Fourteen Lectures on Consumer Psychology

Chapter 15 Instinct and Sales (1)
When a bird builds a nest, it will grab a piece of grass here, a section of branch there, and then grab some hairs in the distance, and finally put them all in the nest. This is its instinctive activity.Human beings also have similar instinctive activities, and each different instinctive activity mode is accompanied by unique emotions.If a salesman can grasp the characteristics of these instinctive activities and apply them in sales, he will achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Generally speaking, consumer activities can be divided into two types due to different causes: behavioral activities generated by life experiences and inherent behavioral activities derived from heredity.The first reason for behavior was introduced in the discussion of repetition, imagery, interest, desire, and logical reasoning, and specifically pointed out how to elicit these behaviors in consumers.Equal importance should be given to the second cause of behavior, especially in the chapter on attracting attention and sensations, which this lecture will illustrate.

Definition of Instinctive Activity

Those inherited behavior habits of human beings are called instincts, and the definition of this concept should take into account the following aspects: instinctive activities are a series of behavioral activities inherited by human beings, which are absolutely unconscious behaviors and accompanied by unique feelings.

characteristics of instinctive behavior

1. Instinctive behavior is very complex.It is not an activity as simple as blinking an eye, but a series of actions made up of a series of simple actions.A bird's instinctive nest-building activity is the best embodiment of this characteristic: grab a blade of grass here, a twig there, and then a hair in the distance, and finally put them all in the nest. inside.In a sense, human instinctive behavior is also formed by a series of separate actions, although this connection has different meanings according to different interpretations in the following paragraphs.

2. The choice of the word "series" shows that the sequence of actions is not chaotic, but orderly, one after another.No matter how many times an instinctual activity occurs, the ordered sequence between the individual actions that compose it does not change.Moreover, this sequence of actions and actions does not require individual sequencing and planning.An amazing example of this is described below:

A beetle called Starr always lays its eggs at the entrance of the wasp's burrow.These eggs hatch in autumn, and the larvae that emerge from the shell are quite different from normal beetle larvae, with six legs and a sharp, curly tail hook.In winter, the larvae slow down and regain their vigor in spring. In April, the bees began to fly out of the hole to gather pollen outside.At this time, these larvae will lurk at the entrance of the cave, watching the bees coming in and out, and after the male bees fly away, they will start to follow the female bees around, lurking while waiting for an opportunity.After the female bee lays her eggs, the larvae head toward their long-awaited meal of "bee eggs."As the old saying goes, "No matter how tightly a poor mother holds her child, her natural enemy begins to devour her child."When the beetle larvae have finished their feast of "bee eggs," they have the strength to exterminate the bees.In about 6 days, the beetle larvae consume all the eggs laid by the bees.In the empty burrow, a beetle larva begins its first metamorphosis.After metamorphosis, they are completely different from before. They will become fleshy white insects, like a white bubble floating on honey, with a mouth growing below the body and a nose growing on the body.They'll stay there until they've eaten all the honey, and then go through a few metamorphoses.Finally, in August, they will grow into a perfect beetle.

Here, we witness a miraculous life story.There are changes in body structure and form in the story, as well as different behavioral characteristics for each stage.What was the reason for the different behaviors of the Beatles at different times?Why can the surrounding environmental resources meet its growth needs in every period?Parental parenting can be entirely ruled out in this story, since the Beetle's parents never saw their offspring.The possibility of learning from neighbors can also be ruled out, since these beetles have no eyes and their behavior cannot be imitated.It is not appropriate to use thinking to explain these behaviors of the beetle, because in my knowledge, this low-level creature does not have the ability to think.Moreover, the generation of intelligence requires experience as accumulation.

It is not true to say that the beetle larva does not eat bees at first because it has a lot of previous experience, because it never had such experience before it was hatched.Any complex stage, based on the wisdom gained from individual experience, cannot be used as the reason to guide the beetle to produce a certain behavior.If these larvae have experience, it can only be said that these experiences come from their ancestors, and their current behavior is the experience accumulated by their ancestors over thousands of years.

This example shows a complex instinctual activity in which there is a constant order of occurrence of simple actions.

Just by simple analysis, it can be found that the instinctive activities of different individuals often have great similarities.For the simple acts which the instinctual acts contain are of the same kind and order.Instinctive activities, which consist of a series of simple actions, are also found to be very different if one looks more closely at them.The pattern of each instinctual activity is different.For example, the act of blushing is part of many instinctual activities, which can be shy, awkward, humble, and aggressive, but the causes and circumstances that cause each blush are different.So it can be said that no matter how similar the actions are, the mode of operation of each instinctive activity is different.

3. The second point to be emphasized in the definition is that instinctive activity is one of human nature, which is of great significance to salesmen.Instinctive activity is one of the natures of human beings. This argument contains several meanings.

(1) In the first place, the instinctive activities inherent in an individual are inherited not only from his parents but also from the ancestors of his family.The formation of some instinctive activities inherited in individuals can even be traced back to millions of years ago.

(2) Activities and behaviors handed down from generation to generation must appear in every member of society.Humans, for example, exhibit similar movements when faced with fear.

(3) Instinctive behavior is fixed and unchangeable.Passed down from generation to generation, these behaviors are so deeply ingrained in the human psyche that it is almost impossible to change them.

(4) These instinctive behaviors are instantly aroused.The physiological basis of this argument is: after thousands of years of development, this behavioral memory is in charge of specialized nerve cells in the brain, and the path to communicate this behavior has also been solidified.It takes a lot of time for non-instinctive activities to enter the brain. For example, it takes time to generate nerve impulses, and it may even need to go through debates and thinking within the brain-whether to respond or not.In contrast, instinctive action, as a reaction mode that has been solidified into the brain, takes a very short time.This can be applied to actual sales.

4. Instinctive activities occur whether or not the individual has relevant knowledge.For example, a person who turns pale with fear knows his state but does not know why he turns pale, although he feels that it is harmful.Humans sometimes suppress their emotions and turn pale even when not facing fear.But humans have always responded this way when faced with danger since ancient times.In fact, instant pallor may be a way to stay alive.

How can paleness be linked to sustaining life?According to Darwin's theory, try to reason from the perspective of blood relationship.When people face fear, what is the most correct way to deal with it?run away!If you want to escape, you need the muscles on your thighs to accumulate huge strength in an instant.If you want to gain strength, you need a lot of blood to gather there.When faced with fear, the human brain instinctively pulls blood away from unimportant places, such as the face.Then focus on where it is needed, for example, the leg muscles.

(End of this chapter)