Money, it’s a hit: want it or have it

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

When you have money, life is good. When you want money, life could be better. Here’s the abstract from Vohs et al (HT Neuroscientifically Challenged who has a great analysis of the whole paper):
ABSTRACT—Money plays a significant role in people’s lives, and yet little experimental attention has been given to the psychological underpinnings of [...]

People don’t remember you as well when you’re not happy, so put on a happy face (video and lyrics, too)

Friday, March 21st, 2008

I lurve experiments where oxytocin is squirted up people’s noses. Oxytocin-up-the-nose affects your ability to recognize people you’ve seen before — and, according to two new reports, this effect is most pronounced if you see them displaying the same emotion that you first saw them displaying. Happy memories are the strongest. So, don’t be [...]

On the internet nobody knows you’re a dog. . .

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

In the Western world, we love to anthropomorphize our dogs. There was a New Yorker cartoon, at the dawn of the internet age, where a dog was clicking away at a keyboard, remarking to another little dog, “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” As they say in Washington, if you want a friend, [...]

NYT: This is your brain on NASDAQ

Friday, February 8th, 2008

“Dopamine Futures” original art by Swivelchair
(all rights, if any totally waived, copy it all you want).
If you compare a screen shot of on-line gambling with a screen shot of on-line stock trading, they look very similar. That is probably because humans are hard wired for rewards — if you hunt and are successful, [...]

“Neuromarketing Blog” - New Blogroll Link

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Neuromarketing Blog is a blog (affiliated with NeuroscienceMarketing.com) that I try to catch once or twice a week. Professional, polished and clear, its a quick way to scan the neuromarketing up-to-the-minute news.
I’m in the biopharma business, and sometimes deal with marketing or sales folks — so strictly speaking, marketing is not my line [...]

Neuromarketing: Neural Correlates of Conspicuous Consumption in Groups Vulnerable to Social Injustice

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

There are lots of studies as to why people purchase luxury goods, but these are mostly directed at individuals in isolation. What about group behavior?

Manhattan, Harlem, Lenox Ave.
Ray Fisman, an economist, has an interesting article in Slate about why African-Americans (and other ethnic minorities) in the US spend disproportionately on status-seeking items. As quoted in [...]

Are marketing people uncomfortable with accurate analytics?

Friday, January 18th, 2008

This is off topic, but not really.
Here’s what I just read, a post from Silicon Alley’s Michael Learmonth, interviewing a person knowledgeable about internet advert buyers. Here’s the news: there’s not as much pent-up demand, big buyers are sidelined (like Countrywide), likely slower growth, what with the economy, and don’t be looking for [...]

Neuroeconomics and neuromarketing: Trust me, I’m your brain

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Little American Brown Weasel
The Top Two Inches has an interesting blog post about dating, called, “Dating — Don’t Do It“. Interesting read, and it got me thinking about trust.
Trust is first built in one part of the brain, and then your brain comes to a fork in the road: the “unconditional” trust brain area [...]

Neuropolitics: Campaign advice for Hillary Clinton and Fred Thompson

Monday, November 12th, 2007

The Clinton Neurons, Quian Quiroga et al., “Invariant visual representation by single neurons in the human brain,” Nature 435: 1102-1107 (2005)
Neurodemocracy, you gotta love it. Branding, celebrity and politics — all evoke neurological responses in primitive brain areas. How can the candidates best position themselves to have the best neurological response in swing [...]

Neuromarketing of early on-line reviewers

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Li, Xinxin and Hitt, Lorin M., “Self Selection and Information Role of Online Product Reviews” . Information Systems Research, Forthcoming Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1019641Early on-line reviews can make or break a product. This paper says that marketing can target early adopters who are likely to yield positive early reviews –
. . .Our analysis suggests that [...]

Neurological Correlates: Neuromarketing — don’t try to guilt trip the disagreeable

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

“. . .Overall, prosocial motivation is linked to (a) Agreeableness as a dimension of personality, (b) proximal prosocial cognition and motives, and (c) helping behavior across a range of situations and victims. In persons low in prosocial motivation, when costs of helping are high, efforts to induce empathy situationally can undermine prosocial behavior. . . “

Neurological Correlates: Neuromarketing, playing to the dopamine crowd

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Screenshots of (top) on-line gaming, and (bottom) on-line stock trading

J Gambl Stud. 2007 Mar 30; [Epub ahead of print]

Dopamine Genes and Pathological Gambling in Discordant Sib-Pairs.
Sabbatini da Silva Lobo D, Vallada HP, Knight J, Martins SS, Tavares H, Gentil V, Kennedy JL.
Laboratory of Medical Investigation (LIM-23)—Psychopharmacology, Department and Institute of Psychiatry, [...]