Graduation Map

Blue buildings show parking lots. Red circles highlight event locations.

Southwest and Airtran – Will This Change Their Service?

Southwest and Airtran – Will This Change Their Service?

Southwest and Airtran are now combining reservation services. Will this affect Southwest’s wonderful service?

Happiness Makes Success

A good Monday night share: http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/happiness-makes-your-brain-work-better.html

Happiness Makes Success

A good Monday night share: http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/happiness-makes-your-brain-work-better.html

Atos’ Employee E-mail Ban & Reactance

Remember when I blogged about Bank of America and the psychology phenomenon of “reactance”?

Here’s another example in which reactance is likely to come into play and potentially backfire against a company.

In this recent article, http://news.yahoo.com/tech-firm-implements-employee-zero-email-policy-165311050.html, a tech firm called Atos is banning e-mail from the workplace. The new “zero email” policy is based on their theory that external communication e-mails are not productive or necessary for work. Although this may increase efficiencies, I wonder if Atos management considered potential reactance from its employees?

In this technological age, e-mail is seen as a perceived right, and taking that away is likely to cause reactance, which can create emotional backlash that could potentially lower productivity.

Hot Chocolate on a Rainy Day

http://www.open-senses.com/en/news/News/show/moodfood-happiness-through-food-272

“The ‘Proust effect’: by eating or drinking a particular product, we unconsciously raise a vivid memory of past situations of happiness that help to improve our mood today (even after many years, since olfactory memory is very powerful).”

I can tell you my ‘proust effect’ food:

Hot Chocolate on a Rainy Day.

It brings back that sense of nostalgia and comfort at the first sip.

What’s your ‘proust effect’ food?

 

Framing and Yellow Tail Wines

Yellow Tail Wines. One of the most successful and innovative wines of its time.

Why? Because it’s sweeter than most wines of its genre… to appeal to a growing younger class of wine consumers.
Why else? Because it’s relatively inexpensive… also to appeal to the growing younger class of wine consumers.

So  have you ever wondered why you see these wines at grocery stores but not often at restaurants?

I bet you haven’t; but I have!

The answer is in how humans view all things relatively. At the grocery store, Yellow Tail is compared to much more expensive wines, which makes it appear as if it is a much better deal than others in its genre. However, even at the same price, at restaurants that cater towards younger audiences, the wine would appear much more expensive  compared to the other cheap wines that are offered. This is known in the psychology world as a term called “framing,” which describes how the context of a consumer product has an effect on how the consumer views it. This also describes how important context and product placement is in marketing since consumers view all products relative to one another.