436. The Brainy Biases: Why Novelty and Stories Captivate Us (Refreshed Episode)

Welcome to episode 436 of the Brainy Business Understanding the Psychology of why People Buy. Today's episode is all about our brainy biases toward novelty and stories. Ready? Let's get started.

You are listening to the Brainy Business Podcast where we dig into the psychology of why people buy and help you incorporate behavioral economics into your business, making it more brain friendly. Now, here's your host, Melina Palmer.

Hello. Hello everyone. My name is Melina Palmer and I want to welcome you to the Brainy Business Podcast. Today's episode is all about the biases our brains have for novelty and stories. This episode, which originally aired in 2019, was part of an eight part series on biases and it's a bit different than most of the episodes you hear on this show. It's a rapid fire list of sorts with a very light touch on all the concepts related to our bias is toward novelty and stories. So you can start to see a little of the complexity of our brains and interactions at work and home. And so you can find areas where you might want to do a little more research, know what the possibilities are so you have something to look up later when you need more info. Now, in case you're wondering what inspired me to refresh this one today, it's because of my interview this coming Friday with the amazing Dr. Paul Zay Zach. He and his team discovered the importance of oxytocin in building trust and how proper storytelling can trigger the release of oxytocin. That is absolutely an episode you do not want to miss.

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The Brainy Business podcast, now is the perfect time to do so. So you don't miss that or any other episode when they come out each week. And don't forget, there are links for everything, including my top related past episodes and books waiting for you in the show. Notes for episode which are found within the app you're listening to and@the brainybusiness.com 436. All right, let's talk about our brain's biases for novelty and stories.

