This webinar from the New England chapter of the Insights Association included four speakers:

• Melissa Geathers from InnovateMR as the moderator,
• Mujde Yuksel from Suffolk University,
• Owen Jenkins from Protobrand, and
• Kathryn Ambroze from HCD Research.

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Kahneman’s System 1 and System 2

The webinar started with Mujde Yuksel sharing a good overview of Daniel Kahneman’s theory of decision marking. Kahneman is Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He hasn’t been active on Twitter for a year but you can find his Twitter account here.

Kahneman’s behavioral research describes human behavior as having two systems.

• System 1: The vast majority of human behavior falls under system 1. It is fast, effortless, and hard to control. It plays with our subconscious mind and underlying emotions and feelings.
• System 2: On the other hand, system 2 is slow, explicit, and logical. It deals in our deliberate, conscious thinking and is more rational and pragmatic.

When conducting behavioral science research, we need to ensure we incorporate techniques and methodologies that let us uncover both system 1 and system 2 thinking.

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Consumer Decision Making

Owen Jenkins then discussed three drivers of consumer decision making. Specifically, he focused on:

• Functional characteristics: Whether B2B or B2C, consumers consider the features of products and services that help them perform activities. What does the product or service do for you, what does it help you do better, faster, or cheaper. Most traditional research does a great job at measuring these aspects of the consumer journey.
• Symbolic properties: Consumers also consider symbolic features of products and services. For example, there are common cultural or societal understandings around certain brands or products that tell us about the people who use them. For instance, we can interpret that someone who buys Patagonia products cares about the environment, someone who buys a Harley has a rebellious spirit, and someone who buys an Alfa Romeo has style and sophistication.
• Emotional activations: Lastly, we feel personal thoughts and emotions about brands. You might feel good about buying Toms shoes because you know it means they donated a pair of shoes to someone in need. Or, you might feel excited about buying a Prada bag because you’ve always dreamed of having a small piece of luxury for yourself.

Even if you haven’t got access to or the budget for advanced technology like facial coding, eye tracking, heart rate tracking, skin conduction testing, EEG, or fMRIs , traditional online research is still very much an option.

Implicit tests can incorporate things like:

• Imagery: Rather than asking people to describe what they like or dislike about something, they can be asked to select images that reflect their thoughts, feelings, or emotions. Once they’ve selected those images via system 1, they can then try to describe why they selected those images using system 2.
• Metaphors: Depending on the culture or country you were raised in, the complex ideas represented by metaphors can mean many different things. But, it’s still possible to ask people to select metaphors and/or similes that reflect a brand. The system 2 mind can then take the time to explain and describe why that metaphor is most reflective of the brand or product.

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A Continuum of Decision Making

Lastly, using a case study, Kathryn talked about how people see, interpret, and behave in the world not as a binary system of conscious vs non-conscious actions and emotions, but rather as a continuum.

For example, when you are shopping at the store, you automatically reach for the brand you always buy – you don’t think about it. But what happens when the brand isn’t there? Then you become conscious of the absence. You have to turn on your system 2 thinking to figure what’s happened – is the brand in a different place, do you have to identify what the alternative options are, do you have to make a brand new decision based on product features rather than on brand recognition.

Thank you for a great webinar!

Learn more from our case studies

• Improving Sales by Understanding Pain Points of Sales Reps – A home appliance survey case study
• Increasing Customer Acceptance For Controversial Pet Food Format – A survey case study
• Increasing Enrollment Through A More Meaningful Brand Purpose – An education survey case study

Learn more from our other blog posts

• How to Leverage TikTok as a Consumer and Customer Insights Tool
• 8 Engaging Question Types to Improve Participants’ Survey Taking Experience
• Trackers Suck. Here’s how to fix them.