There's a Sucker Born in Every Medial Prefrontal Cortex
Think about it – neuromarketing – and shudder. This story does not mention politics. It does not mention foreign affairs. It is about the brain and marketing. But the basic ideas explored here have profound implications for how we make decisions.
Why, for example, if people prefer the taste of Pepsi, do they choose Coke? The story asks that question and gives an answer of sorts. It might have asked – why did people become angry with the lie of Clinton to cover-up the kind of personal escapade so many of them have, but not become angry at the lies of Bush to justify going to war?
This story doesn’t contain a lot of answers. But it points to a new direction of neuroscience research and believe me, what will first be applied to selling sugar water, will, if successful, be applied to selling ideas and the people behind them. In my book that makes this must reading for those trying to come to grips with the mysteries of human decision making - how and why people make the choices they make. (Of course this also may go the way of subliminal advertising, but right now it seems quite credible.)
What they are looking at here is a subject that has long fascinated me – the basic idea that we make important decisions at some subconscious level, and then rationalize this decision. So, for example, we make the decision subconsciously that we prefer Coke over Pepsi, then we rationalize this decision by saying we prefer the taste – when, in fact, we don’t.
Or at a subconscious level we make the decisions that we like George Bush – or some other politician – then at a conscious level we justify that decision with rational arguments. Our problem is, we try to change people’s mind by attacking those rational arguments. But even if we win the battle of rational arguments, we frequently lose the war of public opinion. Why? You won’t find the answers here – but you will find intriguing new information.