Neuroscience is where it's at, baby

Science can’t stand ignorance; to science, ignorance is a vacuum to be filled. It’s not just mapping genes and studying what used to be called junk DNA. (And now is found to contain the switches that turn genes on or off.) Before long, we will know why people buy virtually everything and, more importantly, why they don’t buy.

Prowling Borders this past weekend, I came across “The Buying Brain,” by Dr. A.K. Pradeep (Wiley, 2010). Wow. Did you know people buy yogurt because they like to open the foil wrap at the top? Well, if you hook people up with sensors, it’s possible to tell why they do things, even including buying yogurt.

Pradeep says our head and eyes are physically arranged to maximize our ability as predators. Read the book and see why.

In terms of what we do now that we don’t have to battle sabre-toothed tigers — whether you feel predatory or perhaps kinder and gentler — it’s possible to manage your product or service for maximum appeal.

Consider Apple. According to Pradeep, “Apple made an innately strategic decision a long time ago to help the brain do what it loves to do: identify and categorize. Apple focused on consumer ease of use, inherent fear/distrust of complicated and, therefore, intimidating technology, and designed beautiful products and packaging, which in turn gave the Apple brand enhanced manning and an even stronger, consistent, and lasting identity.”