11 6 / 2010
The Divided Self; Considered and the Impulsive sides
“Like a rider on the back of an elephant, the conscious, reasoning
part of the mind has only limited control of what the elephant does.” ~ Jonathan Haidt
Started reading “The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt on a Kindle (i likes) that I’m borrowing from a friend. A bit of philosophy mixed with psychology and the idea of duality, that I really recommend reading. The idea and metaphor of rider and and the elephant really works; and the rest of the book does a good communicating how despite how much reasoning, smart, and considered thought we use, we still act impulsively and have little control of it. The elephant goes where the elephant want.
You know that the candy bar isn’t good for you, but it’s right there at the check out counter… so you get it. And even when you know you shouldn’t spend, if you can save an extra 10% if you open the store credit card and buy so much more.
Or why so many ‘rational’ and ‘smart’ expats fall trap to the local poon. I’ll save more commentary on that subject for another day. But yeah, no control of the elephant (impulsive side).
BTW- if you get the chance, you should watch BBC’s documentary ‘Century of Self’ episode 1 ‘the Happiness Machine’ where they talk about Edward Bernay using his uncle, Freud’s ideas and applying it to propaganda and public relations to control the masses and also get people to spend on consumer goods.
The ideas explained in both the documentary video and the book, makes you really understand it can be applied to selling to masses. How Apple can sell so many iPads (as awesome as it is, who really needs it) and all the upcoming iPhone 4’s to so many people. And even more apparent, how they sell all those songs and apps with the 1 click buying on iTunes store for impulsive buyers who want instant gratification.
Also here’s good template for coming up and writing public relations objectives should yo want to apply Happiness Hypothesis ideas to your business campaigns.