First, I want to start off with novelty. Our brains like things that stick out or are different and they're more likely to remember those items and add significance to them. This is called the bizarreness effect because things that are bizarre are remembered better than more common stuff. This makes sense when you consider how the brain makes decisions if the subconscious is constantly filtering through information and classifying millions of bits of data per second as normal or I have a rule for that they probably won't stand out too much when they're common, normal and have a rule. But when you have something really different, like the 18 Snickers bars mentioned in the Anchoring and Adjustment episode, your brain will be more likely to think about it deeper and remember what it saw. Think about the things that stick out to you when scrolling through Instagram or what headlines you want to click on. Often something bizarre is what stands out to you, and remember this happens for everyone. We're genetically trained to notice things that stand out, whether it's a tile facing the wrong way in a pattern or a crazy advertisement. Due to the humor effect, we're also more likely to remember funny things compared to those that are not humorous. This is very likely because it takes more cognitive processing to understand the joke than if something is not humorous. It likely also connects to the multiple associations. It's using more of the brain in the process of understanding that joke and can be triggering emotions, even those beyond humor, which increase the likelihood it will be committed deeper into memory. These two biases can be combined to incorporate puns or plays on words into advertisements or other messaging. I recently went to a restaurant with a sign promoting its summer salads, including Dawson's Greek, the Notorious BBQ, and When Barry Met Salad. These are a little bizarre, a little funny. They make you feel smart when you can make the connection, which makes you happy and creates an emotional tie to the restaurant that might not have been there before. You're more likely to remember them and the meal as a result, and possibly post on social media to share the joke and nostalgia. Of course, incorporating humor into messaging is not always easy. First you need to make sure that it's not too witty or difficult to figure out because our brains get overwhelmed and they will skip it and not deal with trying to figure out what's going on. Also, if it's not done right and it feels staged, humor can be really detrimental to any brand. So you need to use humor and bizarreness with caution to make sure they stand out in the right way. Also note that bizarre does not mean it has to be weird or crazy. As I said, anything that looks off or different can draw our attention. A pattern that is slightly off in one spot, or a blue strawberry or a green horse can all make our brain stop for a second to ponder, which can often be all you need to get someone to take a little closer look at what you're putting out in the world, which increases leads and conversions. And it's just great all the way around and know that due to pareidolia, our brains are primed to see faces in pretty much everything. No matter how vague or random the stimuli, it can be seen as significant when our brain gets a hold of it. This is why we see sailboats in the clouds, faces and random objects, of which I've linked to a fun buzzfeed article which shows some examples. Or we think there are hidden messages in records that are played in reverse. This can lead to illusory correlation or an inaccurate memory about the relationship between two different events. One reason we see faces everywhere is because we've learned over time the need to quickly react to facial expressions. Remember the episode on the difference between sight and vision where I explained that vision happens in the brain and what we experience in life is actually an expectation that's created by our brains based on past experiences. If someone is approaching us quickly and looks angry, we need to react fast. If we look into the night and see two things glowing in the distance, it's in our best interest to assume that's a predator or threat and see the face in the distance. This has transferred into our ability to see a colon next to a parenthesis and see either a smiling face or a frowning face and instantly feel the emotion tied with it. Seeing faces on houses with where the doors and the windows line up in trees, cracks in the sidewalk, or whatever else are deeply rooted in our love of story and novelty. A tree that looks like it has a smiling face will stand out more than a less bizarre tree, and we could probably make up a whole story for that tree as if it were a person with real emotions. I was just at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and their current exhibit is called Book of Beasts, where they show all the art and bestiaries of the Middle Ages. And if you're not familiar with that term, it's basically like an encyclopedia of animals from a long time ago. I couldn't help but notice how many of the stories that were featured were about morals and things, and they were using animals and showing their faces as angry or confused as a human would be in order to teach lessons about morality and whatever else. There was also a section about the constellations and what we see in the stars, which show how deep rooted this all is and our nature for hundreds of years and many, many more. This is why it's key for your brand and business to do things that help you stand out, even though your hurting brain might want to go in the way everything's always been done and not stand out. It's definitely in your best to understand how stories and novelty can help you to break through the clutter and get new customers who are going to take action. Our brain's appreciation for stories goes beyond enjoying Harry Potter or our kids wanting to read books before bed. It impacts so much of everything we do. We often tell ourselves stories about other people because it helps us to understand them. And even though the stories aren't always right due to the empathy gap, we're likely to underestimate how much feelings will influence decisions and how strong they can be. This occurs both for ourselves and our opinions toward other people, and you can see how this comes up in business all the time. If you don't have enough empathy for the feelings someone will have about a change, it can blow up in your face and quickly. And walking a mile in their shoes isn't always enough because, as I said, this can impact the way we think about ourselves and our own feelings as well. Our optimism bias may keep us in the dark on this one, so maybe give it the 10% contingency rule, but know not to let it influence your discussion too much because then you could be priming that person to have a more emotional reaction, even though that's the opposite of what you want to do. So you know I mentioned titles for a few past episodes there, but in case you're new to the podcast, in which case welcome, there are links in the show notes to any of those past episodes. In this case, I've mentioned priming, optimism, bias, loss, aversion, hurting, and all sorts throughout the episode and yet to come. But I don't want you to have to remember them all. So just know a good rule of thumb is if you ever think, ooh, that's interesting, I should look that up. Check the show notes first, because I've probably already done that heavy lifting for you for this episode. They can be found again atthe brainy business.com 54 all right, on to our next concept. Due to the identifiable victim effect, people tend to have a lesser response to a large group of people than they do to a single person. This is where stories can have such an impact. Saying there are millions of children starving in Uganda is not the same as introducing a single child. You've seen the commercials. This is a Kiki. He's six years old and is up before sunrise every morning to walk three miles to the river to get water and hopefully a small fish for the family of seven to share. It's even harder to focus at school on an empty stomach, so he hopes the grumbles will not follow him all day long. For just 10 cents a day, you could help a Kiki and his family to have a new life. You get the picture, right? And you probably created an image of a Kiki in your head. Why didn't you see millions of Akikis in the first explanation? It's because of this bias. Now how do you apply this to your business? Consider every networking event or interaction pretty much ever where people say what do you do? And you feel inclined to give a really generic answer. Don't. Giving a specific story can help them form a picture in their brain, which means they're more likely to remember you in the future, and they'll just remember a general story about what you do remember a Kiki to understand that specifics make the story and stories are relatable and relating is how people remember. You also need to be aware of survivorship bias. This is when we remember and focus on or study those who made it through something, those who survived it got through on the other side, and we ignore everything else or all those other people because they're less visible to us, even though they could have a lot of importance. A great example of this, which I've linked to a TED talk which explains it in more detail, is planes. In World War II, in an attempt to make planes stronger, the Allies started evaluating all the planes that came back and marking where their bullet holes were for statistical analysis to see where reinforcement was needed. The spots with the