18/11/2021

Aarron Toal

Consumers &
Consumerism
The Collective
(Cultural) Unconscious

Lecture 7

Office hours
About me Every Friday
10:00 – 12:00

• Aarron Toal (he/him/his)

• Teaching Fellow in marketing and entrepreneurship

• Research interests:
• Business psychology, consumer behaviour, evolutionary consumer
psychology

@aarrontoal
aarron.toal@durham.ac.uk

Going forward
Week Seven:
THE COLLECTIVE (CULTURAL) UNCONSCIOUS
Culture, sub-cultures, cultural products, cultural codes, memes

Week Eight:
MY BRAIN MADE ME BUY IT
Shopping on autopilot, heuristics and biases

Week Nine:
CONSUMER MISBEHAVIOUR
Maladaptive consumption and bad buying behaviour

Week Ten:
EVOLUTIONARY (CONSUMER) PSYCHOLOGY: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Consumer neuroscience, neuromarketing and neuro-ethics

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Part I
Recap – Darwinian Meta-Drives
Learning objective:
• To (re)familiarise ourselves with key concepts of the module so
far

The evolved mind

• All evolutionary adaptations were selected for use
within the hostile Environment of Evolutionary
Adaptation (EEA)

• The brain has developed as a result of information

processing from the environment to generate a
behavioural response suited to those conditions
• The way the brain functions suggests many
thousands of domain-specific neural circuits in a
massive network – evidenced through
neuroscience

• Information-processing is performed by evolved

network of neural circuits to solve adaptive
problems (those faced by our ancestors – not us
today!)
Cosmides & Tooby (1997)

Evolutionary psychology
Levels of explanation Categories of behaviour
E
AT
IM
OX
PR
Functional
W hat triggered that?
Adaptive
Evolved to solve a problem

Ontogenic
How did we learn that?
Maladaptive
E Evolved to solve a problem,
AT
IM but no longer useful today
U LT Adaptive
W hat challenge did it relate to?
Spandrel
Didn’t evolve to solve a
Phylogenic
problem
How did it originally evolve?

Tinbergen (1963) Berkow, Cosmides & Tooby (1997)

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Evolutionary consumer psychology

• Application of principles of Darwinian evolutionary psychology to the
study of consumer behaviour
• Previous researchers have advanced our understanding of wanting,
purchasing and consuming but these are just partial accounts
• Consumer psychologists have been asking proximate questions, not
ultimate ones, so we lack a clear understanding of the underlying causes
of a behaviour. Once we know this, we can market goods and services
more effectively.

Theoretical foundation: Evolutionary Consumer Psychology

Practical application: Consumer Neuroscience

Categories of adaptive behaviour – the meta-drives

• Proposed by Saad & Gill (2000) as a means of

classifying consumer behaviours of Darwinian
significance
SU RVIVA L REPRO DU C TIO N

• Originally called “modules” in a mistaken belief

this was how the brain was organised

• Also called “meta-behaviours”, but this is

confusing as it implies they are categories of a
behaviour rather than causes of it REC IPRO C ATIO N KIN SH IP

• ECP researchers prefer the term “meta-drives” –

where a particular observed behaviour has been
generated by circuits shaped by natural/sexual
selection pressures Based on: Saad (2000;2016)

Evolutionary applications to
consumption
Can help explain our consumer choices for:

• Cheeseburgers
• Adult entertainment
• PlayStation
• Gift giving

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The consuming instinct

• EEA – faced a constant struggle to find safe food to eat
SURVIVAL • Expended a considerable amount of energy meeting these challenges
• Prefer sugary and fatty foods
• Top 10 most successful restaurants year on year are fast food outlets

REPRODUCTION

RECIPROCATION

Saad (2021)

10 KINSHIP

SURVIVAL

The consuming instinct

• Evolutionary based sexuality differences between male and females
• Males tendency to prioritise visual over emotional
• Females tendency to be selective in reproductive choices, so also more
REPRODUCTION
cautious and considered in particular decision-making scenarios
• Males highest consumers of pornography – dark side of consumption
• Women highest consumers of erotica and romance novels

