emotions

Have you ever annoyed a potential customer, or made her angry? Before you decide to ignore the faux pas and press forward with the pitch, or write her off and move on to greener pastures, try this simple technique: say, "I'm sorry."…

Nobody is doing more to add to our knowledge of the irrational side of human behavior than Dan Ariely. Not only does he conduct experiments that are elegant in their simplicity, but he writes about his work and that of other researchers in…

Here's more evidence that inanimate objects can spark human emotions... In Japan, testing of a robot baby called "Babyloid" has been completed and commercial production is set to begin. The purpose of the baby-bots is to engage the…

Review - Love Branding: How to make people fall in love with your brand by Carolin Dahlman Carolin Dahlman has two professions: branding expert and "love coach." While these two callings seem unrelated at first glance, Dahlman thinks…

Toxic bosses. Debbie Downers. Our language reflects the idea that some people have a real emotional effect on their fellow workers. Now, interesting research not only confirms this idea but adds to it in several important ways: -…

Want your customers to have a better experience? Instead of trying to train your employees to smile, just hire happy people. Apparently, you don't have to be an expert in reading faces to tell the difference between a real smile and…

Every experienced sales manager has a trick or two when it comes to hiring the best candidate for an open sales position. After a candidate passes the initial resume screening process, one manager might check out the applicant's shoes.…

  Erotic images sell better than pictures of office supplies, and a lot better than photos of hairy spiders. Who knew? Actually, that's a bit of an oversimplification. Stanford researchers led by neuroeconomics prof Brian Knutson have…

Researchers at the University of Florida have published the results of their first advertising study using fMRI, a project intended to try to relate brain scan data to specific emotions being experienced by the subjects while viewing ads.…

At a conference presentation last week (see Neuromarketing in Montreal), I made the point that the most important frontier for neuromarketers may be product design. Why struggle to make ads more appealing when you could be making the…