Beyond Reason Implicit Motivations for Marketing

We hate uncertainty and so if your brand stands for stability, safety, security, reassurance and righteousness this can be appealing to certain segments.

The internet is full of uncertainty and so brands that communicate longevity and stability have an advantage over sites that are unknown and lack credibility.

For example, the UK retailer Marks & Spencer effectively communicates longevity and tradition by prominently displaying the date it was established (EST 1884) immediately below its logo. This is a subtle, but effective way of demonstrating that it represents tradition and certainty.

The Co-operative Bank uses an ethical business policy to appeal to our desire for righteousness. Treating people fairly by operating according to standards of morality and justice can sometimes be important implicit motivation in sectors such as banking and investment management.

People like to feel that their actions are not harming other people as this gives us a positive emotional response.

People are extremely social animals. We love being part of a group , community, or team. This implicit motivation includes relatedness (attachments), collaboration, conformism, and empathy.

Tesco demonstrates a desire for empathy and compassion for people less fortunate than ourselves through their Community Food Connection initiative. This aims to deliver surplus food from stores to local charities for free.

Another great use of this trigger comes from MyBlogU .

What they do particularly well is to facilitate collaboration through forums and ask for feedback from other members. Collaboration is important to people because it helps members realize their goals through the group structure. We also like to be part of groups because it makes us feel more secure as members can protect and support each other.

Lifehack.org uses a desire to conform to established norms of behavior to persuade users to sign up to its newsletter.

It seeks a small commitment by asking users if they agree on something (“it’s never too late to start over.”)

Visitors who agree with this question are then served a second pop-up asking for an email address. Users feel compelled to sign up due to the inherent power of consistency/commitment, one of Robert Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion .

Humans like to be perceived as valuable and appreciated by others. This motivation includes being noticed by others and feeling respected.

Quora allows answers to be edited and organized by its community of users. However, the site also ticks a number of implicit motivations that encourages user participation.

Members get attention as the site displays how many views an answer receives, and users can show appreciation or not by upvoting and downvoting answers.

The notifications tab allows users to keep track of how well their contributions to the community are received.

This same trigger is what drives user behavior on Reddit to a large extent – the ever present pursuit of Reddit Karma .

Amazon has created a brand which works on paying attention and listening to customers. After each purchase, Amazon emails customers to rate the service received. As well as making customers feel their opinions are important it also provides Amazon with reviews for their website which displays strong social proof .

Individuality the feeling that we are independent thinking and can act according to our own free will. This is defined as being original, the master of our own destiny, having autonomy and being self-centered.

Airbnb has been a massively disruptive force in the hospitality and travel sector in recent years. However, Airbnb’s competition with traditional hotels is overstated, as the average Airbnb stay is 2.5x longer than the average hotel stay.

This is because Airbnb appeals to the non-conformist traveler who wants to wants to experience the real essence of a city or neighborhood. To capitalize on this implicit goal Airbnb created lifestyle experiences. The example below is for “Maverick Biker,” a package designed for the curious cyclist who wants to visit Cuba.

One way of appealing to our self-centeredness is to allow customers to customize your product. For example the footwear company, Converse does this well by letting users customize their shoes. They also allow customers to have their name printed on the final version.

The desire to have influence and persuasion over others. This involves having authority, a hierarchy, competition, and prestige.

Online gaming sites use power and the desire for mastery to motivate users through a number of strategies, including competition with other players and leader boards. Zynga , for instance, also allows users to play against friends on Facebook, and it uses levels to communicate progress and the competence of players.

Virgin Atlantic uses prestige to promote its first class service and airport lounges by comparing their Clubhouses to a private members’ club. This creates the impression of exclusivity, but also of power and influence.

This motivation relates to self-improvement and includes understanding of how mechanisms work, altruism, critical questioning, and purpose.

The Farnam Street blog is a great example of a website that is focused on helping people broaden their knowledge and improve how they think. These benefits are explicitly communicated. However, the site also targets our subconscious desire for a more meaningful and purposeful existence. This is one of the most powerful motivations that people can have.

Sex is, of course, one of our most basic motivators . It helps to ensure the continuation of our species. But importantly, it is also about intimacy, lust, and the parent-child bond.

Parents are strongly motivated to strengthen the relationship with their children and brands can often convey this more effectively through imagery rather than words.

Netflix communicates the parent-child bond on their homepage through a powerful image that needs no words.

IKEA’s homepage is also a great example of communicating the parent-child bond. The headline and image resonate strongly to any parent thinking of shopping at IKEA. It also highlights the important social benefit of collaboration by emphasizing the enjoyment family members get from cooking together.

Apart from the basic need for adequate nutrition, physiology also includes avoiding injury, promoting behavior that maintains good health, and a desire to live in non-polluted environments.

The Zombies Run game uses gamification and social proof to promote a healthier and more active lifestyle.

It allows users to create their own story while they walk or run to prompt more frequent exercise. The app also aims to encourage users to run for longer periods of time than they might otherwise have done.

Because implicit motivations work at a subconscious level, traditional self-reporting surveys and direct questioning of respondents does not measure them accurately.

Instead, companies working in this field use research methods such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT) .

The IAT measures the speed with which people can sort words or images into categories each time they are “primed” or presented with a stimulus (e.g. a brand logo or product). It is also the test that is used to measure possible racial or gender bias .

When people are primed with a word or image, the associations they have with that concept are much more easily accessible than feelings that are not associated with the stimulus. It teases out implicit associations

This means the IAT can measure emotional feelings to brands, products, and services that users won’t or can’t express through direct questioning. One big advantage of the IAT is that it is scalable and relatively cost effective because it uses computer software to carry out the test.

(Editor’s note: there’s no lack of controversy surrounding the validity of the IAT’s validity . Investigate and decide for yourself. )

Our brains analyze the difference between the pain (i.e. the price) and the reward (i.e. achieving goals) when considering a decision.

When the difference is sufficiently large and a net positive, we will be open to purchasing a product. The net value can be changed by increasing the expected reward (i.e. improve the benefits or performance of the product) and/or reducing the pain (i.e. lower the price or make it easier to purchase).

This means that optimizers should focus on simplifying the decision making process. You can do this a variety of ways, but it starts with understanding the implicit motivations of your users. Are they seeking power, self-development, individuality? Are you echoing these sentiments in your copy, your value proposition, your design?

Furthermore, are you creating dissonance with your messaging? If you’re not aligning your messaging with that which your users expect, there’s an inherent divide (which isn’t helping your conversion rate).

The goal here is to produce messaging that caters to System 1 – the fast and intuitive brain. If not, your users will shift to System 2, which is often less rewarding for them and less effective in the sales process.