RECIPROCATION

KINSHIP
Miller (2009)

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SURVIVAL

REPRODUCTION

The consuming instinct

• Successful maintenance of a group dependent upon reciprocal altruism
• “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”
RECIPROCATION
• Friendship themes in entertainment products or food advertising
• Universal responses to fair/unfair prices

KINSHIP

Durante & Griskevicius (2017)

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SURVIVAL

REPRODUCTION

RECIPROCATION

The consuming instinct

• Goal is survival of genes from one generation to the next, need to support
• Selection favours mutually supportive kin networks
KINSHIP
• Correlation between genetic relatedness and gift expenditure
• Ethnic preferences and country of origin effects

Toal & Nicholson (2021)

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Deep rooted drivers of behaviour

• DRDs are dedicated circuits within the
brain that, once activated, generate
specific adaptive behaviours
• Examples might include a need for
belonging (written belongingDRD in
the literature) and a need for social
validation (validationDRD), both
associated with particular neural
circuits
• Buying the latest fashion item worn by
peers may involve activation of one or Steidl (2016)
both of these core DRDs. Notice how
both, however, could be classified
within the Kinship meta-drive

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Part II
The Collective (Cultural) Unconscious
Learning objective:
• Understand how local culture can modify our evolutionary
needs

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You never get a second chance at a first impression

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An alternative view of the brain

Triune brain
• Proposed as a means of capturing
the evolution of the human brain

• Some basis found in modern

neuroscience, but somewhat over-
simplified

• Best thought of as a sophisticated

metaphor, rather than a literal
model
MacLean (1990)

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The Culture Code

Motivational Psychology - largely associated with Freud and his contemporaries, placing
emphasis on the role of the unconscious in shaping wants, needs and desires.
Unconscious mind Collective archetypes Theory of imprinting
(Freud, 1915) (Jung, 1947) (Lorenz, 1935)

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Sigmund Freud

Structure of the Unconscious mind

(Freud, 1915)

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Carl Jung
Collective archetypes
(Jung, 1947)

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Brand
archetypes

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Konrad Lorenz
• Fast and automatic process of
attachment in animals
• Tendency for newborns to
follow the first moving object
they see
• Adaptive behaviour as it
promotes survival between
biological parent (or another Theory of imprinting
member of its species) (Lorenz, 1935)

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Clotaire Rapaille

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How to crack the Culture Code

Discovery Workshop
• Phase One: Neocortical
Strips away the rationalisation of the product (our “alibis” for buying it)
• Phase Two: Limbic
Removes any emotional distortions we may have acquired about the
product
• Phase Three: Reptilian
Explores our early imprinting of the product, free from both of the above

Post-Workshop
• Data analysis to uncover the product’s unique code in our particular culture
• On-code/off-code testing of marketing materials to ensure we have the correct
code

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Phase One: Neocortical

• Main objective is to remove the rationalisation
(“alibi”) the consumer has developed for
wanting the product
• We all construct these alibis to make
consumption both logical to ourselves and
socially acceptable to others

• The workshop Moderator “gets rid” of these rationalisations by

adopting the role of a naïve observer who has never encountered the
product before
• Works from a pre-prepared (but very loose) moderation guide
• Mainly consists of a series of simple-but-probing questions

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My example: Britain
• “Very traditional values, class division and norms”
• “We have a lot of institutions and traditions that are still as
important today as they have been throughout history, like the
royal family or aristocracy”
• “Old habits that we get taught and remain with us throughout our
lives”
• “Fu**ed - That’s how I feel when you see it all on the news when
you consider historically where we have been and where we are
now”
• “Immigration problem that threatens our economy and society”

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Phase Two: Limbic

• Main objective is to understand the underlying
emotions that may be both interfering with
view of the product and/or are emerging from
the code
• This phase utilises projective techniques first
developed by Freud and other psychoanalysts
to use stimuli as a way of getting participants
to express emotions they may find difficult to
put into words or aren’t even aware they are
experiencing
• The workshop Moderator typically uses storytelling techniques to achieve this,
the most common being collage and “wordle” methods

