For retailers, shopping is the art of persuasion. There are many factors that influence how and what customers buy. However, a great deal is decided by visual cues, the strongest and most persuasive being color.
The primary purpose of landing pages are to convert, plain and simple so communication must be clear and call to action must be prominent. This great infographic is a great guide on the anatomy of a landing page.
You’re in search of a new coffee maker, and the simple quest becomes, well, an ordeal. After doing copious amounts of research and reading dozens of consumer reviews, you finally make a purchase, only to wonder: “Was this the right choice? Could I do better? What is the return policy?”
Reality check: Is this you?
If so, new research from Florida State University may shed some light on your inability to make a decision that you’ll be happy with.
Joyce Ehrlinger, an assistant professor of psychology, has long been fascinated with individuals identified among psychologists as “maximizers.” Maximizers tend to obsess over decisions — big or small — and then fret about their choices later. “Satisficers,” on the other hand, tend to make a decision and then live with it.
Happily.
Of course, there are shades of gray. In fact, there’s a whole continuum of ways people avoid commitment without really avoiding it.
Ehrlinger’s latest research on decision making was published in the peer-reviewed journal Personality and Individual Differences. The paper was co-authored with her graduate student, doctoral candidate Erin Sparks, and colleague Richard Eibach, a psychology assistant professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It examines whether “maximizers show less commitment to their choices than satisficers in a way that leaves them less satisfied with their choices.”
The paper, based on two studies of Florida State undergraduate volunteers, finds that the maximizers’ focus on finding the best option ultimately undermines their commitment to their final choices. As a result, the authors argue, “maximizers miss out on the psychological benefits of commitment,” leaving them less satisfied than their more contented counterparts, the satisficers.
Past research into the differences between maximizers and satisficers looked at how the two groups made choices differently and, more importantly, how the process itself varied. Ehrlinger’s research, however, looked at something else entirely: What happened after a choice was made?
“Because maximizers want to be certain they have made the right choice,” the authors contend, “they are less likely to fully commit to a decision.” And most likely, they are less happy in their everyday lives.
Whether being a maximizer is a central and stable part of the personality or simply a frame of mind remains unclear, but Ehrlinger hopes to isolate the cause of the behavior in future research.
“Current research is trying to understand whether they can change,” she said. “High-level maximizers certainly cause themselves a lot of grief.”
Over the years, Ehrlinger’s scholarly research has led her to study self-perception and accuracy and error in self-judgment. Her latest research into the ways maximizers avoid commitment is important for several reasons.
First, the differences between maximizers and satisficers may play a bigger role than previously thought in consumer decision making and purchasing. For example: “Maximizers get nervous when they see an ‘All Sales Are Final’ sign because it forces them to commit,” Ehrlinger said.
Also, a maximizer’s lack of contentment creates a lot of stress, so the trait could potentially have an enormous effect on health, Ehrlinger explained. It’s not just coffee-maker purchases they stress over — and second-guess themselves about — it’s also the big life decisions such as choosing a mate, buying a house or applying for a job.
Even after considerable deliberation before choosing a mate or a house, a high-level maximizer may still feel unhappy, even depressed, with his or her final decision.
“Identifying the ‘right’ choice can be a never-ending task (for a maximizer),” Ehrlinger and her co-authors write. “Feelings about which option is best can always change in the face of new information. Maximizers might be unable to fully embrace a choice because they cannot be absolutely certain they chose the best possible option.
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Journal Reference:
Erin A. Sparks, Joyce Ehrlinger, Richard P. Eibach.Failing to commit: Maximizers avoid commitment in a way that contributes to reduced satisfaction.Personality and Individual Differences, 2012; 52 (1): 72 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.09.002
Illusion of control
Illusion of control is the tendency for human beings to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes that they demonstrably have no influence over. The predominant paradigm in research on unrealistic perceived control has been Ellen Langer’s (1975) ‘illusion of control’.
Langer showed that people often behave as if chance events are accessible to personal control.
In a series of experiments, Langer demonstrated first the prevalence of the illusion of control and second, that people were more likely to behave as if they could exercise control in a chance situation where ‘skill cues’ were present.
By skill cues, Langer meant properties of the situation more normally associated with the exercise of skill, in particular the exercise of choice, competition, familiarity with the stimulus and involvement in decisions.
One simple form of this fallacy is found in casinos: when rolling dice in craps, it has been shown that people tend to throw harder for high numbers and softer for low numbers.
For more information about the topic Illusion of control, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
List of cognitive biases — Cognitive bias is distortion in the way we perceive reality. Many of these biases are often studied for how they affect business and economic … > read more
Double blind — The double blind method is an important part of the scientific method, used to prevent research outcomes from being ‘influenced’ by the placebo … > read more
Social cognition — Social cognition is the study of how people process social information, especially its encoding, storage, retrieval, and application to social … > read more
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Hawkins had originally intended to record “I Put a Spell on You” as a refined love song, a blues ballad. He reported, however, that the producer ”brought in ribs and chicken and got everybody drunk, and we came out with this weird version.[4] I don’t even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place. I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death.”
Some sources claim that “I Put a Spell on You” had been released earlier than 1956 in a more sedate form, but this has not been verified. The date of 1949 for an original release on the Grand label would appear unlikely, since it predates both the formation of the record label and the beginning of Hawkins’ performing career.
“I Put a Spell on You” became a quick success, despite being banned by some stores and radio stations. A softer version, minus certain sounds deemed “cannibalistic“, did not chart but brought Hawkins together with Alan Freed and his “Rock and Roll Review”.
