WE’RE EASY TO FOOL (WITH EXAMPLES)

We’re easy to influence. The new iPhone 5C and 5S look like modest improvements rather than ground-breakers like the original iPhone or iPad. Yet people started waiting in line before they even knew what Apple was launching.

This humorous video takes a look at how Apple is focusing on marketing rather than innovating.

A Prank

Would you confuse an iPhone (4” screen) with an iPad Mini (7” screen)? The screen sizes are very different. Not even Samsung makes a 7” phone (their largest is the Mega at 6.3”; review in MobileSyrup). This video shows that people can be fooled into thinking old is new and into saying what they think the interviewer wants to hear.

Familiarity

Can you tell

• Pepsi from Coke
• coffee from tea
• cheap wine from pricey wine

We’re not as good as we think. Pour Pepsi from a Coke can and we’re fooled. When we take a placebo (Wired) we think we’re getting medicine and recover.

Authority

We get fooled by signs of authority which imply trustworthiness such as a uniform, designations and experience. The Stanley Milgram obedience experiments in the early 1960s are extreme examples in which the subject thinks they are giving an unseen person increasingly strong electric shocks for making mistakes.

Prison

The Stanford prison experiment (Wikipedia) split subjects randomly into guards or prisoners. The participants started adopted their roles very quickly with dire results.even 

How Familiar?

When you’re not familiar, you can get fooled … even by yourself. Perhaps calling someone a “financial advisor” makes them (and you) think they really are?

We were in a health food store looking for supplements. Since the choices were confusing, we asked for help. We bought what was recommended … and the priciest (41% more than our usual). Did we make the right decision? We think so. Maybe that’s what really matters.

There are lots of things we don’t know. That makes us vulnerable … and profitable.

Links

• Jimmy Kimmel pranks people with the ‘new’ iPhone 5S (Mashable, Sep 12, 2013)
• The real difference between Coke and Pepsi (Business Insider, Dec 2012)
• Placebos are getting more effective (Wired, Aug 2009)
• Galaxy Mega 6.3 review (Mobile Syrup, Sep 9, 2013)
• The Milgram experiment (BBC video)

Podcast 237

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PS Do you think the new iPhones are really new?