December 30, 2016
Interview with Leonard Mlodinow, author of the book Subliminal
Mike Carruthers:
You’d like to think that all the decisions you make each day you make on your own – but not exactly.
Leonard Mlodinow:
All kinds of signals are coming into your brain all the time and affecting you on a level that you’re not aware of and then changing your decisions, your perceptions, and your behavior.
Leonard Mlodinow, author of the book Subliminal…
There’s a million studies on that but my favorite study took place in France. They hired 2 actors to stand on a street corner. Their instructions were to proposition every single young woman who walked by.
Now these were very handsome actors and they all said the same thing to each woman.
And to half the women that walked by they gave a light touch on the shoulder or elbow. I’m talking about a half second touch. And to the other half they just gave their verbal spiel. The researchers then studied the difference in their success rate of when they touched the women and when they didn’t – and it doubled. And this study has been replicated in many different contexts.
Other studies have shown that when your waiter in a restaurant gives you a light touch you’re more likely to leave a bigger tip. Why is this?
When you touch someone they are more cooperative and more trusting of you. And neurological and blood studies show that the touch causes oxytocin to be released in your brain, which stimulates a part of your brain that is involved in trust. And so this is the physiological way that we communicate really. And before we had language all we had was grunts and touches and that’s how we evolved.