That’s not to say the rational side needs to be thrown out entirely – products meet rational needs while brands help us meet psychological motivations. Especially with more generic products and services (e.g. hosting sites), your brand can use psychological motivators to differentiate from the competition.

But it all starts with understanding your users. There are many research methods available for this, and we’ve covered them extensively. If you’d like a primer, here are a few resources:

• How to Build Robust User Personas in Under a Month
• The Advanced Guide to Qualitative Research
• Empathic Design: Mapping Your Brain, Brand, and Data

Attention, preferences, and loyalty are most strongly driven by our subconscious mind, but it’s still important to have a strong rational motive to purchase. So to wrap up:

• Ensure rational benefits are aligned to a customer’s implicit goals.
• Simplify the user’s decision making process to retain attention and build satisfaction and loyalty.
• Try implicit association tests instead of directly asking users what their motivations are.
• Continue to research and experiment with this. Just like user personas, this is an evolving model and accuracy improves with time and insight.
• Use implicit motivations to form the basis of hypotheses for building more successful online experiments.

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Neal Cole is a freelance digital marketing consultant and writer who provides analysis and advice on website optimisation.

Neal worked in market research for over 10 years before moving into website optimisation for a major online retailer. He has a passion for consumer psychology and applying insights to marketing problems.

He writes regularly on his website, Conversion-Uplift , and has contributed articles for the user experience site Usabilla and for the market research site Greenbookblog .

Join the conversation Add your comment

Nice article, Neal. You’ve obviously done your homework. The IAT is a good tool, but has limitations in terms of the number of attributes that can be assessed practically in any one study. We have developed an implicit measurement approach (IE Pro Technology) adapted from Payne’s Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP). It’s just as valid and reliable (if not more) and improves flexibility. You can learn about it at emotiveanalytics dot com, then click IE Pro YOU. You can also read more about subconcious, implicit, System 1 applications in our latest blog at our website – just go to blogs and read the one about Dual Process, System 1-System 2 branding. Thanks.

Excellent article Neal!

What a great article! The fact that psychology based marketing is still fighting its way through is upsetting though. Businesses still fail to realise the power of the subconscious mind. Sometimes I do see Consumer psychologists and similar titles across organisations, but such roles are still frowned upon. Why that is, do you think? Why psychology based marketing isn’t as popular as it should be?

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Quantifying the roles of conscious and unconscious processing in insight-related memory effectiveness within standard and creative advertising

• Original Article
• Published: 21 August 2021
• Volume 86 , pages 1410–1425, ( 2022 )

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To maximize marketing effectiveness, many conscious and unconscious elements are simultaneously employed within campaign advertising. However, little is known about the individual contributions that conscious and unconscious processes make to the cognitive effectiveness of creative advertisements, some of which may also induce insight experiences. To quantify the roles of conscious and unconscious processes in memory effectiveness within commercial advertising, a dual-process, signal-detection technique was adopted to separate the contributions of conscious recollection and unconscious discrimination induced by 80 printed advertisements, among which half were considered standard and the other half creative. A total of 51 participants completed immediate (5 min later) and delayed (3 days later) memory recognition tests. In contrast to standard advertising, creative advertising was found to enhance recognition and to demonstrate advantages in both conscious and unconscious memory, which decreased across the test-time intervals. Further analyses showed that a moment of insight induced by an advertisement, regardless of whether it is standard or creative, can consolidate unconscious memory, whereas advertisements that do not induce insight improve conscious memory. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (20BXW118), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20181029), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31500870), Research fund of Jiangsu Provincial Key Constructive Laboratory for Big Data of Psychology and Cognitive Science (72592062002G), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (B200202152, B200204015), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M621603).

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Shen, W., Bai, H., Yuan, Y. et al. Quantifying the roles of conscious and unconscious processing in insight-related memory effectiveness within standard and creative advertising. Psychological Research 86 , 1410–1425 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01572-9

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01572-9

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What Is Subconscious Marketing?

The subconscious mind is an incredibly valuable tool, particularly when striving to enhance your marketing efforts. Cleverly planting seeds in the minds of customers, enabling them to make decisions far before they are aware, is ideal for encouraging your business to strive in your industry. In fact, according to consumer research by  CMO , the subconscious mind is responsible for driving up to 95% of purchasing decisions. However, when considering the use of the technique, it can be somewhat tricky to determine the right formula for success. Effective subconscious marketing takes meticulous planning, delving into your brand’s message and uncovering the characteristics that make your selling points truly unique.

A Comprehensive Guide To Subconscious Marketing

So, what is the subconscious mind? Envision the mind as an iceberg, which has been split into three sections. The only visible percentage of the iceberg, although it is the smallest, makes the most impact; this represents the conscious mind. The conscious mind is the physical result of your decisions; for example, the answer to the math problem you have been solving for hours or the meal choice that you eventually made – just like the iceberg, it is the only part that you can see.

Just beneath the tip of the iceberg, underneath the ocean yet within reach of the surface, mirrors the preconscious mind. The preconscious mind is filled with general knowledge, information that you will always know and can access without a second thought. Again, when referring back to the iceberg theory, the second section is nearest to the surface; therefore, it can be reached without effort.

Lastly, is the final section of the iceberg which reaches deep into the depths of the ocean and signifies the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is similar to a memory bank with unlimited capacity, filled with your deepest of emotions. It is responsible for storing everything that has happened to you, even those that you work hard to forget. The job is the subconscious mind is to ensure that your brain and body can respond to situations the way that you have been programmed to. This is why you react to particular situations in a way that you often cannot control nor expect; otherwise known as ‘autopilot’. As mentioned in an insightful article by  Brian Tracy International , it is thought that by your 21st birthday, your brain has stored more than 100 times the contents of the  Encyclopedia Britannica , which features 28,000 short articles.

With the above in mind, the subconscious minds ability to spot opportunities makes it a key contributing factor towards whether a client or customer opts for investing their time and money into your business. If you are able to tailor your brand message to appeal to the subconscious mind of your target audience, then you can begin to influence their behaviour choices in favour of your business. Altering your advertising activities to reach the subconscious mind can, if done effectively, grow your business from strength to strength.

How To Achieve Successful Subconscious Marketing

When it comes to tailoring your marketing strategies to reach your customer profile subconsciously, you must first take into consideration their psychological needs. Understanding how to trigger an emotional response can be somewhat tedious, and it is imperative to ensure that you only influence a favourable decision. The core emotional values that should create the foundation for your campaigns must include the following:

• Recognition

The core values that you base your marketing strategies will be heavily influenced by your industry, target market and brand message. Almost every leading brand has spent time determining the right emotional “needs” for their ideal customer before implementing subconscious marketing. For example, back in 2009, Coca Cola launched its global  ‘Open Happiness’ campaign , which featured short clips across TV, cinema and outdoors. This kickstarts a ‘feel good’ reaction from viewers, targeting the one emotion that absolutely everyone wants to feel – happiness. To this day, Coca Cola retains the ‘happiness’ theme throughout their website, including a ‘what makes us happy?’ infographic, along with ‘choose to smile’ videos and much more.

