[tips] Next Time You Go Out To Dinner, Remember Menu Psychology
There is an interesting article in the NY Times about Menu Psychology, that is, the subtle (and not too subtle) ways in which a menu is designed to influence a person's perception and decision to select particular items for a meal. It even explains the rationale for why dollar signs ($) don't appear on certain menu. Some of the commonly known heuristics and priming effects are referred to but not by name (e.g., the anchoring and adjustment heuristic which would suggest putting the most expensive item on the menu at the top, thus making all other menu items appear to be more reasonably priced). To give a sense of the article, consider the following quote: |In the “Ten Commandments for Menu Success,” an article published |in Restaurant Hospitality magazine in 1994, Allen H. Kelson, a restaurant |consultant, wrote, “If admen had souls, many would probably trade them |for an opportunity every restaurateur already has: the ability to place an |advertisement in every customer’s hand before they part with their money.” | |And like advertisements, menus contain plenty of subliminal messages. | |Some restaurants use what researchers call decoys. For example, they |may place a really expensive item at the top of the menu, so that other |dishes look more reasonably priced; research shows that diners tend to order |neither the most nor least expensive items, drifting toward the middle. |Or restaurants might play up a profitable dish by using more appetizing |adjectives and placing it next to a less profitable dish with less description |so the contrast entices the diner to order the profitable dish. | |Research by Brian Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell |University and the author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We |Think,” suggests that the average person makes more than 200 decisions about |food every day, many of them unconsciously, including the choices made |from reading menus. | |Menu design draws some of its inspiration from newspaper layout, which |puts the most important articles at the top right of the front page, where the |eyes tend to be drawn. Some restaurants will place their most profitable items, |or their specials, in that spot. Or they place a dotted outline or a box around |the item, put more white space around it to make the dish stand out or, in |what menu researchers say is one of the most effective tools, add a photograph |of the item or an icon like a chili pepper. | |(Photos of foie gras on the menus of white-tablecloth restaurants would be |surprising, however. Menu consultants say those establishments should never |use pictures.) According to the article there are four types of diners; which are you? a) Entrees b) Recipes c) Barbecues d) Desserts Remember, if you put lipstick on a pig, you still have a pig but some people will like the pig with lipstick better than the pig without lipstick, if it is done right. And they'll pay more for the pig with lipstick. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] How Is A Church Like A Can Opener?
The NY Times has a review of Nicholas Wade's book The Faith Instinct which might be of interest to some. Wade tries to explain religion as an evolutionary device that applies to groups of people which may be why it is so prevalent and enduring; see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/books/review/Shulevitz-t.html?em -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] Boder and Holocaust interviews
Hi Interesting article about psychologist David Boder's interviews with displaced persons (holocaust survivors) in Feb 2010 issue (#9) of Knowledge magazine (a product of BBC). Interviews were obtained shortly after WW II ended. Information is available at the following link, although it is not working (for me) at this moment: http://voices.iit.edu Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Boder and Holocaust interviews
On 25 Dec 2009 at 15:14, Jim Clark wrote: Interesting article about psychologist David Boder's interviews with displaced persons (holocaust survivors) in Feb 2010 issue (#9) of Knowledge magazine (a product of BBC). Interviews were obtained shortly after WW II ended. Information is available at the following link, although it is not working (for me) at this moment: http://voices.iit.edu Thanks, Jim. I couldn't obtain an on-line version of the article, and our library doesn't subscribe to Knowledge magazine. But I was able to access the iit website. The story of this material is very interesting, and the interviews moving. It's a large project. After browsing the site, I can recommend the following for a relatively brief overview of it: From the main page, go to About the project and click on In the news. Scroll down for a 4-minute video on the project reported by Fox News in 2007, with limited information. http://voices.iit.edu/project_news A longer and more interesting presentation (22 minutes) is an American Life programme in 2001 (from PBS in the USA) which was the first to actually broadcast from the wire recordings of the interviews. The link which appears farther down the page won't get you there, though, but only to the current American Life. You can get there either by searching at that point on Boder or going here: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=95 9 or http://tinyurl.com/yg8hwq6 Two notes on this presentation, titled 197: Before it had a name. First, it begins with a story about cow farming. The Boder story starts a little after the six-minute mark. Second, as this was an early account, some of the details relating to Boder seem sparse and perhaps confused. The interview clips and the commentary on them are nevertheless very interesting. However, it's best to then read the biography of Boder also on the voices webpage. Click on About the Project, then David Boder or go to http://voices.iit.edu/david_boder Stephen - Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sbl...@ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada --- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
[tips] Fatal combination?
I was mentally reviewing some of the psyhology professors I have encountered and it seems to me that most of them are on their second or third marriages and I am beginning to wonder if this is a consequence of the time absorbed in their grad studies and other academic pursuits.I know some who married a person who was a student of theirs, and that student was wife number two.It does appear that in some cases hitting the books to the extreme can be hazardous to marriage and family.Any testimonials? Michael omnicentric Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
Re: [tips] Fatal combination?
erratum psychology' OK Mike P and Carol Devolder,gimme a break. Had too much rum. I was mentally reviewing some of the psyhology professors I have encountered and it seems to me that most of them are on their second or third marriages and I am beginning to wonder if this is a consequence of the time absorbed in their grad studies and other academic pursuits.I know some who married a person who was a student of theirs, and that student was wife number two.It does appear that in some cases hitting the books to the extreme can be hazardous to marriage and family.Any testimonials? Michael omnicentric Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida ---To make changes to your subscription contact:Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.722 / Virus Database: 270.14.119/2586 - Release Date: 12/25/09 04:33:00 --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
