# The Psychology of Shopping

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Nick Kolenda
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SnvXs2iz7c

## Содержание

### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SnvXs2iz7c) Segment 1 (00:00 - 05:00)

Why do we buy the things that we buy? In my last video, I explained how certain factors can influence your choice of yogurt. And in this video, I want to focus on one factor in particular mindset priming. Whatever you see or experience before you make a decision puts you in a mindset that influences that decision. Even random things like the handle of a shopping cart can influence the products that you end up buying. So I'll explain two types of priming. The first is content priming. Whenever you see something, your brain activates the individual components and you gravitate toward options where those components are more activated in your mind. Consider color. Researchers asked people to list 6 brands of soda and when it was the day before Halloween when everywhere was flooded with the color orange people were more likely to list orange soda like Sunkist. And in a follow-up study people were more likely to choose orange products in a survey if they were using an orange pen and they were more likely to choose green products if they were using a green pen. If you're choosing among blueberry, strawberry, and strawberry cheesecake you're more likely to go with strawberry or strawberry cheesecake near valentine's day when red is more prevalent in your mind. And the same would happen if the handle of your shopping cart is red. Because of that heightened activation red yogurts pop into your mind more easily. And because you're not sure why those yogurts popped into your mind more easily you conclude that "Oh" it's because you want to buy those yogurts. Color is one example, but the same effect happens with any feature or component of an option. If you're choosing yogurt, and Greek music is playing in the background. You're going to non-consciously gravitate toward greek yogurt because that yogurt is going to pop into your mind more easily. So those are some examples of content priming but in this video, I want to focus on a lesser-known type of priming which I'll call procedural priming. In the first chapter of my book Methods of Persuasion I describe the example of open-mindedness. Suppose that you don't like blueberries so you don't think that you would like blueberry yogurt. But let's say that you're shopping with a friend and he tells you about a time where he recently tried a unique combination of food. And it was actually pretty good. That conversation primes the concept of open-mindedness and because of that you can more easily simulate yourself choosing blueberry yogurt a yogurt that you're kind of unsure about because of that heightened activation. You can refer to a Chapter 1 of Methods of Persuasion for a more detailed explanation But for the rest of this video I want to focus on new mindsets that I didn't cover in my book. The first is what I call an acquisition mindset. When people were hungry they were more likely to purchase binder clips. Why? Well, compare this with open- mindedness. A conversation about eating disgusting food activates a high-level concept of open mindedness. And thus, it extracts open minded behavior in other domains like yogurt. Hunger works the same way. When you have an urge to acquire food the core essence of that behavior is acquisition and because you activate that high-level concept you activate that type of behavior in other domains outside of food including non edible products, like binder clips. And you see similar effects with other emotions and mindsets. Jealousy is a type of emotion where you want to capture attention to yourself. And sure enough, when people wrote about an event that made them jealous the jealous event activated a high level mindset of capturing attention. And they were more likely to prefer products that helped capture attention like a brightly saturated coat. On the opposite side when people feel embarrassed, they want to hide from the world. And it turns out, when people write about an embarrassing event they're more likely to buy sunglasses that are larger and darker because those sunglasses are better at physically hiding their face from the world. Whenever we shop, our emotions are putting us in a mindset that is guiding our behavior towards some type of goal. But emotions are necessary for procedural mindsets. Any action or behavior can trigger those mindsets as well. Consider a comparative mindset. If you look at these pictures and if you choose which picture you like better that simple decision just put you in a mindset where you're now more likely to buy yogurt. Researchers asked people to choose which animal they preferred an elephant or a hippo. And those people were more likely to buy a computer afterward. So, why does that happen? Well, whenever we choose an option we go through two consecutive stages. First, we decide whether to choose an option. Then, we decide which option to choose. Because of those consecutive stages, any comparative action even something unrelated like choosing a picture or choosing an animal puts you in a comparative mindset. So once you encounter the options you immediately jump to the comparative stage as if you already made the decision to buy an option. And now you're merely deciding which option to buy. When you're shopping in a store you might contemplate a comparative question like which aisle to go down. And that small arbitrary question just triggered this comparative mindset. Once you reach the product shelf you'll be further into the buying decision without realizing it. Another mindset would be a conformity mindset. Researchers asked people to mimic the bodily movements of another person. And when they did that, they activated a high-level concept of conformity. And afterward, those people were more likely to choose products that had been chosen by the majority of people. Let's say you're shopping with a friend and both of you happen to wear the same colored shirt. That coincidence would activate the concept of conformity and you might gravitate toward products that are more popular or stereotypical say blueberry or strawberry yogurt. And the opposite could happen with a unique mindset. In one study, people felt a sample of fur And when they went against the grain

### [5:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SnvXs2iz7c&t=300s) Segment 2 (05:00 - 06:00)

in other words, when they literally went against the flow they metaphorically in a later task by choosing a t-shirt that not as many people had chosen. If you're shopping at home while petting your cat the mere direction in which you're petting your cat could influence the products that you end up buying. In fact, petting your cat would also activate the concepts of softness and smoothness and thanks to content priming if you're buying yogurt, you might be drawn toward yogurts that are advertised as smoother and creamier. You can even use these principles to brainstorm your own mindsets. Based on what I'd call a filling mindset I'd argue that you'd be more likely to buy a larger quantity of products online If you recently filled up a glass of water Those two actions -- adding things to a cart and filling up a glass of water -- are part of the same sensory concept of filling a container. If you fill a glass of water, you activate that high-level concept which then extracts that behavior in other contexts. We always think we're in full control of our decisions when we're shopping but in reality, everything around us is playing a role in our decision-making. If you want to learn more, you can refer to my book Methods of Persuasion. Or you can subscribe to this channel for more videos... content and features, but dlah... bluh... ba. You can refer to my book for a more detailed explanation but uh uh... for the rest of deh beh deh. The things that we buy in my last video I explained how certain factors can influence your choice of yogurt.

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*Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/21647*