Inside Influence Report

Inside Influence Report

Inside Influence Report *

The Habitual Consumer *

By Steve Martin, CMCT *

Imagine one day you have decided to take in a film at your local movie theater. As you enter the theater the lights go down signalling that the movie is about to begin. You quickly settle down in your seat, make yourself comfortable and start working on the box of popcorn you have in your hand. A short time later and the box of popcorn is empty. *

Few people would be surprised to learn that features such as how fresh and tasty the popcorn was, along with its alluring ‘just popped smell’, were primarily responsible for its rapid consumption. However the results of a recent study suggest that it may not necessarily be the product features that influenced consumption at all but instead a different, non-product related factor. And far from just providing insights into popcorn consumption the study provides some timely reminders to anyone looking to influence others to change. *

Behavioral researchers David Neal and Wendy Wood from the University of Southern California arranged for movie goers to be provided with drinks and popcorn as they entered their local movie theater. Unbeknown to the movie goers half were given a box of fresh popcorn and half were given popcorn that was actually a week old (and decidedly stale). The researchers also identified which of the movie goers were regular popcorn purchasers and which purchased popcorn only occasionally. *

It should come as no surprise that those people who only occasionally purchased popcorn said that they liked the stale popcorn less and ate less of it than those who were given the fresh popcorn. However, even though they said they disliked the stale popcorn, those movie goers who said that they regularly purchased popcorn ate just as much of it as those given the fresh popcorn. The researchers found that this habitual eating of popcorn only occurred in the cinema context. In other words, when the study was replicated in non-movie theater environments the habitual eaters reacted in exactly the same way as the non-habitual eaters – they ate significantly less of the stale popcorn. *

This small study demonstrates an important factor when it comes to understanding how people are influenced and persuaded. Often a behavior is activated not because of an individual’s desire to achieve a particular goal but instead because the specific environment or context they find themselves in triggers such behavior. When sitting in a movie theater, regular popcorn eaters ate just as much unappetizing popcorn by virtue of the fact that they were sitting in a movie theater. Indeed, recent neuroscience studies support the idea that a specific cue or context can activate a resulting behavior regardless of whether such behavior achieves a desired goal (see Yin & Knowlton 2006). *

Given that as much as 45% of an individual’s behaviors and actions are repeated daily and usually in the same context and environment habits are common barriers that the ethical persuader will face when looking to influence others. For example a company looking to persuade consumers to try a new line of products might experience two specific influence challenges. The first is how they can present their products to consumers in the most attractive and persuasive way. The second concerns how to overcome those same consumers’ current purchasing habits. *

Similarly leaders and managers looking to influence and change policies and practices in their organizations may encounter resistance to such change because of deeply entrenched habits and behaviors that have been historically practiced. *

The study authors suggest that people are especially likely to rely on habits and repeated behaviors when they find themselves distracted, time pressured and overloaded with information – features that are all too common in today’s hectic business environment. So what is the advice for the company looking to persuade a habitual consumer to switch to their new product? And what actions should leaders and managers take to ensure that new policies and working practices are successfully executed and not destined to fail due to reliance on outdated but habitual behaviors? *

Neal and Wood provide several useful and timely reminders that could act as a useful checklist for those looking to influence change. *

1. Encourage the voluntary statement of goals and intentions. They suggest that an individual be encouraged to state their goals and intentions and to do so voluntarily so as to promote their own self control, and ownership of, their goals. Regular readers will recognise that the principle of consistency supports such an approach providing that this is done ethically and without coercion. *

2. Encourage a self monitoring process. The authors also advocate a self monitoring approach by encouraging people to record their successes each time they perform a new behavior. Although they do not directly recommend that these successes be publically acknowledged the principle of consistency suggests that the best chance of long standing change occurs when such commitments and actions are made public. *]

3. Change cues. Thirdly they recommend changing or removing any context or cue which is likely to activate an unwanted behavior. In the case of a company seeking to influence consumers to try a new range of products this might include incentivising customers to shop at different times of the day, visit an area of the store they don’t routinely walk through or to try a new store. Leaders and managers seeking to influence changes in working practices may find it useful to make some contextual changes of their own first. For example reorganising seating arrangements in the office or painting the wall a different color may be enough to provide a new cue that helps eliminate an older habit and replace it with a more useful new one. *

4. Focus on one change at a time. Finally, and aligned to the fact that people are most likely to rely on past habitual behaviors to the extent that they are distracted, under time pressure and cognitively overloaded, it makes sense for those looking to effect change to arrange wherever possible for distractions to be minimised. This might require other activities and initiatives to be prioritised or even perhaps put on hold so that ample time can be devoted to change – one change at a time. *

The acclaimed English writer and poet Samuel Johnson said that “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” Although it may be true that habits are often very strong, arranging for the links (cues) that activate unwanted behaviors to be replaced with other more helpful ones can be an important part of any successful influence strategy. *

Sources: ***
Neal, D.T., Wood, W., & Quinn, J.M. (2006). Habits – A Repeat Performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Volume 15, 198 – 202 *
Neal, D.T., & Wood, W. (2009). The Habitual Consumer. Journal of Consumer Psychology, Volume 19, 579 – 592. *
Yin, J.A., & Knowlton, B.J., (2006). The role of the basal ganglia in habit formation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Volume 7, 464 – 476. *

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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.