Simulation may be the reason why some kinds of advertising work well. Advertising often involves people with a product. Those people, of course, are usually very happy to have that product! They are also usually young, attractive, worthy of respect and admiration, etc.
If people are very influenced by such advertisements, it may be because they are wired for simulation. The person, whether unconsciously or to some degree consciously, is possibly able to see themselves as being that happy person with the product. Thus, the person may, without realizing it, simulate the person in the commercial and buy the product.
Of course, this kind of advertisement may implicate more than just simulation. Perhaps the information in the commercial, or just the repeated emphasis on the product, is what makes the person go for the product. There would have to be an experiment that compared reactions to commercials about a product with people in them and without people.
Our particular experiment goes like this: A person is sitting at a computer screen. 75 images of mannequins wearing certain outfits will be flashed before her, for 4 seconds each. During this time period she must indicate by pressing a key whether she likes the outfit or dislikes the outfit (meaning she would or would not buy the outfit). Of course, numerous styles will be exhibited to account for the various tastes of the women!
Afterwards, she will watch 5 short commercials which show very happy and attractive women wearing 5 of the outfits she had seen. A few hours later she will be reshown the 75 images of mannequins again, but she is only given 2.5 seconds to respond with her preference this time.
Will she have changed her mind about those 5 particular outfits significantly more than the other 70?
In a follow-up survey, would she think that she had changed her mind or had been influenced by the commercials?
There may be too many variables in this experiment, and the results consequently may not implicate simulation. In addition, there may need to be a blind. Any ideas to improve this?
--Jenn & Hannah
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I thought there might be a simulation explanation for the success of advertising...this is a good start.
ReplyDeleteYou base the explanation on the notion of "role-model": we simulate ourselves engaged in the choices of others (girl who wears Prada is happy).
The experiment tracks this, but the subjective data might be biased. I'd stick to developing a more controlled experiment.
Group 1 would select as many dresses that they might like to purchase from a magazine featuring 100 dresses laid out on tables. Then that same group would look at a magazine with the same dresses, but on happy good-looking people. When asked, would this group now be interested in MORE dresses? The simulation explanation would suggest "yes" Call this the catalogue paradimn.