Another fantastic example, which links with the core value of recognition, is  L’Oreal’s  famous slogan of “because you’re worth it.” The simple, yet highly effective four words have most definitely stood the test of time, becoming the phrase that the brand is now known for. This automatically triggers a deep feeling of appreciation and being recognised for being yourself – again, something that everyone strives to reach.

Once you have gained a solid understanding of how your campaigns can align with the most important core values for your brand, you can begin to implement smart subconscious marketing.

Build A Memorable Brand

Regardless of your industry, business scale or target market, building a memorable yet reliable brand will remain a foundation for success. Ultimately, the end goal is to encourage the consumer to convert, and this is only possible if they have full trust in your corporation.

The first step towards building a memorable brand is to determine your archetype, otherwise known as your brands ‘personality’, used to give your company a human feel. Therefore, building trust and enabling your target audience to connect with your values. There are 12 different archetypes, and each comes alongside unique characteristics; these are:

• The Creator  – The goal of the creator is to create enduring value, encouraging customers to use their imagination.
• The Ruler  – The goal of the ruler is to create order in chaos, taking responsibility for situations and act as a role model.
• The Caregiver  – The goal of the caregiver is to protect others, showing nurturing, generous and compassionate personality traits.
• The Everyman  – The goal of the everyman is to remain a down-to-earth, relatable character which shows people it is okay to be yourself.
• The Jester  – The goal of the jester is to bring joy to the world by taking a light-hearted, humorous approach to situations.
• The Lover  – The goal of the lover is to help people to feel connected, appreciated and passionate.
• The Hero  – The goal of the hero is to be bold, courageous and confident through working hard to improve the world.
• The Magician  – The goal of the magician is to make dreams come true, making the impossible to become possible.
• The Outlaw  – The goal of the outlaw, also known as the rebel, is to break the rules and create a pathway for change.
• The Explorer  – The goal of the explorer is to take risks, tackling new challenges and steering clear from the ‘mainstream’ world.
• The Sage  – The goal of the sage is to improve the world through wisdom, knowledge and insight.
• The Innocent  – The goal of the innocent is to find the positive in every situation, be happy and remain optimistic.

If you are stuck on how to define your brand archetype, then we suggest using the personality quiz on  Vision One  for inspiration on those that align best with your business objectives and values.

Choosing The Right Colours

Every colour has a connotation, which means those that are used to represent your brand are guaranteed to invoke different emotions, making it a critical factor in your subconscious marketing strategies. It is imperative to spend time gaining an in-depth understanding of the traits associated with particular colours before building your brand identity. For instance, several global social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn utilise blue. Although we may not realise at first, the colour blue is known for symbolising trust, comfort and communication, making it an ideal choice for social channels. Red, on the other hand, is a stronger, more passionate colour, which conveys a sense of urgency. This is why red is commonly used during sales, clearances and to promote special offers, as it encourages the consumer to make a faster decision. Keep this in mind when brainstorming  social media advertising  campaigns and alter your use of colours to suit the goal of the post.

More information on colour psychology and how to choose shades to increase conversions can be found on  Crobox .

Use Pricing To Your Advantage

Pricing will always be one of the most significant contributing factors towards whether a consumer makes a conversion. Although many assume that the only way to entice target audiences is to showcase the lowest prices available, this most definitely isn’t the case. There is an abundance of methods to subconsciously trigger the customer into believing that the price is lower than it is. The most popular technique which we can absolutely guarantee that everyone would have experienced is the ‘rule of 9’. As opposed to rounding to the nearest whole number, opt for figures such as £19.99, £4.59 or £99.99. This tricks the mind into believing that the price is lower as instead of seeing, for example, £20, the consumer will only take into account the £19.

Another fantastic example of successful subconscious marketing when it comes to pricing can be seen on Expedia. When you submit your details and click the search tool, the deals will begin to appear slowly, yet showing only the most expensive first. This makes you believe that the most expensive deals are the only ones available to you. As the page continues to load all of its results, you will start to notice the price dropping, convincing you that you have found a bargain by the end.

Embed Marketing Triggers

When marketing an e-commerce website, incorporating persuasive triggers is ideal for appealing to the subconscious mind, again, creating a sense of urgency for the customer to make a conversion. As featured in an article by Propeller, approximately 67% of millennials confess that they prefer to shop online, which means that understanding how to capture their interest is crucial.

Implementing subconscious triggers into your  content marketing strategy  when building an e-commerce website is relatively straightforward. As opposed to writing in-depth chunks of content, instead, small, straight to the point phrases will be just as effective. When shopping online, the visual aspects take centre stage and text; on the other hand, should be in the form of call to actions. There are an array of triggers which can be embedded into your webshop. Phrases such as ‘limited time only’, ‘free shipping’ and ‘free returns’ are all ideal for driving sales. Accompany your call to actions with countdowns or promotional codes to persuade the consumer to act now to avoid missing out on special offers.

Work On The Small Details

While it is essential to experiment with innovative methods, never forget about the smaller details, which are just as important in promoting an emotional impact on your target audience. Taking time to focus on the basics of running a successful brand will help towards maintaining a positive reputation; these are what will signal as to whether you care for your consumer or not. Just some of the many ways that you can maintain a strong customer focus include the following:

• Communication  – Whether you are responding to social media mentions, contact form request or even internal emails, maintaining communication will ensure that your business forms a personable and friendly impression.
• Personalisation  – Personalising customer experience is vital in building a positive relationship, in which they will return in the future and recommend your brand to their loved ones.
• Exceed Expectations  – You must strive always to go above and beyond to provide an unbeatable experience for every consumer. Exceeding expectations is a fantastic way to deliver your service memorably.

Generate Conversions Through Subconscious Marketing

There is most definitely a strong correlation between brands who adopt the subconscious marketing approach and success in their chosen industry. Having worked as an  SEO marketing company  for many years, we recognise the need to adapt to the latest trends to find the right triggers for your target audience. Subconscious marketing is a technique that we can guarantee is here to stay!