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My example: Britain

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Phase Three: Reptilian

• Main objective is to reach the reptilian part of the brain
where early imprints of objects are stored – in other
words, this is where the product’s Cultural Code is
• First ten minutes of this stage simply involves relaxation
techniques to help “supress” interreference from the
neocortex and limbic systems
• One by one, participants are asked to recount their
earliest memories of the product, jotting any random
thoughts down on a piece of paper

• Moderator then follows a pre-prepared set of questions, asking participants to refer to

the memory fragments they’ve just noted down to help answer them
• Finally, participants are given around ten minutes to organise their answers and write
a very brief story about that early encounter with the product – it’s these stories that
will be collected for analysis to uncover the code

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My example: Britain The Code for Britain is ROUTINE

• Going on summer holidays with family

• The Royal Family and celebrating their key milestones (i.e.
Jubilee)
• Importance of watching football or other spectator sports
• Eurovision
• Talking about the weather
• Afternoon tea
• Queueing, complaining, strikes, class structure, aristocracy,
theatre, soap operas, diets, institutions, politics, celebrations,
celebrity culture

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The culture code - TEA

• BRITAIN
• It’s like a greeting (first thing someone says when you visit their
house/office)
• Tea, cake and biscuits; sharing the biscuit tin around
• Sitting with family and friends, parents or grandparents
• Playing tea-parties
• Making big pots for everyone; something that is shared
• Chatting; talking; having a break

The Code for TEA in BRITAIN is TOGETHERNESS

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The culture code - TEA

• CHINA
• Bitter, not sweet; looked like tobacco
• An old man sitting in a bamboo forest; walking in the mountains
• Picking the leaves; green leaves
• Watching the leaves being soaked in water
• Fragrant smell; smells like the outdoors indoors; smells fresh
• Sitting outdoors, in the garden
• Colours of the leaves, colours of the water
• Natural; earthy; health benefits
The Code for TEA in CHINA is NATURE

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Code validation
• Easiest way to test that we have the right code?

• Potential ads that are ‘half on’ code and ‘half off’ code

• Ask sample customers how they rate the ad on a five-point

scale in terms of how likely or not they would purchase the
product

• If we have the correct code, the mean score for the ‘on-code’
ad will be higher than that of the ‘off-code’

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Part III
Memes
Learning objective:
• Explore where memes originate within evolutionary
psychology theory, and understand how memes spread

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Memes vs. Genes

Charles Darwin and The Origin of the Species

Rule:
• Replicators try to copy themselves
• They compete within a limited environment
• Some will fail, but the fitter replicators will be
successful
= EVOLUTION

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The Selfish Gene

• Genes uses hosts like you and me
to replicate themselves
• We are throwaway survival
machines
• Genes will go on replicating
themselves for millions of years

Genes are not the only replicators

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The Earth is flat

Climate change is fake

The coronavirus vaccine makes you impotent

The US election was stolen

The Illuminati seeks to establish a New World Order

Area51 experiments on extra-terrestrials

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The second replicator

IDEAS transmitted via STORIES

• Just as we are the hosts for genes, we are also the hosts for
ideas
• Just as genes act to spread themselves to the next generation,
we act to spread ideas to others via stories
• The ideas don’t have to be true, or may even be against the
best interests of those spreading them

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Urban legends

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Cultural stories

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Survival of the fittest (story)

• Just as genes survive, the story survives
• All stories compete for our attention
• We accept some, and reject others

• Those successful stories we allow into our brains are then

passed onto others via cultural evolution

MEMES = the mechanics of spreading ideas

MIMETICS = the study of memes

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A meme-based species

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Memeplex

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Teen memes

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Why we buy things we don’t need

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Societal benefits

#METOO

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Societal problems

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Marketing memes

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Thank you
See you next week!

Lecture 8: My Brain Made Me Buy It

Part I: Shopping on autopilot
Part II: Heuristics and biases

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