The Myth of Choice_ Personal Responsibility in a World of Limits - Kent Greenfield [25]
Interestingly, the more men are satisfied in other ways, the less powerful the bikini effect is. In one study, men were told that their incomes were much higher than the national average. The bikini effect lost its influence, apparently because the men felt financially well-off. When men were told the opposite—that their incomes were low compared to society in general—they were much more likely to seek immediate gratification once they saw the sexy women. Again, the actual gratification can come in any number of forms. One study showed that people who were put into a state of “high desire” for money tried to satisfy that desire by eating more M&Ms.19
While the bikini effect causes men to seek immediate gratification, it does not turn them into idiots. Sexy stimuli can actually improve cognition and creativity. This should make sense to anyone who has watched men try to pick up women in bars, or been a teenager trying to figure out how to get beer. Many a movie is based on the reality that creativity is necessary to satisfy an immediate need. Remember Superbad? (If you haven’t seen it, you should.)
These are male-centric examples, but women, too, are influenced by brain chemistry. Consider a 2007 study by brain scientists of purchasing decisions. They hooked up test subjects, both men and women, to a functional MRI machine and scanned their brains while they were shown a series of products and prices, and then asked whether they would buy or not.20 The scientists learned that when the “shoppers” saw a product they wanted, the pleasure center of the brain, the nucleus accumbens, saw increased blood flow and lit up on the fMRI. When the price was shown, another part of the brain—the insula, which is activated when you anticipate pain or see something disgusting—lit up. What the scientists learned is that spendthrifts tended to have more activity in the accumbens and less in the insula. Tightwads had the reverse. Neither side made “rational” decisions, coldly weighing costs and benefits. Both kinds of shoppers were “guided by instant emotions.”21 The results were similar for both men and women.
Consider how this knowledge could be manipulated by those trying to get us to buy something. If the pleasure center can be activated more strongly—by the sight of an attractive spokesmodel or the smell of chocolate—the purchase is more likely. If the pain of paying can be suppressed—through credit cards, for example—then the purchase is more likely. It doesn’t take a brain scientist to figure this out.
But here’s the real kicker about the shopping study. We’re so influenced by our brain chemistry that the scientists believe they can predict whether we will make a purchase before we make the decision.22 Once they saw neurons in the insula light up, the scientists could say that a decision not to buy was on its way. The test subject’s conscious choice to forgo the purchase happened later. Moreover, the brain scans did a better job of predicting the purchase decision than the subject’s own self-reported preferences and price points.
Those of us who are not neuroscientists may find it difficult to admit how constrained and channeled we are by our own brain chemistry and biology. This is the cutting edge of science; we can be excused for being a bit skeptical or failing to recognize our lack of agency in our own decision making. But the science is increasingly clear: we are slaves to our brain chemistry more often and in more ways than we might like to admit. If a marketer is able to trigger our pleasure centers into a craving and suppress the pain center’s response to paying, then psychologically we’re more like sitting ducks than wise owls.
6.
The bikini effect is not the only way in which our brains are predictably susceptible to cognitive mistake and manipulation. Take the fact