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Marketing to the Mind ‐ Right Brain Strategies for Advertising and Marketing

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN : 0736-3761

Article publication date: 1 June 1998

• Advertising
• Consumer behaviour
• Consumer marketing

Smart, D.T. (1998), "Marketing to the Mind ‐ Right Brain Strategies for Advertising and Marketing", Journal of Consumer Marketing , Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 297-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.1998.15.3.297.1

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

In a very fundamental way psychologists and marketers are interested in the answer to the same question: what motivates people to behave in a certain manner? For the psychologist it is behavior in the world in general. For the marketer it is behavior as it relates to the consumption of goods and services.

Trying to uncover what motivates people has been the focus of research efforts in both fields through the years. In marketing, motivation research techniques have run the gamut from in‐depth interviews and focus groups to the more controversial physiological tests such as the galvanic skin response and the electroencephalographic response. The limitations inherent in most current approaches inspire continued research to find a way to overcome a subject’s inability or unwillingness to explain his or her behavior.

A recent Wall Street Journal article entitled, “Marketers seek the ‘naked’ truth in consumer psyches” talks about the challenges of trying to uncover what were called “unguarded reactions” from consumers (May 30, 1997, B1, p. 13). It was suggested that they often have to do with emotions that necessitate examining the unconscious.

Marketing to the Mind speaks to this critical area. It presents an in‐depth examination of concepts, theories and research about the right side of the brain, the unconscious mind. Authors, Maddock, a practicing psychologist, and Fulton, a corporate president and management consultant, together provide a unique perspective drawing on research from medicine and clinical psychology, as well as from their own experiences with marketing research and practice.

Based on this analysis of the literature, coupled with their own observations from interviews with over 5,000 consumers involving over 200 product categories, they have developed a diagnostic technique which they believe will provide advertisers with an approach for creating successful creative strategies and marketing plans.

Marketing to the Mind is based on an integrated three‐dimensional approach to advertising and marketing which includes rational or logical reasons for buying a product, the memory aspects of the advertising message and the emotional or motivational reasons for the purchase. From this framework the authors go on to develop a new hierarchy of motivational groups and subgroups that they suggest apply to all consumer and human behavior. These groups are based on the belief that the unconscious is relatively simple and consists of a limited number of motivators. Those groups identified are:

(1) Orientation Motives, and subgroups Orientation to Person, Place, Time and Circumstances.

(2) Survival Motives, and subgroups Spiritual, Physical, Territorial and Sexual Survival.

(3) Adaptation Motive.

(4) Expectation Motive.

Orientation motives are important, but the spiritual survival motive, containing the basic elements of right and wrong, is thought to be in a marketing and advertising context probably the most powerful and motivating of all. Spiritual survival is psychologically rather than religiously based and is manifested in attempts to achieve perfection in certain areas such as sports, in being dedicated to an issue, in the need to be right, to gain knowledge, and to attain love.

Throughout the book the authors provide many examples of products and messages that speak to the spiritual nature of consumers’ needs. For example, McDonald’s success is attributed to their having changed the reason for eating out from physical survival to a spiritual level. That is, it has to do with family values and what “good” parents do for their kids.

After the initial explanation of the right brain approach and consumer motivation hierarchy, the authors describe the research technique that can be used to uncover consumer motivations. To tap the unconscious side of the mind, a two‐phase approach is suggested.

Phase one involves an in‐depth “visualization” interview that probes areas related to product motives, emotions, features and benefits. Interviewees are asked to use their photographic memory, which involves picturing something that has happened previously as opposed to “remembering” it. This technique aids in helping recall details and in bringing emotions associated with products to the surface. Because there are a small number of motivations that are involved, a small sample is thought adequate for this initial phase.

Once the operative motives are isolated, the second phase using large samples and more traditional quantitative marketing research studies is undertaken. The purpose of this phase is to determine the degree to which the various motives identified in phase one are relevant in the target market. Through a pre‐quantitative step, a set of beliefs and implied motive statements are developed which are used in the final phase along with measures of attitudes and behavior.

The last part of the book describes how the marketing to the mind approach to the unconscious can be applied to various consumer products. Chapters are devoted to examining such diverse areas as casino gambling and wagering, fashion marketing and merchandising, and marketing professional and non‐profit services.

One of the most interesting chapters is entitled, “Why people still visit Elvis and Graceland”. Based on research utilizing their visualization technique, the authors conclude that, “The Elvis Presley phenomenon demonstrates the overwhelming importance of spiritual survival in human behavior, specifically in the areas of advertising and marketing and in its overall contribution to the economy...The point is that he elevated a curse (sex) to the level of a blessing (spirituality) and in so doing he took something that he believed to be wrong and made it right. This is marketing to the unconscious mind” (p. 237).

Certainly this book offers a variety of information and an interesting perspective. Whether readers necessarily agree with every conclusion is not imperative to get benefit from reading the book. It is thought‐provoking and does provide many intriguing examples (e.g. why defense attorney Johnny Cochran was successful in defending O.J. Simpson). It also fills in some historical details that may not have been remembered (e.g. psychologist Ernst Dichter suggested to home builders that they use large dish‐style doorknobs so that consumers could “hug” their homes).

Readers who would get the most from the book are those involved in marketing research, especially advertising professionals. Having experience reading articles written for academic journals and audiences would also be helpful, as the book contains a fair amount of detailed documentation. And, because so much information is contained in its 23 chapters and some of it is quite complex, occasionally it is somewhat difficult to follow. Some of this has to do with the variety of terms used, many with the same or similar meanings; some because so many topics are covered and it is not always clear how one follows from another, and some because the authors have a tendency often to insert “will be discussed later in chapter x ” which can be a cause for confusion.

The search to undercover the unconscious mind and what motivates consumers continues. Marketing to the Mind brings together a mix of psychology and marketing perspectives into an approach that merits consideration.

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The Unconscious Mind

The unconscious mind is still viewed by many psychological scientists as the shadow of a “real” conscious mind, though there now exists substantial evidence that the unconscious is not identifiably less flexible, complex, controlling, deliberative, or action-oriented than is its counterpart. This “conscious-centric” bias is due in part to the operational definition within cognitive psychology that equates unconscious with subliminal. We review the evidence challenging this restricted view of the unconscious emerging from contemporary social cognition research, which has traditionally defined the unconscious in terms of its unintentional nature; this research has demonstrated the existence of several independent unconscious behavioral guidance systems: perceptual, evaluative, and motivational. From this perspective, it is concluded that in both phylogeny and ontogeny, actions of an unconscious mind precede the arrival of a conscious mind—that action precedes reflection.

Contemporary perspectives on the unconscious mind are remarkably varied. In cognitive psychology, unconscious information processing has been equated with subliminal information processing, which raises the question, “How good is the mind at extracting meaning from stimuli of which one is not consciously aware?” (e.g., Greenwald, Klinger, & Schuh, 1995 ). Because subliminal-strength stimuli are relatively weak and of low intensity by definition, the mental processes they drive are necessarily minimal and unsophisticated, and so these studies have led to the conclusion that the powers of the unconscious mind are limited and that the unconscious is rather “dumb” ( Loftus & Klinger, 1992 ).

