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The Cove...

Thought provoking!

Via: TakePart.com

Revenge

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 22; the twenty-second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

The moment she saw him, she was overwhelmed with all the old emotions that she had been trying to suppress for years now. She began to feel sick in the stomach and could not help feeling short breathed. She could immediately remember each and every detail just like it was yesterday.

Some 12 odd years back, when she had just entered her first year of graduation. Belonging to a small town in the eastern UP, the big city of Mumbai was like a dream to her. She could not believe that she was able to convince her parents to let her go to such a big city. Her parents, while not very rich themselves, were not exactly poor. They had a sizable amount of agricultural land and led a comfortable life with all modern amenities. Even then, it was a task for her to convince her parents to let her pursue her dream of higher education.

So the first day of the college came and boy! Was she excited? She went to college and began regular studies. Very soon she was able to establish a close group of friends. Of course, being in Mumbai, very soon they started going out for various parties; some even extending to the early hours of the morning. Despite all the partying, boozing going on around her; she used to maintain that humble air about her which most people took her as being shy.

It was at one of these parties that she met Vikas. There was an instant connection between the two and she felt that she could easily talk to him. He seemed to be a nice guy. That is until the midnight of 14th Feb, 1999.

As her friendship with Vikas developed, they started going out more often. But she was still hesitant about anything further because of her small town, cautious upbringing. And she discussed this with Vikas as well, who said that he was fine with this. But apparently he was not. After the V-Day party, he took her for a midnight drive. Being unfamiliar with the city landscape; she did not know the area well. Vikas stopped the car at a lonely place and forced himself on her. Try as she might, she could not get herself away from his clutches. She was shattered after the incident while Vikas absconded from the city. And she could not even create too much ruckus about it else her parent would have cut short her studies and that would have been the end of her career, much before it even began. So she kept the things to pretty much herself and maintained a low profile for the rest of the time.

But that was the day which scarred her life forever. That day was the reason that she pushed herself so hard that she would not have time for anything else in life. That day was the reason that despite all the psychological counseling she still needed sleeping pills every night.

And all those memories flooded her as she came face to face with Vikas on her flight from HongKong to Sydney with her feet still aching in her Jimmy Choo stilettos and the LV bag refusing to stay in position. So, she purposely dropped her purse in Vikas’ lap to let him establish the connection. But all she got was a smile in return. Bloody man didn’t even have the courtesy to hand her bag back to her. Absolutely no trace of recognition! How could it be that while that one incident has scarred her so badly; Vikas seems to have forgotten her completely?

“That could not be right” thought she. And it was then that she saw him sipping scotch and a plan began to form in her mind. She requested the air hostess to switch her seat to one next to Vikas.

L: Hi! I am Liz. What’s your name?
V: Hey! This is Vikas. So what do you do Liz?
L: I am a director with a multinational entertainment giant. I handle a lot of fortune 10 clients and their advertisement campaigns.
V: Hmmm… that sounds interesting. I am into an NGO for social welfare of poor and illiterate women. Teaching them how to read and right, among other skills.
L: Wow that is so cool…

And the conversation continued so on for next hour or so with more drinks being ordered. Being a teetotaler, she did not drink but ensured that Vikas had plenty of it. When, after another hour or so, she was sure that he had stopped moving, she pulled a nightcap on his eyes, switched off the lights and whispered to the air-hostess “Poor guy… dead tired… Please ensure that nobody disturbs him till the flight reaches Atlanta… not even in the stopover at Sydney”.

She de-boarded at Sydney and went to the luggage section to pick her baggage. Where she was standing, a boy was asking his mother “Mom please help me with 6-Down. A seven letter word. Best served cold.” “I don’t know honey… please let mama check the baggage out”.

“Revenge” offered Liz “Revenge is a dish best served cold!” 

"Thanks ma’m” said the boy.

Liz walked away with a new spring in her steps, stopping just long enough at a waste-bin around the corner to throw away the freshly emptied strip of sleeping pills…

Images Courtesy: thefarpoint.org, blog.30dollardatenight.com, chinatownconnection.com

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective postshere. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Neuromarketing

Off lately, Neuromarketing is attracting more and more interest from marketers as a way of getting at the unconscious processes that lie behind consumers’ attitudes, feelings and behavior. A study was recently launched at the University of Oxford to study how Neuromarketing is changing market research and what this means for society. The study will also look into the possible implications for society and politics if consumers are seen to be less personally responsible for their decisions.

What does this mean?

It is one thing to see which parts of the brain become active in response to a stimulus. It is another to interpret what this means or what you can do with it.

According to neuroscientists, there are 3 main parts to the brain, each functioning as a brain unto itself. These "three brains" - nestled inside one another -- are as follows.

• The "Human" ("New," or outer-most) Brain: Most evolved part of the brain known as the cortex. Responsible for logic, learning, language, conscious thoughts and our personalities.
• The "Mammalian" (Middle) Brain: Also known as the limbic system. Deals with our emotions, moods, memory and hormones.
• The "Reptilian" (Old) Brain: Also known as the R Complex controls our basic survival functions, such as hunger, breathing, flight-or-fight reactions and staying out of harm's way.