Up to this time, Hawkins had been a blues performer; emotional, but not wild. Freed suggested a gimmick to capitalize on the “demented” sound of “I Put a Spell on You”: Hawkins wore a long cape, and appeared onstage by rising out of a coffin in the midst of smoke and fog.[4]
Shane MacGowan, Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie, Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones and a guitar-wielding Johnny Depp joined forces to release their take on “I Put A Spell On You” in aid of Concern Worldwide‘s work in Haiti. Moved by the plight of the people of Haiti following the devastating2010 earthquake, McGowan and his long term girlfriend Victoria Clarke quickly assembled a group of friends and set about recording a version of the song. “I Put A Spell On You” was released on March 8, 2010, via download only. Shane MacGowan and friends contained a line-up that included the following:[5][6]
List of musicians who recorded on MacGowan’s recording
“I Put a Spell on You” has been covered very many times, perhaps most famously by Nina Simone in 1965, Alan Price in 1966, and Bette Midler in the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus. Other artists to record the song include:
Also, it has been sampled on tracks by The Notorious B.I.G. (“Kick In The Door”), The Beatnuts (“Se Acabo”), LL Cool J and The Heavy (“Sixteen”). Producers Cookin’ Soul reworked the sample used by The Notorious B.I.G, incorporating more elements of the original song and changing the tempo, and released a song featuring Styles P of The LOX.
The song has been used as the exit music for the annual Halloween fireworks show HalloWishes at Walt Disney World in Florida. It can also be heard at the end of Halloween Screamsat Disneyland and Disney’s Nightmare in the Sky at Hong Kong Disneyland.
The title of the song was borrowed to name one of the quests in the role-playing game Fallout New Vegas, as one of the numerous references and allusions to the music of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s in that game.
The song also functions as an important motif in the classic 1984 independent film by Jim Jarmusch Stranger than Paradise.
“There are a lot of unsung movers and shakers behind the scenes of rock’n'roll, and when rock’s glitterati need someone they can rely on to make things happen, the name Gerry O’Boyle tends to come top of the list. There are few better connected than the Irish legend behind the infamous haunts Filthy McNasty’s and The Boogaloo, so when Shane MacGowan decided he wanted to record a charity single to raise money for the people of Haiti, the first call he made was to his old friend O’Boyle. They set up camp in the bar, got on the phone and within a matter of days they had Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, Mick Jones and Bobby Gillespie on board, to name just a few. Now it looks as though what has to be the most bitchin’ charity single ever made might be a real contender for next week’s number one. Dazed Digital had a quick bleary-eyed after hours chat with O’Boyle on Saturday night about how it all started…”
Dazed Digital: How did this whole thing come together?
Gerry O Boyle: The project was Shane and his longtime girlfriend Victoria Clarke’s idea. They rang me on a Friday night asking me to help put it together, and one week to the day, we were in a studio in Battersea recording it… It was literally that quick; a truly mental week. Shane, Victoria and I just called everyone up and asked them to jump onboard. Nick, Bobby and Johnny were the first to jump in, and then we made a few more calls and put the bill together. We wanted to make money for Concern – a very old established Irish charity that has actually been in Haiti for 15 years. Victoria rang them up and naturally, they said yes. Everything about the project was blessed. We did it on no budget, and just put together a headquarters in the back of The Boogaloo.
DD: This is a snarling rock’n'roll monster with teeth sharper than Shane’s new gnashers, why this song in particular?
GB: It’s a very different take on the charity single; this is very ballsy. Shane loves Haiti and he loves Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, so he just thought it felt right. In his opinion, it’s a hymn of love and a primal prayer to the fallen people. He feels the lyrics to “I Put A Spell On You’” are those of enchantment, love and primal prayer.
DD: How did Johnny Depp become involved?
GB: Johnny is an old friend of Shane’s. He has appeared on one of Shane’s albums before and is in the video for “That Woman’s Got Me Drinking”. Everyone was in the studio on the day except Johnny who was working in LA, and he had to send his parts on to us. It was a pretty magical day, and it was a full moon with an eclipse. Shane was up early, and the first in the studio, which is really unheard of… Then, one by one, they all rolled up, some of the legends who have created the soundtrack for the last two generations: The Pogues, Pistols, Clash, Nick, Pretenders, Primal Scream, and, of course, the two young chanteuses Paloma Faith and Eliza Doolittle.
DD: And who plays that awesome sax solo?
GB: The sax player is Terry Edwards. He used to be in Gallon Drunk. We needed a sax and Glen Matlock just called him. He turned up, did his take and was gone within an hour, a true gent.
DD: It sounds like the whole thing was done really fast!
GB: Once we got the bill togther, we had to get a studio, then a producer, a date, a label to put it out, do clearances, you name it… it was manic. In the afternoon on the day before, while everyone was doing a rehearsal in The Boogaloo, I got a call from our initial label saying they couldn’t do it! With two hours notice we had to get a new label and thankfully, we did… David Jaymes and Tom Haxell at IRL jumped in to bail us out. It was very rough and tumble, and the back office of The Boogaloo never saw more manic discussions… There is a Facebook campaign that started yesterday to make it number one, and we’ve only been on YouTube for three days but then again, we’ve got Johnny Depp!
“I Put A Spell On You” will be available from IRL Records on download only via pre-ordering the single by clicking here. Or text SPELL (all in capitals) to 78789 (the text costs £1.50).
References
^ Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc.. ISBN0-89820-155-1.