Social psychology has approached the unconscious from a different angle. There, the traditional focus has been on mental processes of which the individual is unaware, not on stimuli of which one is unaware (e.g., Nisbett & Wilson, 1977 ). Over the past 30 years, there has been much research on the extent to which people are aware of the important influences on their judgments and decisions and of the reasons for their behavior. This research, in contrast with the cognitive psychology tradition, has led to the view that the unconscious mind is a pervasive, powerful influence over such higher mental processes (see review in Bargh, 2006 ).

And, of course, the Freudian model of the unconscious is still with us and continues to exert an influence over how many people think of “the unconscious,” especially outside of psychological science. Freud’s model of the unconscious as the primary guiding influence over daily life, even today, is more specific and detailed than any to be found in contemporary cognitive or social psychology. However, the data from which Freud developed the model were individual case studies involving abnormal thought and behavior ( Freud, 1925/1961 , p. 31), not the rigorous scientific experimentation on generally applicable principles of human behavior that inform the psychological models. Over the years, empirical tests have not been kind to the specifics of the Freudian model, though in broad-brush terms the cognitive and social psychological evidence does support Freud as to the existence of unconscious mentation and its potential to impact judgments and behavior (see Westen, 1999 ). Regardless of the fate of his specific model, Freud’s historic importance in championing the powers of the unconscious mind is beyond any doubt.

How one views the power and influence of the unconscious relative to conscious modes of information processing largely depends on how one defines the unconscious. Until quite recently in the history of science and philosophy, mental life was considered entirely or mainly conscious in nature (e.g., Descartes’ cogito and John Locke’s “mind first” cosmology). The primacy of conscious thought for how people historically have thought about the mind is illustrated today in the words we use to describe other kinds of processes—all are modifications or qualifications of the word conscious (i.e., unconscious, preconscious, subconscious, nonconscious). Moreover, there has been high consensus regarding the qualities of conscious thought processes: they are intentional, controllable, serial in nature (consumptive of limited processing resources), and accessible to awareness (i.e., verbally reportable).

No such consensus exists yet for the unconscious, however. Because of the monolithic nature of the definition of a conscious process—if a process does not possess all of the qualities of a conscious process, it is therefore not conscious—at least two different “not conscious” processes were studied over the course of the 20th century within largely independent research traditions that seemed barely to notice the other’s existence: the New Look research in perception involving the preconscious analysis of stimuli prior to the products of the analysis being furnished to conscious awareness, and skill-acquisition research involving the gain in efficiency of processes with practice over time until they become subconscious (see the review in Bargh & Chartrand, 2000 ).

Note how the qualities of the two not-conscious processes differ: in the New Look research, the person did not intend to engage in the process and was unaware of it; in the skill-acquisition research, the person did intend to engage in the process, which, once started, was capable of running off without need of conscious guidance. Typing and driving a car (for the experienced typist and driver, respectively) are classic examples of the latter—both are efficient procedures that can run off outside of consciousness, but nonetheless both are intentional processes. (One doesn’t sit down to type without meaning to in the first place, and the same applies to driving a car.) These and other difficulties with the monolithic, all-or-nothing division of mental processes into either conscious or unconscious have resulted today in different “flavors” of the unconscious—different operational definitions that lead to dramatically different conclusions about the power and scope of the unconscious.

We therefore oppose the cognitive psychology equation of the unconscious with subliminal information processing for several reasons. First, this operational definition is both unnatural and unnecessarily restrictive. Subliminal stimuli do not occur naturally—they are by definition too weak or brief to enter conscious awareness. Thus, it is unfair to measure the capability of the unconscious in terms of how well it processes subliminal stimuli because unconscious (like conscious) processes evolved to deal and respond to naturally occurring (regular strength) stimuli; assessing the unconscious in terms of processing subliminal stimuli is analogous to evaluating the intelligence of a fish based on its behavior out of water. And as one might expect, the operational definition of the unconscious in terms of subliminal information processing has in fact led to the conclusion of the field that the unconscious is, well, rather dumb.

An article in a special issue of American Psychologist ( Loftus & Klinger, 1992 ) once asked the question, “Is the unconscious smart or dumb?” Because unconscious was treated as subliminal —or how smart people are when reacting to stimuli of which they are unaware (e.g., Greenwald, 1992 )—the consensus reached by the contributors and issue editors was that the unconscious is actually rather dumb as it is capable only of highly routinized activities and it perceives little without the aid of consciousness ( Loftus & Klinger, 1992 ). (Note that while the unconscious may be “dumb” in regard to subliminal stimuli, it’s still smarter than consciousness, which can’t even tell that such stimuli have been presented!) The issue contributors concluded, for the most part, that although concept activation and primitive associative learning could occur unconsciously, anything complex requiring flexible responding, integration of stimuli, or higher mental processes could not.

However, the term unconscious originally had a different meaning. The earliest use of the term in the early 1800s referred to hypnotically induced behavior in which the hypnotized subject was not aware of the causes and reasons for his or her behavior ( Goldsmith, 1934 ). In On the Origin of Species , Darwin (1859) used the term to refer to “unconscious selection” processes in nature and contrasted them with the intentional and deliberate selection long engaged in by farmers and animal breeders to develop better strains of corn, fatter cows, and woollier sheep. Freud, who credited the early hypnosis research with the original discovery of the unconscious (see Brill, 1938 ), also used the term to refer to behavior and ideation that was not consciously intended or caused—for example, “Freudian slips” and nearly all the examples given in The Psychopathology of Everyday Life involve unintended behavior, the source or cause of which was unknown to the individual. In all these cases, the term unconscious referred to the unintentional nature of the behavior or process, and the concomitant lack of awareness was not of the stimuli that provoked the behavior, but of the influence or consequences of those stimuli.

Thus, the use of the term unconscious was originally based on one’s unintentional actions and not on one’s ability to process subliminal-strength information (as the technology needed to present such information did not yet exist). And this equation of unconscious with unintentional is how unconscious phenomena have been conceptualized and studied within social psychology for the past quarter century or so. Nisbett and Wilson’s (1977) seminal article posed the question, “To what extent are people aware of and able to report on the true causes of their behavior?” The answer was “not very well” (see also Wilson & Brekke, 1994 ), which was surprising and controversial at the time given the overall assumption of many that judgments and behavior (the higher mental processes) were typically consciously intended and thus available to conscious awareness. If these processes weren’t accessible to awareness, then perhaps they weren’t consciously intended, and if they weren’t consciously intended, then how in fact were they accomplished?

