why most people don't take rational decisions

By M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

Which detergent is the best one?

An experiment was conducted by giving some women three types of different detergents to test. One had a strong yellow package, the other had a blue package while the third had a package that contained a combination of both colors.

Here is what the women reported after testing them:

  • 1- The one with the yellow package was very strong and sometimes ruined the clothes
  • 2- The blue one wasn't strong enough and it sometimes left the clothes dirty
  • 3- The third one was the best

In fact, all of three detergents were exactly the same, the only different thing between them was the packaging. The women believed they received three different detergents and so they imagined they had different effects. Most women reported the same results even though they were using the exact same detergent. So what happened here?

I talked about the psychology of colors before and i explained how each color can program the mind in a different way. Because yellow is a strong color the women believed that the detergent with a yellow package is strong. Because blue is somehow connected to dirt the blue one was considered weak and the one with mixed colored was seen as the right combination of both.

Why most people don't take rational decisions

No this is not an article about color psychology simply because there are so many variables, apart from colors, that affect the subconscious mind. For example the shape of the package, the sound that happens when the package is opened, the text written on the package and so many other factors affect the impression people form of a product.

But did you notice that all of those factors had nothing to do with the product itself?
If people were rational they would have reported the same result for the three detergents but because the subconscious mind can easily get eluded by certain subtle cues people usually don't take rational decisions.

A bottle of water that looks cooler might seem more desirable to people even though it has regular water. Everyday consumers make lots of choices between extremely similar products and the only reason they pick one product and not the other is because of the way their subconscious minds respond to the brand.

All diary products are almost the same. Why do people favor some of them over others?
Simply because the subconscious mind sees them in a different light.

Influencing people is easy

So what's the takeaway?
People are anything but rational and you can easily persuade someone without using logic. In the Super powers course i explained how you can influence people very easily by just sending some of those subtle cues to the subconscious mind.

Here is a very simple example, you can make people think you are way more attractive by just:

  • 1) Wearing red (Especially if you are a man
  • 2) Walking with attractive people. The subconscious mind will see the group as one thing
  • 3) Using Instagram filters to enhance the picture. Yes people know about the Filters but the subconscious mind will still get fooled.

Yes those people have seen you before and yes they know how attractive you are but by doing those simple tricks they will think that you are much more attractive than they thought. In fact posting one great picture of yourself can enhance your attractiveness levels in the eyes of the viewers.

Moral of the story: people are anything but rational because most decisions are controlled by the subconscious mind.

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