Subliminal influence

This article discusses the difference between rational and impulsive decision making, arguing that most decision making is impulsive.

Subliminal influence

Dr David LewisMindLab International

Consumers mostly make purchase decisions in impulsive (irrational) brain mode, allowing creative subtleties in imagery to influence advertising reception.

Imagine two menus both describing a bowl of tomato soup as 'rich and creamy'. The only difference is that one is printed using a Courier font and the other Lucida Calligraphy.

Would these different fonts influence how tasty you found the soup?

Unlikely as it may seem, research suggests that it might. In a study, conducted by my laboratory, two groups rated tomato soup described, as above, in one of those two fonts....

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