Five Key Brain Science Principles

If we had to pick five things that marketers and product developers should know about the brain, we would choose these:

1. Most of the processing our brains perform happens automatically and outside our conscious awareness.

2. Most of that inaccessible pre-conscious processing is emotional, not rational.

3. Modern neuroscience provides a window into this unconscious processing.

4. The brain cannot simply be "read" ... to identify and measure brain processing requires careful experimental designs, precise measurements of multiple brain and body responses, and sophisticated analytical methods.

5. The conscious brain can override our pre-conscious emotional impulses, but it takes significant mental effort to do so.

In a nutshell, the reason why traditional consumer research falls short is because it does not measure any of the critical inputs into attention, evaluation, decision, and action that occur before the onset of conscious thinking.  What neuroscience tells us is that these inputs are largely emotional and have a much larger impact than we previously appreciated. There are a wide range of established methods and techniques for observing and measuring these pre-conscious sources of attitudes and behavior, but these methods are not well known in marketing and research departments.

A very important principle is #5. This is not a simplistic reductionist perspective. Conscious choice, deliberation, and planning are real and important. We are not slaves to our passions and unconscious drives. But research shows that thinking and deciding are hard work, and we often rely on more automatic processes to get through the day.

Want examples of how preconscious processes powerfully and invisibly affect consumer choices and behavior? Get a copy of our white paper here.