bears, lions, THE ISOLATION EFFECT, wolves, tigers
This post is the eighth part of a series of business-friendly posts, looking at cognitive biases and how they impact our ability to communicate effectively.
What is it?
When multiple stimuli of the same type are present, we tend to remember the stimulus that was different to the rest, that which stands out from its surroundings.
Why it occurs:
We naturally put things into categories and a distinct attribute helps us to assign the stimulus to its own category. In addition, common or familiar attributes tend to be more easily glossed over and disregarded.
Where might you see it occur in real life?
Historically this has been studied with word lists: In a shopping list full of items, with one highlighted in green, people are more likely to remember the one in green. Where there is a list of words — such as apple, pear, orange, mountain, plum, lemon — mountain will likely be remembered because it is contextually different from the other words.
You will also have experienced it with when watching TV, specifically adverts. If there is one during a break which is particularly different from the rest, it is more likely to stick in your mind. Likewise, if you’ve ever received a pile of CVs which are all formatted in a similar fashion, then you receive another which has some differences (even if it is just colour, bolded text or underlined words), you are more likely to remember it simply because it stands out from the rest.
The key is that it isn’t “creativity” that is important here — it is “novelty” that isolates the stimulus and makes it more memorable. In the above example, if all CVs used bold and underlined text, then the effect would be lost.
Why is it important?
If we tend to act on information just because it stands out from the crowd (and only because it does), we need to be aware that it has a real impact on our ability to remember — so go ahead and use it in your daily life if you need to remember something specific. On the other hand, if you are trying to improve the chances of a third-party remembering a piece of information, remember that you can achieve this by isolating that piece of information through a different attribute.
What is the impact when communicating a message?
If you want to be memorable, aim to be different. There are two areas where you should consider how you can be different:
- Globally: If you are pitching or presenting in a competitive situation, put in the effort to figure out how your whole pitch can be different from the rest if you want it to be remembered. To do this means trying to figure out what your competition is going to do and then looking at how you might incorporate a different structure, style or approach. In a visual presentation, this might be as straightforward as a black and white presentation if everyone else is going to use colour!
- Locally: Within a pitch or presentation — whether it’s a product, service or idea, if there are specific pieces of information that you want your audience to remember, ensure that they stick out. If it’s a visual presentation, this might be as straightforward as using a different colour or surrounding that piece of information with other stimuli more related to each other.
Just one piece of advice, make sure your presentation or message isn’t so crazy that your audience forgets what your actual product or idea is! Make sure your product or idea shines through.
If you want to know more please feel free to connect or check out a collection of cognitive biases here. Next up we will take a look at the Bandwagon Effect.
