When perceptions and reality diverge, our instinct is to align them with education and communication. But sometimes perceptions reflect genuine experience, local context or the way we measure the world. Drawing on lessons from policing, this article argues that before trying to change what people think, we first need to understand where perceptions came from in the first place.
Research suggests that human beings have a natural tendency towards seeing deeper meaning in ordinary things. We don’t just appreciate an object’s physical features, we also perceive its deeper, hidden meaning; its soul. This is especially true when it comes to products. The perceived "soul" of a product deeply impacts how a consumer values it. Marketers can directly craft the deeper meaning of their products through clever storytelling.
It is no secret that the way we speak to others has a strong impact on how we are perceived, and how successful our interactions will be. The lesson from cognitive science is this: When it comes to money, the way we speak to ourselves is equally important.
