How Research Connects with your Emotions
As researchers, we’re supposed to be experts on figuring out how to be emotionally connected with consumers. Professionally, our job is to explain the unconscious origins of a consumer’s action – not paying attention to the fact that most of our decisions happen through emotion. For whatever reason, we cannot control it and it is past our ability of being aware of it. Not only do we think, but we feel as well.
Our emotions are automated actions, which allow us to be put in survival mode to some behavioral responses. Nine times out of ten, our emotions choose for us. We feel our way towards our reasoning – as our emotions never hinder a decision. They are based on a foundation on which they are made.
Specific cognitive experiments have shown that there is a difference between what the left and right brain think – the left brain rationalizes stories to organize and retain sensory information of the right brain. The left brain speaks in words and numbers, while the right brain communicates with feelings and images. A picture is worth 1000 words, communicating that emotion is the universal language of humans, allowing us to learn new behaviors.
Left brain creates a sense of self, while the right brain creates a sense of we, connecting with others and living in the moment. For instance, the Volkswagen TV commercial featuring Darth Vader created such a stir via emotional response that it had the highest commercial ratings that were seen. This ad, introduced during the Super Bowl, had 56 million views on YouTube, achieving the best market share in 30 years.
Seeking connection with your emotions is the inspiring part of researching certain products. As designers, we not only design products, but we focus on consumers and what they love and hate. It makes our job easier. To read more on this article, please click here. For more information on Beyond Design & what we do, click here.
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