profile

Nudge Newsletter

The psychological tricks needed to sell the first lightbulb | Nudge Newsletter

Published 5 days ago • 1 min read

The Mere Exposure Effect

​Read online​

Loyal fans of Nudge will have heard me talk about the mere exposure effect.

In 1969, psychologist Robert Zajonc¹ found that students rated unfamiliar Turkish words more favourably when they had seen them more often.

It's not a revolutionary finding. We prefer things we're familiar with.

And many great inventors knew this instinctively.

Thomas Edison understood that while the lightbulb was revolutionary, new inventions could frighten people.

To ease this fear, he embraced mere exposure and made the bulb more familiar.

Specifically, he mimicked gaslighting in several ways:

  • Similar brightness to gas lamps
  • Added light shades (used on gas to stop flickering in a draft—but unnecessary for electric bulbs).
  • Ran electric cables underground just like gas pipes.

Edison wrote his goal was to “imitate all done by gas” so the transition felt natural rather than disruptive.

Innovations spread faster when they blend the new with the familiar. — Phill ​

P.S. This wonderful insight is taken from Richard Shotton's great book Hacking The Human Mind. I interviewed him last week, and his episode will be out soon.

¹Zajonc, R. B., & Rajecki, D. W. (1969). Exposure and affect: A field experiment. Psychonomic Science, 17, 216–217.

​

As a behavioural science practitioner, I believe in the peak-end rule.

​

​Tune into Nudge | Advertise with Nudge | Unsubscribe

Nudge Newsletter

Phill Agnew

I spend 18 hours each week turning marketing psychology into readable newsletters.

Read more from Nudge Newsletter

Specific Goals > Unspecific Goals Read online Unspecific goals don't work. Psychologists¹ Locke and Latham proved it. In 1975, the two researchers set up a real-world experiment at a logging company. Drivers were only loading trucks to 60% capacity. For the control, all staff members were given an unspecific goal: Unspecific goal = “Do your best.” Performance did not increase. The researchers then asked staff what a hard but fair goal would be. They said 94%. That became their new specific...

12 days ago • 1 min read

Differential Price Framing Read online Want people to go premium? Don’t show them the full price. Show them the difference. That’s the idea behind differential price framing. In 2019, David Hardisty¹ at UBC tested it with New York Times subscriptions. Group A saw this: – $9.99/month for web + app – $16.99/month for web, app, print, podcast, crossword Group B saw this: – $9.99/month for web + app – +$7/month for all the extras Same total price. Different framing. But in Group B, twice as many...

19 days ago • 1 min read

Veblen Effect Read online Last week, I wrote about how Blue-Emu successfully sells pain relief cream (that doesn't actually cure pain). It indicated that perception trumps reality and reminded me of this study 👇 Rory Sutherland described this eloquently in a recent talk, saying: “I don’t have a $0.79 headache—I’ve got a $3.99 headache!” It's not just painkillers that benefit from higher prices. Eco-products do too. Research¹ cited in the brilliant Science Says measured sales of sustainable...

26 days ago • 1 min read