The Misconception : We prefer the thing we own over the thing we do n’t because we made rational choices when we bought them . The Truth ?
The truth is that you prefer the thing you own because you rationalise your preceding option to protect your sense of ego .
The cyberspace alter the way people indicate .
stop any comment organization , forum or subject matter board and you will find fanboys extend at it , debating why their chosen mathematical product is better than the other guy wire ’s .
In modern consumer cultures like America , citizenry vie for status through liken their sense of taste in products . ( you may read more on how that works here : Selling Out ) .
Mac vs. PC , PS3 vs. XBox 360 , iPhone vs. Android – it goes on and on .
Usually , these controversy are between piece , because men will defend their ego no matter how svelte the insult . These are also ordinarily about geeky things that be lots of money , because these conflict take place on the Internet where tech - savvy people get rowdy , and the more expensive a purchase , the heavy the loyalty to it .
Fanboyism is n’t anything raw , it ’s just a component part of branding , which is something vendor and advertizer have screw about since Quaker Oats produce a friendly logotype to go on their burlap sacks .
There was , of course , no friendly Quaker family making the oat back in 1877 . The ship’s company wanted people to affiliate the trustworthiness and honesty of Quakers with their merchandise . It worked .
This was one of , if not the first , such attack to create brand dedication – that unfixed excited connection people have with sure fellowship which turns them into defenders and advocates for potbelly who do n’t give a tinker’s dam .
In experiments where people were pass Coke and Pepsi in unmarked cup and then hooked up to a mental capacity scanner , the gimmick clearly showed a sure act of them preferred Pepsi while tasting it .
When those citizenry were told they where drinking Pepsi , a fraction of them , the I who had enjoyed Coke all their life sentence , did something unexpected . The scanner show their brain scrambling the pleasure signals , dampen them . They then told the experimenter afterward they had preferred Coke in the taste trial run .
They lied , but in their immanent experiences of the situation , they did n’t . They really did feel like they favour Coke after it was all over , and they alter their memories to match their emotions .
They had been branded somewhere in the past tense and were fast to Coke . Even if they actually enjoyed Pepsi more , immense mental construct foreclose them from admitting it , even to themselves .
Add this form of loyalty to something expensive , or a hobbyhorse which demands a large investment of time and money , and you get a fanboy . They defend their best-loved material and jest at the competition , ignoring fact if they contradict their emotional connection .
So , what creates this emotional connexion to clobber and the companies who make doo - dada ?
Marketers and advertising bureau call the opposite of fanboys hostage .
Hostages have no selection but to purchase certain products , like toilet paper and gasoline . Since they ca n’t choose to own or not to own the product , they are far less likely to manage if one variant of toilet paper is better than another , or one gas post ’s fuel is made by Shell or Chevron .
On the other mitt , if the product is unneeded , like an iPad , there is a great chance the customer will become a fanboy because they had to select to spend a big chunk of money on it . It ’s the choose one thing over another which run to narratives about why you did it .
If you have to rationalize why you bribe a luxuriousness item , you will probably find ways to see how it outfit in with your self - image .
stigmatization builds on this by giving you the option to create the person you think you are through choosing to align yourself with the mystique of sure products .
Malus pumila advertizement , for example , does n’t cite how good their computers are . Instead , they give you examples of the sort of people who buy those computers . The idea is to encourage you to say , “ Yeah , I ’m not some stuffy , conservative nerd . I have perceptiveness and endowment and took art classes in college . ”
Are Apple computer better than Microsoft - base computers ? Is one expert than the other when look at empirically , ground on data point and analysis and examination and objective comparison ?
It does n’t matter .
Those consideration come after a person has begun to see themselves as the sort of person who would own one . If you see yourself as the kind of person who owns Apple computers , or who drive cross , or who smoke Camels , you ’ve been brand .
Once a person is branded , they will defend their stain by finding flaws in the alternate option and pointing out benefits in their own .
There are a number of cognitive biases which meet to produce this doings .
The Endowment Effect pop up when you palpate like the thing you own are superior to the things you do not .
Psychologists shew this by ask a grouping of people how much they think a water system bottle is deserving . The mathematical group will concur to an amount around $ 5 , and then someone in the grouping will be given the bottle for free .
Then , after an hour , they require the person how much they would be willing to deal the nursing bottle back to the experimenter for . They usually involve for more money , like $ 8 .
possession adds especial worked up value to thing , even if those things were spare .
Another bias is the Sunk Cost Fallacy . This is when you ’ve spent money on something you do n’t need to own or do n’t desire to do and ca n’t get it back .
For instance , you might pay too much for some takeout food that really blow , but you eat it anyway , or you sit through a moving-picture show even after you recognise it ’s terrible .
Sunk Cost can creep up on you too . Maybe you ’ve been a ratifier to something for a long clip and you realize it costs too much , but you do n’t end your subscription because of all the money you ’ve invested in the armed service so far .
Is Blockbuster expert than Netflix , or Tivo better than a generic DVR ? If you ’ve spend a raft of money on subscription fees , you might be unwilling to flip to alternatives because you feel invested in the brand .
These preconception course into the big daddy of behaviour which is most creditworthy for stigmatisation , fanboyism and Internet arguments about why the thing you own is better than the affair the other guy wire have – Choice Supportive Bias .
Choice Supportive Bias is a big part of being a mortal , it pop out up all the time when you buy affair .
It works like this : You have several options , like say for a new telecasting . Before you make a choice you lean to equate and contrast all the different quality of all the televisions on the market .
Which is better , Samsung or Sony , plasma or liquid crystal display , 1080p or 1080i – ugh , so many variable !
You eventually get back on one option , and after you make your decision you then look back and rationalize your action by believe your television was the well of all the televisions you could have picked .
In retail , this is a well - understood phenomenon , and to preclude Buyer ’s self-reproach they try not to sweep over you with choice . Studies show if you have only a handful of options at the point of purchase , you will be less potential to rub about your decisiveness afterward .
It ’s strictly worked up , the moment you piece . citizenry with brain damage to their excited centers who have been render into Spock - like beings of pure logic find it impossible to decide between thing as uncomplicated as which grain to buy . They stand spellbind in the aisle , contemplating every element of their potential decision – the calories , the shapes , the net weight – everything . They ca n’t pick because they have no worked up connexion to anything , no emotional motivations .
To battle postdecisional dissonance , the feeling you have institutionalize to one choice when the other pick may have been better , you make yourself palpate justified in what you selected to lower the anxiousness take on by call into question yourself .
All of this work a giant neurological cluster of associations , emotions , particular of self - image and preconception around the things you own .
This is why all over the Internet there are people in word battle over video games and sports teams , cell phone and TV show .
The cyberspace provide a fertile breeding solid ground for this variety of behavior to brandish .
So , the next time you reach for the mouse and get ready to launch and angry litany of reasons why your favorite – thing – is better than the other somebody ’s , hesitate .
Realize you have your irrational reason , and so do they , and nothing will be gained by your proselytizing .
link :
Barry Shwartz on choice at TED
Radiolab on option
Bruce Everiss on fanboys
10 Golden Rules of fanboyism
republish with license fromyou Are Nor So Smart .
Fanboys
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