This latter question motivated the social psychology research into priming and automaticity effects, which investigated the ways in which the higher mental processes such as judgment and social behavior could be triggered and then operate in the absence of conscious intent and guidance. Consequently, this research operationally defined unconscious influences in terms of a lack of awareness of the influences or effects of a triggering stimulus and not of the triggering stimulus itself ( Bargh, 1992 ). And what a difference this change in operational definition makes! If one shifts the operational definition of the unconscious from the processing of stimuli of which one is not aware to the influences or effects of stimulus processing of which one is not aware, suddenly the true power and scope of the unconscious in daily life become apparent. Defining the unconscious in terms of the former leads directly to the conclusion that it is dumb as dirt ( Loftus & Klinger, 1992 ), whereas defining it in terms of the latter affords the opinion that it is highly intelligent and adaptive.

This expanded and enhanced view of the unconscious is also more compatible with theory and evidence in the field of evolutionary biology, than is the “subliminal only” view of cognitive psychology. As did Darwin and Freud, evolutionary biologists also think of the unconscious much more in terms of unintentional actions rather than unawareness of stimuli. In his seminal work, The Selfish Gene , Dawkins (1976) noted the awe-inspiring and intelligent designs in nature that arose merely through blind natural selection processes. He called nature the “blind watchmaker, the unconscious watchmaker,” because there was no conscious intentional guiding hand in producing these intelligent designs (Dennett, 1991 , 1995 ).

THE NATURAL UNCONSCIOUS OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

Consonant with these basic assumptions in natural science, social cognition research over the past 25 years has produced a stream of surprising findings regarding complex judgmental and behavioral phenomena that operate outside of awareness. Because the findings did not make sense given the “dumb unconscious” perspective of the psychological science mainstream (to wit, how could a processing system so dumb accomplish so much in the way of adaptive self-regulation?), we had to look outside of psychology to understand them and their implications for the human mind. Happily, when placed in the broader context of the natural sciences, especially evolutionary biology, the widespread discoveries of sophisticated unconscious behavior guidance systems not only make sense, they turn out to have been predicted on a priori grounds ( Dawkins, 1976 ; Dennett, 1991 , 1995 ).

Genes, Culture, and Early Learning

Given the uncertainty of the future and the slow rate of genetic change, our genes have provided us not with fixed responses to specific events (because these cannot be anticipated with any degree of accuracy), but with general tendencies that are adaptive across local variations ( Dawkins, 1976 ). It is for this reason that evolution has shaped us to be open-ended systems ( Mayr, 1976 ). This open-ended quality gives room for “fine-tuning” the newborn to local conditions. Much of this is given to us by human culture, the local conditions (mainly social) of the world into which we happen to be born. Dawkins (1976) noted that phenotypic plasticity enables the infant to absorb, entirely automatically, “an already invented and largely debugged system of habits in the partly unstructured brain” (p. 193).

The gleaning of cultural knowledge is a giant step towards adaptation to the current local environment. Any human infant born today can be relocated immediately to any place and any culture in the world and will then adapt to and speak the language of that culture just as well as any child born there ( Dennett, 1991 ). The cultural guides to appropriate behavior (including language, norms, and values) are “downloaded” during early childhood development, thereby greatly reducing the unpredictability of the child’s world and his or her uncertainty as to how to act and behave in it.

And it is not just overall cultural norms and values that are so readily absorbed during this early period of life; we also absorb the particulars of the behavior and values of those closest to us, providing still finer tuning of appropriate-behavior tendencies. In a review of 25 years of infant imitation research, Meltzoff (2002) concluded that young children learn much about how to behave by mere passive imitation of fellow children and also their adult caretakers. Infants in particular are wide open to such imitative tendencies, having not yet developed cognitive control structures to suppress or inhibit them.

Unconscious Goal Pursuit as an Open-Ended System

Genes primarily drive our behavior through motivations ( Tomasello et al., 2005 ). The active goal or motive is the local agent by which the genetic influence from the distant past finds expression. Evolution works through motives and strategies—the desired end states that we seek from whatever starting point in history and geographical location the cards of fate have dealt us ( Tomasello et al., 2005 ).

Many recent studies have now shown that unconscious goal pursuit produces the same outcomes that conscious goal pursuit does (reviews in Dijksterhuis, Chartrand, & Aarts, 2007 ; Fitzsimons & Bargh, 2004 ). The goal concept, once activated without the participant’s awareness, operates over extended time periods (without the person’s conscious intent or monitoring) to guide thought or behavior towards the goal (e.g., Bargh, Gollwitzer, Lee-Chai, & Troetschel, 2001 ). For example, unobtrusive priming of the goal of cooperation causes participants playing the role of a fishing company to voluntarily put more fish back into a lake to replenish the fish population (thereby reducing their own profits) than did participants in a control condition ( Bargh et al., 2001 ).

Moreover, the qualities of the underlying process appear to be the same, as participants with interrupted unconscious goals tend to want to resume and complete a boring task even when they have more attractive alternatives and will show more persistence on a task in the face of obstacles than do participants in control conditions ( Bargh et al., 2001 ). These features have long characterized conscious goal pursuits ( Lewin, 1935 ). What accounts for the similarity between unconscious and conscious goal pursuit? Given the late evolutionary arrival of conscious modes of thought and behavior (e.g., Donald, 1991 ), it is likely that conscious goal pursuit exapted, or made use of, already-existing unconscious motivational structures ( Campbell, 1974 ; Dennett, 1995 ).

The open-ended nature of such unconscious goal pursuit is revealed by the fact that the goal operates on whatever goal-relevant information happens to occur next in the experimental situation (supraliminal, of course), which could not be known to the person beforehand—just as our genes programmed us to be capable of adapting to and thriving in local conditions far into a future that could not be anticipated in any detail. That the unconsciously operating goal is able to adapt to whatever happens next and use that information to advance the pursuit of the goal clearly demonstrates a level of flexibility that belies the “dumb unconscious” caricature, in which the unconscious is said to be capable only of rigid and fixed responses ( Loftus & Klinger, 1992 ). The notion of the inflexible unconscious is also inconsistent with basic observations in the study of motor control, as highly-flexible online adjustments are made unconsciously during a motor act such as grasping a cup or blocking a soccer ball ( Rosenbaum, 2002 ).

