Perceptions

Perceptions

Dan Ariely emphasized over and over that perceptions and preconceived notions have a tremendous effect on people. He illustrated this point with several different experiments. My favorite of which was the math test given to Asian-American women. One group was primed with gender questions and the other with race questions before a math test. Because of perceived stereotypes, the group of women who were primed with race based questions out performed their gender primed counterparts. Dan Ariely’s primary lesson in chapter nine of Predictably Irrational is all about how perceptions can affect a person’s experiences. I believe that this relates to one of the points Kate Canales made during her presentation to our class last week. She told us that one of the worst things someone can do before you go to observe them in their own home is for them to clean up the house before you arrive. She told the class that if possible, you should disguise the purpose of your observations as best as possible. This is because people will develop ideas of what the researcher wants to observe and will try to conform to that perception. In order to gain valuable customer insights, we as researchers must identify before testing some of the preconceived notions that people may hold for the product or service that we are testing. Then, we must design observations and/or experiments to disguise the purpose of the experiment in order to eliminate preconceived perceptions of people if that indeed is the purpose of the experiment. This will help us as researchers gather much more valuable insights about our customers.
Dan Ariely stated in his book that “…we are trapped within our perspective, which partially blinds us of the truth…” He began the chapter with an example of how two die hard football fans from opposing teams saw the same play in a completely different light. His main experiment that he uses to illustrate the point that we are all at least partially blinded by our preconceptions is the beer test that he conducted in an MIT pub. He set up a blind taste test with one pitcher of Budweiser and another pitcher of Budweiser with added drops of balsamic vinegar. With no knowledge of the vinegar students preferred the beer with vinegar; with prior knowledge that one beer had vinegar in it, the students more often chose the regular Budweiser; and with knowledge about the vinegar after the taste test, students enjoyed the vinegar laced beer better. This illustrates as Ariely said not knowing about the vinegar or learning about it after the taste test, “allowed the true flavor to come out”. Another example preconceptions affecting viewpoints, which I believe was briefly touched upon in this book, is the ongoing Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Being Israeli or Palestinian greatly affects the perceptions of who is at fault for the war. Israeli’s often view Palestinians as striking first and their attacks as only retaliation for the Palestinian attacks. But Palestinians see it in the complete opposite way. They often view Israelis as initiators of attacks, and they are only retaliating for the wrongs done to them. The perceptions that each of these groups hold against one another greatly affects who they view as at fault for the ongoing war between the two peoples. Ariely states that interjecting a neutral third party’s opinion if at all possible “can yield substantial benefits”. If our preconceptions are blinding us to the point where the truth can not be agreed upon by two parties, then Ariely believes it is very beneficial to have a neutral party interject its opinion in order to achieve a compromise between two opposing truths.

10 Characteristics

Ten Characteristics of Me

1. Enjoy the Outdoors

I am always outside doing something. Three out of the five jobs I have ever had have involved me working outside, and they have definitely been my favorite. I also enjoy hiking, fishing, and just taking walks in the park. My favorite trip by far in the past couple of years was to the Grand Canyon for back packing trip with three of my friends. We went hiking over twenty miles of trail over five nights in the canyon, and despite going in the dead of winter with it snowing/raining for half of the time it was quite the trip.

2. Health Conscious

If a marketer was designing a product for me, then they should really target my health conscious bone. I really enjoy being healthy, and how do I do that? Play sports, lots of them all of the time. Right now I am training for my first marathon in October. The finish line is right at Niagara Falls and I am pumped. Also, I enjoy playing tennis, soccer, pick-up basketball, and any other sport where I can run around and be active.

3. Cost Conscious

I’m a poor college guy so I am always watching what I spend. Often at the grocery store, if I can buy the HEB store brand, then I will. Cereal, yogurt, milk, soups, pastas, if its Hill Country Fare and cheaper then I’m definitely buying it over name brand items. I also enjoy making a budget for myself and sticking to it. I like to save my extra money and put it away in my IRA or savings.

4. Love trying new foods

I love trying new things in general, but especially food. I had Greek food for the first time this weekend, and I really liked it. I would definitely recommend NikoNiko’s in Houston. It’s a lot of fun trying all different types of food because I feel that it lets you experience a bit culture just by eating. Next on my list of edible adventures is Indian food. If anyone knows of a good place in Austin, let me know it’d be much appreciated. Marketers could definitely reel me in by marketing products as new and unique.

5. My T.V. watching has switched to almost solely online

Hulu.com and network television sites are great. Somehow I always manage to miss The Office when it comes on, but now I can catch the next day for free online without having to buy a DVR. The only things I watch now on my actual TV are live sports. So marketers, you know where to target me now.

6. I’m beginning to do more shopping online

The only time I used to use a card to buy something online, was when I was signing up for a tennis tournament, but for the first time this summer, I actually bought two shirts online. Given it was with my Co-Op rebate card, I almost always would rather go to a store to shop for clothes or other things like that, but it was easy to do and I may begin to do a little more shopping online now.

7. Enjoy philanthropic activities

I have been on several mission trips with my church and really enjoyed them. I got to work in a food bank and help build a house in Honduras for a few weeks one summer. Also, I occasionally go out on Saturdays and work with Habitat for Humanity in Austin. I think this all might relate back to me just love working and being outdoors.

8. Value products’ usability over aesthetic appeal

This attribute relates to my cost consciousness. Generally, if a product works well, I feel that it is unnecessary to upgrade to a “prettier” model that does the same job at a higher cost.

9. Have a close family

I have three brothers and am very close to my parents. This can be important for marketers to know because I plan on conferring with my parents on probably all of my first large financial decisions. I plan on using them as a resource when buying my first car out of college and perhaps some other buying decisions.

10. Enjoy driving as opposed to flying

There is something about the open road that I just like much better than flying. The different sites that you get to see while driving along makes up for the longer travel times. The longest road trip I have ever taken was 24 hours one way from College Station to Los Angeles. I find it enjoyable to stop into small town cafes and people watch over lunch.

Hola

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