While neuromarketing is still a young field with many unanswered questions, one finding is clear:

The reptilian, or "old," brain drives your customers' buying decisions

Various studies have used:

• Verbal report (e.g. scene recognition, brand preference)
• Behavior e.g. purchase vs non purchase (Ambler, Knutson)
• Different segment reactions (e.g. Democrats vs Republican brains are said to react differently to political advertisements)

But mostly the focus has been on correlation with so called ‘known centers’ such as: reward centre, self referencing centre, face recognition centre, liking centre, anticipation centre etc.

As a result, neuromarketing studies have increasingly pointed to various ‘known centers’ in the brain. Yet knowledge about these so called ‘known centers’ is often sketchy and the claims about their function are often reasoned speculation rather than known fact.

Trouble in paradise

The problem is that keeping up with the neuroscience literature is like trying to drink from a fire-hose. As the noted neurobiologist Steven Rose said: “The world-wide effort being poured into the neurosciences is producing an indigestible mass of facts at all levels.”

It is becoming extraordinarily difficult for full time neuroscientists to keep up - let alone businesses. Let’s face it… marketing is not interested in science or complexity. The truth is that marketing clients want ‘KIS’ not complexity. They want simplicity - an easy to understand, single number solution that says ‘this ad (or pack, or scene) ... is good/bad ….and says whether it will work or won’t work. Rather than try to drink from that fire-hose, there is a temptation for marketing to oversimplify and over-claim.

Threat

So as this bandwagon called neuromarketing picks up speed, some of the same threats that killed off previous technologies are re-emerging. A key one is over-claiming. It is an unfortunate fact that the sale of ‘smoke & mirrors’ often outsells substance. At least in the short term.

Bias towards over claiming exists in the media as well as in the marketing of consulting services to clients. The media love sensationalist stories that can carry a headline like "'Buy centre of the brain found“. As a result, journalistic reporting is prone to outstrip the scientific substance.

Conclusion

Neuromaketing is expected to open up a whole new world of understanding of the mind. As it develops, neuroscience will deliver increasingly powerful, marketing insights.

Its immediate application to general marketing requires businesses to tread carefully and disentangle the scientific substance from the promotional hype. Businesses prepared to exercise this caution and engage with it now have an opportunity for early-mover advantage before its application of neuromarketing gets constrained by regulation.

In the longer term, neuromarketing will be far more socially welcome for applications that focus on products and causes with a clear social benefit - applications like road safety messages and persuading people to give up smoking or to resist over-eating. Developing and testing strategies that are designed to cure rather than create social pathologies is hard to argue with. Used in this type of application, neuromarketing will be refined to public applause, rather than public alarm.

Compiled from various sources:

• http://www.sutherlandsurvey.com/Column_pages/Neuromarketing_whats_it_all_about.htm
• http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/neuromarketing.htm
• http://www.research-live.com/news/study-to-look-at-the-uses-and-impact-of-neuromarketing/4005133.article

Images courtesy: francisanderson.files.wordpress.com, socialhallucinations.com

WHY is it that we crave for human company so much?

This post was inspired by another post that a friend of mine did and can be found here.

I feel that it is not always that you crave for some (or for that matter any) human company. It is at time, when you have something to share, something to talk about; that you want that there be someone around you with whom you can talk and share things. These could be things related to intimate joy or terrible losses, good or bad, new or old. Could it be because we feel that there is an inherent need which implores us to express ourselves to others and bond with others through various emotions of sharing our pleasures and fears; joy and sadness etc?

The way that most of us have been bought up, emphasizes on us interacting with others. From the point that we are born, we are given stimulus to be good with others, talk and behave well… at times our payout is made to depend how we behave when we are in company. At different times, we see out responsible adults talking to others from their fraternity about their or your achievements in order to gain a standing among their peers. This reinforces the belief that the true measure of one’s achievements comes when others certify it.

Yet another reason could be that for the first nine months of our inception, and for the first two to three years after we come into the world, we get used to have a companion with us for all times. And all the friends, companions and other compatriots that we have during our lives are but a mere substitute of that feel that we used to get back then. (Which is ironic considering the pitiful state of the elderly in the world and even in India where the elderly are being meted out a shoddy treatment by their own children who plan deviously to rob them off their property etc and dispose them after their interests are met)

All these stimuli make live interactions a part of what we are and how we shape up to be what we are.

On the other extreme are the people who are made to despise the fellow humans so much that they do not crave for company of any sorts. These misanthropes are the loners who eventually turn out to be misfits in a society, which thrives on people enjoying others’ company, get treated as a nut case and are found to be an oddball. Most of the sociopaths belong to this genre.

Yet another group of people to be considered are the ones who, in absence of human company, turn to keeping pets and get so much involved in their up keep that they get totally cut off from the rest of the society. That is where the “crazy old cat lady” phrase comes from.

But, at times, I wonder if such cravings for human company is really such a healthy thing?

Image Courtesy: image06.webshots.com, us.fotolia.com, petrichoric.wordpress.com

Animal Behavior

I am sure that most of us must have seen, at least in India, hordes of animals moving along, dropping pieces of crap along the way. Also, we all must have seen our fair share of people throwing their garbage from the window of their moving vehicle. Be it fruit peelings, empty wrappers or other disposable items; people are unwilling of keeping even a single piece of scrap in their car and want to throw it out at the earliest. Me thinks; it is the psychological manifestation of the animal genes in the humans that they behave this way. Since it is impolite to excrement in the public and mandatory to wear clothes in general appearance, again at least in India; people resort to the waste discarding mentality in some alternate manner.

What say you?