Social Behavior as Unconsciously Guided by the Current Context

The open-ended nature of our evolved design has also caused us to be highly sensitive and reactive to the present, local context. Just as evolution has given us general “good tricks” ( Dennett, 1995 ) for survival and reproduction, and culture and early learning have fine-tuned our adaptive unconscious processes to the more specific local conditions into which we were born, contextual priming is a mechanism that provides still more precise adjustment to events and people in present time ( Higgins & Bargh, 1987 ). In contextual priming, the mere presence of certain events and people automatically activates our representations of them, and concomitantly, all of the internal information (goals, knowledge, affect) stored in those representations that is relevant to responding back.

The evolved, innate basis of these ubiquitous priming effects is revealed by the fact that they are present soon after birth, underpinning the infant’s imitative abilities (see Meltzoff, 2002 ). Such priming effects, in which what one perceives directly influences what one does, depend on the existence of a close, automatic connection between perception and behavior. Indeed, this tight connection has been discovered in cognitive neuroscience with the discovery of mirror neurons in the premotor cortex, which become active both when one perceives a given type of action by another person as well as when one engages in that action oneself (Frith & Wolpert, 2004).

The automatic perception-behavior link results in default tendencies to act in the same way as those around us ( Dijksterhuis & Bargh, 2001 ). Thus, as a default option or starting point for your own behavior, blindly or unconsciously adopting what others around you are doing makes good adaptive sense, especially in new situations and with strangers. These default tendencies and their unconscious and unintentional nature have been demonstrated several times in human adults in the research of Chartrand and colleagues (see Chartrand, Maddux, & Lakin, 2005 ). Not only do people tend to adopt the physical behavior (posture, facial gestures, arm and hand movements) of strangers with whom they interact, without intending to or being aware they are doing so, but this unconscious imitation also tends to increase liking and bonding between the individuals, serving as a kind of natural “social glue.”

Further supporting this notion of natural contextual tuning of one’s behavior to the present environment, cognitive research indicates that action-related objects activate multiple action plans in parallel and that action production is driven by some form of selective disinhibition. For example, findings suggest that ambient stimuli (e.g., hammers) automatically set us to physically interact with the world (e.g., perform a power grip, Tucker & Ellis, 2001 ). The simultaneous activation of multiple action plans is obvious in action slips ( Heckhausen & Beckmann, 1990 ) and in the neuropsychological syndrome of utilization behavior, in which patients are incapable of suppressing actions that are elicited by environmental, action-related objects ( Lhermitte, 1983 ).

Preferences and Feelings as Unconscious Guides to the Present

Evolution (as well as early learning and culture) influences our preferences and, through them, our tendencies to approach or avoid aspects of our environment. We are predisposed to prefer certain objects and aspects of our environment over others. We are often guided by our feelings, intuitions, and gut reactions, which prioritize the things that are important to do or attend to ( Damasio, 1996 ; Schwarz & Clore, 1996 ).

These guides do not arise out of thin air, however. Our present preferences are derived from those that served adaptive ends in the past. A tenet of evolutionary theory is that evolution builds gradually on what it has to work with at that moment; changes are slow and incremental ( Allman, 2000 ). Knowledge gained at a lower level of blind selection—the short-cuts and other “good tricks” ( Dennett, 1995 ) that consistently worked over our long-term evolutionary past—are fed upwards as a starting point and appear as a priori knowledge, the source of which we are unaware. Campbell (1974) called these “shortcut processes” because they save us (individually) from having to figure out from scratch which processes are helpful and which are dangerous.

Under the present argument that the unconscious evolved as a behavioral guidance system and as a source of adaptive and appropriate actional impulses, these unconsciously activated preferences should be found to be directly connected to behavioral mechanisms. Several studies have now established this connection: immediate and unintended evaluation processes are directly linked to approach and avoidance behavioral predispositions. Chen and Bargh (1999 ; see also Neumann, Förster, & Strack, 2003 ) showed that participants are faster to make approach movements of the arm (pulling a lever towards oneself) when responding to positive attitude objects and are faster to make avoidance movements (pushing the lever away) when responding to negative attitude objects. This was true even though the conscious task in the experiment was not to evaluate the objects at all, but merely to “knock off the screen” the names of these objects as soon as they appeared.

This tight connection between immediate, unconscious evaluation and appropriate actional tendencies (approach vs. avoidance) is found throughout the animal kingdom; even single-celled paramecia have them. That the automatic activation of attitudes leads directly to corresponding muscular readiness in adult humans is thus surprising only from the perspective that actions and behavior are always a function of conscious intent and guidance (e.g., Bandura, 1986 ; Locke & Latham, 2002 ). Moreover, once one is engaged in these approach and avoidance behaviors, they “feed back” on our conscious judgments and feelings (so that subtly inducing a person to engage in approach-like or avoidance-like muscular actions produces positive or negative affect, respectively; Neumann et al., 2003 ), which is further support for the notion that action precedes reflection.

THE UNCONSCIOUS AS THE SOURCE OF BEHAVIORAL IMPULSES

The idea that action precedes reflection is not new. Several theorists have postulated that the conscious mind is not the source or origin of our behavior; instead, they theorize that impulses to act are unconsciously activated and that the role of consciousness is as gatekeeper and sense maker after the fact ( Gazzaniga, 1985 ; James, 1890 ; Libet, 1986 ; Wegner, 2002 ). In this model, conscious processes kick in after a behavioral impulse has occurred in the brain—that is, the impulse is first generated unconsciously, and then consciousness claims (and experiences) it as its own. Yet, to date, there has been little said about where, exactly, those impulses come from.

Given the evidence reviewed above, however, there now seems to be an answer to this question. There are a multitude of behavioral impulses generated at any given time derived from our evolved motives and preferences, cultural norms and values, past experiences in similar situations, and from what other people are currently doing in that same situation. These impulses have afforded us unconsciously operating motives, preferences and associated approach and avoidance behavioral tendencies, as well as mimicry and other behavior priming effects triggered by the mere perception of others’ behavior. There certainly seems to be no shortage of suggestions from our unconscious as to what to do in any given situation.

Conflict and Consciousness

Given the multiple sources of unconscious behavioral impulses occurring in parallel, conflicts between them are inevitable, as behavioral activity (unlike unconscious mental activity) takes place in a serial world in which we can do only one thing at a time. As noted above, early in ontogeny, actions tend to reflect the actions of an “unsuppressed” mind. There is no question that an infant would fail to endure pain or suppress elimination behaviors in return for some future reward. During development, however, operant learning assumes a greater influence on behavior, and actions begin to reflect suppression. This leads to the suppression of an action program, a neural event having interesting properties. It often involves conflicting intentions. In the delay of gratification, conflict may consist of the inclinations to both eat and not eat. Conflicting intentions have an aversive, subjective cost ( Lewin, 1935 ; Morsella, 2005 ).