most holes were on the wings and tail, so the first inclination was to reinforce and heavily armor those spots with lots of bullet holes. Thankfully, the statistician let them know they were looking at this completely wrong because there was a huge piece of data missing. They weren't able to evaluate all the planes that did not make it back. In effect, the planes that were making it back were because they had not been shot in key areas. So anywhere that was not covered in holes was a good indicator for where armor and reinforcement should be placed. Because likely the planes and pilots that were less lucky had been shot in those spots. If they had only focused on the surviving planes, they would have made a huge mistake that could have cost them the war. When you look at data from customers responses on surveys or whatnot, it's important to think about this. Researchers do all sorts of work to get results that are as unbiased as possible. But if you're not thinking about where survivorship bias could be impacting your analysis, you could be doing a huge disservice to your business. Another way our stories about others and the world around us impact our thoughts and actions are with the just world hypothesis. Because we want to believe the world around us is fundamentally just, we rationalize some injustice that is otherwise inexplicable as being deserved by the victim. Oh, they must have done something to deserve that. Or I wonder what she did to deserve that. Or what did I do to deserve this? We don't like to think of things happening for no justifiable reason. It really doesn't compute in most human brains. So whether we realize it or not, we we're thinking this sort of thing all the time. This is kind of like moral luck, which is the tendency for someone to use the outcome of an event to assign moral standing even when it is very likely unrelated. This term moral luck should essentially be thought of as an oxymoron because morality and luck should not be correlated. But that's not always the case in our brains. Similar to the just world hypothesis, you would essentially assume if someone is successful, which in many cases is based on luck or being in the right place at the right time, that they must have done something morally to deserve it. While this is not always the case, I link to an article with more information on moral luck if you want to read up on it. The last piece in this section about others is authority bias, where we're more likely to believe and be influenced by the opinion of someone in authority, even if the opinion is unrelated to where they have any sort of authority and we consider it to be more accurate than the same opinion from another person who does not have that same authority in our brains. This would be like having a podiatrist tell you a story about astrophysics and being more likely to believe it because they're a doctor or asking a veterinarian about a suspicious mole. You aren't sure if you should get checked out in both cases. You may as well be asking a random person on the street and their answer could be exactly the same, but you would believe the doctor or the vet more than the random stranger. Did you ever see those commercials for certified financial planners where a clean cut man in a nice suit is explaining about 401ks and asset allocation to individuals in a very nice meeting room. And then they ask the person if they would trust him as a financial planner. They all say yes, that he seems knowledgeable and trustworthy and they would invest with him. He then reveals that he actually has no background as a financial planner because in reality he's a DJ and they show a video of him with giant dreadlocks playing a show. Everyone is shocked. And the point of the commercial is that if the person you're talking to doesn't have a cfp, you don't know who they really are or if they have any knowledge at all. The reason people would get swept up in this is because of authority bias. So do your due diligence when working with people. You've heard me say this all the time, and don't let the story influence you. In case you haven't seen that commercial, there is a link to it in the show Notes now let's talk about the stories we like to tell in our own minds or to others about ourselves. Our brains tell us a whole lot about ourselves and what others might think of us if they found out or knew this or that, and those stories impact our beliefs and actions every day. In episode 23, I talked about the concept of reciprocity, that when we're given a gift, we want to repay the favor and often overcompensate. Beyond that is the Ben Franklin effect, which shows that if we've done a favor for someone, we're more likely to do a second favor for them. This is even more than if we had received a favor from that person. So once I lend you $5, I'm much more likely to lend you money in the future. Or if I watch your dog while you go out of town. And I'm more likely to watch your dog again if I've watched it before than I am to watch your dog if you watched mine. Quid pro quo does not have as much impact as self herding, and there is a link to that episode on herding if you want to learn more about that. In the episode on reciprocity, I talked about increasing the likelihood that someone will accept a bigger ask by starting with a small one. In political season, that would mean asking for someone to put a sign in their yard before asking them to donate or host a rally. Those who accept and do the small favor of putting the sign in their yard are going to tell themselves, even without realizing it, that they are the kind of person who supports political campaigns which will work in your favor when you come back for your other true ask. And if you're always saying yes to everything, try and remember that a past yes does not mandate another yes tomorrow. One reason we may succumb to this is because of social desirability bias. We want others to see us in the best possible light so we'll likely over report our own socially desirable behaviors and characteristics while we will under report them for everyone else. Another way we try to shape others opinion of us in a way that will be more positive is with the courtesy bias where we share opinions that are more socially acceptable than our true thoughts and feelings so we don't offend anyone and again, so they don't judge us and look at us differently than we want them to. The stories we tell ourselves and our desire to justify our actions can impact the choices we make. Because of omission bias, we will judge actions also known as commissions or more harshly than inactions or omissions, even if they're more harmful than taking an action would have been. Here are some examples for you. If you sell someone a car that you know has bad brakes or brakes that are about to go out and you lie about it, is it the same, better or worse than not saying anything? Hey, they didn't ask, you may say. But lying by omission is just as bad as outright lying, even if your brain brain doesn't want to think so. Another moral question that could come up here would be if you're competing with someone for a promotion and you go out to dinner the night before, you know they're allergic to peanuts and knowingly recommend they order something cooked in peanut oil, is that the same, better or worse than watching them order something you know has peanuts in it and not saying anything? You get the idea. And omission is not more moral. I link to an interesting paper that shows how this can impact major league sports teams. If you would like some more examples of this Omission bias is similar to the licensing effect, which is also known as self licensing or moral licensing. I mentioned this briefly in a previous episode in the series, but this is the backfiring effect that when we've done something good, we're more likely to allow ourselves to do something bad. This has been studied around donations, cooperation, racial discrimination, and cheating, and I've linked to some studies in the notes. And like so many aspects of our brains, the good action doesn't have to be in the same category as the bad action. So shopping at a green store, a moral action meant participants were less likely to share money in a game they played later on compared to those who shopped at a regular store. Those green shoppers have also been found to be more likely to lie and cheat than non green shoppers, and they likely didn't even realize the justification or how that all tied together in their brains brains. So know if you're good all day or go out of your way to save the environment or donate to charity or whatever it is, you might be inadvertently making bad choices somewhere else because your brain is rewarding itself for being so good in other areas. The stories we tell ourselves are impacting the decisions we make all the time, and it doesn't have to be as dramatic as these studies have made it out. It might just be cheating on your diet because you went out of your way to be kind to someone earlier and hold the door open for them with all of these. Once you've considered how this impacts you and your own life, think about how it impacts the opinions others have about you, the stories they tell themselves, and think about what that means for people you're doing business with, both co workers and customers. You will not be able to change these biases. They're ingrained in who we are as a species. Instead, think about how understanding them can help you to make better decisions and how you can set up systems that work with the biases to help others do better as well, even if they don't realize it and can't thank you outright for what you've done.

