Cookie smell leads to poor decision making, impulsive purchases

From Science Daily:

“We found that an appetitive stimulus not only affects behavior in a specific behavior domain, but also induces a shared state that propels a consumer to choose smaller–sooner options in unrelated domains,” explains researcher Xiuping Li (National University of Singapore). “Similarly, the presence of an attractive woman in the trading room might propel an investor to choose the investment option providing smaller but sooner rewards.”

In the first experiment, Li asked participants to act as “photo editors of a magazine” and choose among either appetite stimulating pictures of food or non-appetite stimulating pictures of nature. A control group was shown no pictures at all. All were then asked to participate in a lottery that would either pay them less money sooner or more money later.

Those who had been exposed to the photos of food were almost twenty percentage points more likely to choose the lottery with the chance of a smaller, more immediate payoff than those who were exposed to the photos of nature (61 percent vs. 41.5 percent) and eleven percentage points more likely to choose the short-term gain than those who had not been exposed to any stimulus (61 percent vs. 50 percent).

Similarly, another experiment used a cookie-scented candle to further gauge whether appetitive stimulus affects consumer behavior. Female study participants in a room with a hidden chocolate-chip cookie scented candle were much more likely to make an unplanned purchase of a new sweater — even when told they were on a tight budget — than those randomly assigned to a room with a hidden unscented candle (67 percent vs. 17 percent).

“The scent of the appetitive stimulus led to reduced happiness with remote gains, which implied that participants in a present-oriented state were less sensitive to future values,” Li explains. “In addition, [this] experiment showed that participants were more likely to satisfy their current and spontaneous desire if they were exposed to the unrelated appetitive stimulus before they made the decision.”

Similarly, my own research has found that a trip to the grocery store while in a hungry state results in a hundred and fifty dollar shopping bill for such extraneous purchases as four varieties of cheese. Next time I find myself in a retail district, I will ensure that I satisfy my gastronomical desires before browsing the coat selection.

Also bringing breakfast to a sales meeting results in higher conversion rates.

I would like to know where those researches got their hands on cookie scented candles.

“This proposal looks in order and your terms seem reasonable…do I smell chocolate chip cookies?”

“Cookies?! Uh, nope – no cookies here.”

Article Link: Aroma Of Chocolate Chip Cookies Prompts Splurging On Expensive Sweaters

(Via boingboing.net.)

The octopus who loves his Mr Potato Head

This is just ridiculous. Should I categorize it under ’science’?

From Metro.co.uk:

The 1.8m-wide (6ft) creature is so attached to Mr Potato Head that he turns aggressive when aquarium staff try to remove it from his tank.

‘He’s fascinated by it,’ said Matt Slater, of the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall. ‘He attacks the net we use to fish the toy out every time we try to take it away.’

Mr Slater added: ‘Octopuses are very intelligent and they like to be stimulated and busy.’

Have a look at the related articles on this site.

such as:

“Hermaphrodite pony finds friendship with donkey”

The octopus who loves his Mr Potato Head | Metro.co.uk

Free University Courses as Podcasts

Open Culture has a concise guide to university courses published as podcasts for consumption by the general public. UC Berkeley, for example, has entire courses available for free as both audio and video podcasts.

Link: 25 UC Berkeley Courses Available via Free Video | Open Culture.

Portfolio: J Blair Metcalf

The new portfolio website by flash guru, J Blair Metcalf, is one of the best I have seen. The method he has devised for filtering and sorting his past projects is simply ingenious.

portfolio link

Endorsements

Often while browsing a website for some product or service, I will find some quote from one of their notable clients. The quote usually talks about how great the product is and how it saved them all sorts of time and money. In large part these quotes are fake: meaning they asked their client for a quote or the client does not exist altogether and the marketing director made the whole things up.

Here is a quote that I made up right now that speaks to how great I am:

Jeremy Taylor’s expertise in web development and his responsiveness enabled our company to quickly capitalize on a time-sensitive market opportunity. Mr. Taylor provided our firm with some of the most innovative solutions I have seen in my twenty years in the industry. We all owe Jeremy Taylor a debt of gratitude.

- Big Wig #2, Vanilla Frosting Industries

I always wanted a client to sit down and write me an endorsement like the one above, which I fabricated. It seems ridiculous to ask: "Hey Jim, Can you write me a stunning review so I can use it to attract new clients and subsequently spend less time on your project?" One time, many years ago, I asked a client to do just that.

"Yeah, sure thing, Jeremy. You’re great at what you do. Just write something and I’ll sign it."

After years considering the quoted endorsement issue, a milestone moment occurred when I least expected it. Last week I demonstrated some new analytics reports for a client over NetMeeting. I managed to get a stunning endorsement over instant messenger by this client, which was both unscripted and in type so I have the exact transcript. I felt great about his reaction, but I am a little disappointed that I will not be using this is my publicity campaign.

Here it is, no joke:

jeremy: click the tab and then select the group
jeremy: is that what you are looking for?
Client: SHIT
Client: that is fast!!!!
Client: wowowowowowow
Client: this is incredible
jeremy: click the ‘i’ icon in blue on the left
Client: yo baby
Client: yahooooooo
Client: this is really really cool
Client: you done good boy!
jeremy: great
jeremy: should we get together again on Monday?

related: jeremy taylor’s portfolio site

Fish, Mr. – Cartoons

Mr. Fish is on the top of my list of political cartoonists. Though the irony of keeping someone so morbid and cynical on a list of cartoonists is not lost on me. From the Mr Fish bio on Harper’s Magazine:

Mr. Fish lives in Los Angeles, California. He never asked to be born. Occasionally, he laughs his head off. His mother has no idea what he’s up to. She cries easily. For more information, date him.

link to the Mr. Fish archive

Electoral Compass

This site reminds me of an idea I had several years ago…but the execution of this tool far surpasses the fanciful model rendered by my mind. Find which candidate best fits with your national agenda. My star is Barak "The Rock" Obama.

link

San Diego: Balboa Park ‘Shoe Tree’ Bites the Dust

This tree at Morley Field in Balboa Park was a landmark on the disc golf course. In place of its long lost leaves hung hundreds of shoes. It came down during last weekend’s wind storm and was unceremoniously hauled off to the dump.

link

Chicago Enacts Bottled Water Tax

Link: New Year brings bottled water tax — chicagotribune.com.

Chicago is set to impose a 5-cent tax on bottled water on Jan. 1, becoming the first major U.S. city to demand such a surcharge. The move — which officials predict will secure an extra $10.5 million annually — will help the city plug a budget hole by building on the growing disdain for environmentally suspect bottles.

While the problem with bottled water waste in the United States is bad, I
have found that it is much worse here in the Czech Republic. Households generally
depend on 1.5 litre bottles of water as their primary drinking source (or possible secondary source if you include pilsner beer) which
can be bought for the equivalent of fifty US cents in any store. Add that to the much lower recycling rates in the Czech Republic and that equates to a mounting environmental toll.

China Annouces Plastic Bag Ban

The Chinese government has taken a rare environmental step to curb pollution by banning plastic shopping bags. Here in Central Europe, many stores make customers pay a nominal fee for plastic bags, which encourages patrons to reuse their shopping bags. 

Link: BBC NEWS

The Chinese government says it is banning shops from handing out free plastic bags from June this year, in a bid to curb pollution.

Production of ultra-thin plastic bags will also be banned, the State Council said in a statement.

Instead, people will be encouraged to use baskets or reusable cloth bags for their shopping, the council said.