Regardless of the adaptiveness of one’s plan (e.g., running across hot desert sand to reach water), strife that is coupled with conflict cannot be turned off voluntarily ( Morsella, 2005 ). Inclinations can be behaviorally suppressed, but not mentally suppressed. Unconscious agents no longer influence behavior directly, but they now influence the nature of consciousness. Inclinations continue to be experienced consciously, even when they are not expressed behaviorally. Thus, they function like “internalized reflexes” ( Vygotsky, 1962 ) that can be co-opted to play an essential role in mental simulation. As known by engineers the best way of knowing the consequences of a course of action (short of actually performing it) is to simulate it. One value of simulation is that knowledge of outcomes is learned without the risks of performing the actions. Indeed, some theorists now propose that the function of explicit, conscious memory is to simulate future, potential actions ( Schacter & Addis, 2007 ).

Unconscious Guidance of Future Behavior

Such simulacra (i.e., the products of simulation) are worthless without some capability of evaluating them. If a general had no idea regarding what constitutes a favorable battle outcome, there would be no utility in simulating battle formations. Simulation can construct simulacra, but by itself cannot evaluate them. Evaluating potential actions is challenging because it depends on taking diverse considerations into account (e.g., physical or social consequences). Most knowledge regarding what is favorable is already embodied in the very agentic systems that, before the advent of suppression, controlled behavior directly. These now suppressed agents respond to simulacra as if they were responding to real, external stimuli. These internalized reflexes furnish the evaluative judgment or gut feelings that simulations require.

Unconscious conflict resolution processes thus furnish valuable information to conscious processes of planning for the future. Given sufficiently strong motivations and commitment to the planned course of action, specific plans such as “when X happens, I will do Y ” themselves operate automatically when the future opportunity arises, as in the implementation intention research of Gollwitzer and colleagues (e.g., Gollwitzer, 1999 ). In this way, unconscious processes not only adapt us to the present situation, but they also influence the tracks we lay to guide our future behavior.

For most of human history, only the concepts of conscious thought and intentional behavior existed. In the 1800s, two very different developments—hypnotism and evolutionary theory—both pointed to the possibility of unconscious, unintended causes of human behavior. But nearly two centuries later, contemporary psychological science remains wedded to a conscious-centric model of the higher mental processes; it hasn’t helped that our view of the powers of the unconscious mind have come largely from studies of subliminal information processing. This research, with its operational definition of the unconscious as a system that handles subliminal-strength stimulation from the environment, has helped to perpetuate the notion that conscious processes are primary and that they are the causal force behind most, if not all, human judgment and behavior (e.g., Locke & Latham, 2002 ).

We propose an alternative perspective, in which unconscious processes are defined in terms of their unintentional nature and the inherent lack of awareness is of the influence and effect of the triggering stimuli and not of the triggering stimuli (because nearly all naturally occurring stimuli are supraliminal). By this definition of the unconscious, which is the original and historic one, contemporary social cognition research on priming and automaticity effects have shown the existence of sophisticated, flexible, and adaptive unconscious behavior guidance systems. These would seem to be of high functional value, especially as default behavioral tendencies when the conscious mind, as is its wont, travels away from the present environment into the past or the future. It is nice to know that the unconscious is minding the store when the owner is absent.

In the rest of the natural sciences, especially neurobiology, the assumption of conscious primacy is not nearly as prevalent as in psychology. Complex and intelligent design in living things is not assumed to be driven by conscious processes on the part of the plant or animal, but instead by blindly adaptive processes that accrued through natural selection ( Dennett, 1995 ). This is not to say that human consciousness plays no role or that it is not special in its powers to transform, manipulate, and convey information relative to the mental powers of other animals, but that this consciousness is not necessary to achieve the sophisticated, adaptive, and intelligent behavioral guidance demonstrated in the emerging priming literature. Unconscious processes are smart and adaptive throughout the living world, as Dawkins (1976) contended, and the psychological research evidence that has emerged since the time of his writing has confirmed that this principle extends to humans as well. In nature, the “unconscious mind” is the rule, not the exception.

Acknowledgments

Preparation of this article was supported by Grant R01-MH60767 from the U.S. Public Health Service. We thank Ap Dijksterhuis, Andy Poehlman, and Lawrence Williams for their feedback on an earlier draft of the article.

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What hanumankind’s ‘big dawgs’ teaches us about hidden bias—by a psychologist.

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Have you ever been taken aback by someone’s profession based on their appearance? Here’s how to ... [+] expand your perspective and rethink unconscious biases.

If you’ve been on social media lately, you might have caught wind of Hanumankind’s viral new song “Big Dawgs.” Listeners all over the world love its fantastic beat, hard-hitting lyrics and visually stunning music video. However, many were surprised to learn that Hanumankind is Indian.

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For instance, unconscious bias can stop you from fully participating in and appreciating new experiences. You might avoid eating at certain restaurants because you believe the food will be bad due to the cuisine or appearance, or in the case of Hanumankind, you might preemptively dismiss his music because you assume it’s not your style, before giving it a real chance.

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Changing your perception of others is hard when everyone in your social circle mimics your thoughts and beliefs. To avoid living in an echo chamber , you must surround yourself with varying perspectives. Making an effort to interact with a diverse group of people can help broaden your worldview.

Research shows that engaging in “perspective-taking” or considering a situation or experience from another person’s point of view can reduce implicit bias. This practice requires empathy and an open mind, as it challenges individuals to see beyond their own experiences and assumptions. Meeting and listening to new people gives you the chance to do just that.

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Ask yourself: Why does this surprise me? What can I learn from this? By staying open and curious, you give yourself the chance to appreciate new experiences without the filter of bias.

A 2021 study published in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education found that self-reflection effectively increased participants’ awareness and knowledge of implicit biases. Researchers found that first impressions based on appearance, ethnicity and stereotypes often led to inaccurate assumptions.

“For a White male physician covered in tattoos, only 2% correctly identified him as a physician, and 60% felt he was untrustworthy. For a smiling Black female astronaut, only 13% correctly identified her as an astronaut. For a brooding White male serial killer, 50% found him trustworthy,” the researchers write, highlighting shocking disparities in stereotypes and reality.

It’s essential to consciously challenge stereotypes when they arise. If you catch yourself making a snap judgment about someone based on their appearance, accent or background, pause and remind yourself that people are complex and multidimensional.

Just because someone doesn’t fit the mold you’re used to doesn’t mean they aren’t incredibly talented or capable. Hanumankind’s success is a reminder that talent transcends borders and by being aware of our biases, we can appreciate the diversity that makes art—and life—so rich.

Wondering how tolerant you are of others’ differences? Take this test to find out: Warm Tolerance Scale

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Providers are already using new tools to offer better care to more people.

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