So what got your brain buzzing as you learned about the biases our brains have for novelty and stories today? For me, I love storytelling and think it is so powerful when it comes to business. Whether you're pitching a product idea or a new business, asking for budget, justifying a project or selling your team on the work you're going to be doing, or anything else, story is a helpful key in getting you there. Our brains are wired for stories. We love them and they help build trust, which is so key in getting any work done. Too many presentations or pitches are just a barrage of information, data points and charts and tiny font and a rambling of facts that is not compelling to anyone. You need to know the facts and data over preparing as you might call it is okay, especially when it's a really important interaction. But you also want a need to think about what the other person needs to hear. Why are you talking to them at all? What do you want them to do? What are they doing now? What information will be most likely to help get them there? And how can you tell the story that weaves it all together to bring them from where they are to where you want them to be? All that other information can be there to answer questions to show that you were prepared, but it doesn't have to be part of that initial story and too much it can't be a compelling story. A great story builds trust because of the relationship with oxytocin in the brain and they can also create anticipation, which releases dopamine, another happy brain chemical. I told you our brains love story. One of the key researchers who helped to find the importance of those chemicals in storytelling is Dr. Paul Zach and I'm so excited that he is going to be my guest on this upcoming Friday's episode. You definitely don't want to miss that one. He talks about work he's done with clients and some of what he's doing now in his lab and building out.

Neuroscience as a service.

Super cool. So be sure you're subscribed to the Brainy Business podcast right now to ensure you don't miss it as we close out the show. Don't forget about those show notes with links to my top related past episodes, books and more. It's all waiting for you in the app you're listening to and atthe brainy business.com 4. And just like that, episode 436 on the biases our brains have toward novelty and stories is done. Join me Friday for a brand new episode with Dr. Paul Zak. It's going to be a lot of fun. You don't want to miss it. Until then, thanks again for listening and learning with me. And remember to be thoughtful.

Thank you for listening to the Brainy Business podcast. Molina offers virtual strategy sessions, workshops and other services to help businesses be more brain friendly. For more free resources, visit thebrainybusiness.com.