They all laughed at me when I sat down at this computer... but after I wrote this blog....

The title is referring to a segment of my Book "Made to Stick" by the Heath brothers, about a very popular slogan that was over-used and then stopped working. Basically the slogan is They all laughed/ did something upsetting at me when I ______ and then I ____, this slogan was very popular and effective (at first) because it was short, simple, and invoked emotion which then invokes action. Before I jump too far ahead of myself let me give you a brief breakdown of the book. It starts with an outline of the book, and a short summary of what is to come in each chapter, which I thought I was going to appreciate because I knew what to look for and then I realized the whole book is the same stuff in different lengths three times (an obvious negative for the book, who wants to read the same thing three times in one reading of it?). Specifically, the book is broke down into an Intro: What Sticks?, and then six chapters explaining the main idea, SUCCES, and then an epilogue which is basically just a restatement of the six chapters and the same thing as the introduction just a little more information included. I honestly chose this book because I liked the title and then when I glimpsed at what it was about I thought that it would probably be helpful for me because I am always trying to be right and it would be helpful to know the best ways to make other people think what I think. I think this book is useful because it showed me how to better the things I was already doing. For example, when I am talking to someone about pretty much anything I will make it a story, I know that it is easier for someone to understand you if you put it in words they already know. And this book just reassured me of that and let me know that keeping things basic and tangible I will be more successful in doing that. It is also going to help me make decisions, I feel as if I am a more informed consumer (more on that later). I liked the book in that it had a lot of good ideas, I think I might have liked choosing another book better in hopes that it wouldn't be so repetitious. I would recommend it to all people trying to teach someone else something or trying to sell something to other people, because this is the basis for what you need to know to include and what to use to be successful. I liked that it gave examples for everything, and they were all examples that I was either already familiar with or was easily familiarized with, because it made what they were saying stick in my brain that much more because I can think of the different stories and think about what I need to do. I think the whole book is useful, because it provides important information when trying to get messages across (which we all do every single day all day) and it makes me a more knowledgeable analyzer of the messages that are being given to me and I think that everyone would agree with that. I also believe that this book is a credible, scholarly source because both authors are more than capable and they give so much support from previous literature. The book was written by the Heath brothers, Chip is a professor at Stanford and he has focused his research on why some ideas "Stick" better than others, he has been featured in countless journals; Dan is a "senior fellow at Duke University's CASE", he is also a well-published author and experimenter ( Heath Brothers Inc., website below).
To keep this as short as possible if you would like more in depth information on them and other books they have written please click on this link: http://www.heathbrothers.com/authors/

What Sticks? 

Sticky refers to an idea that is easily understandable, memorable, and effective in changing people's opinions and behavior. In addition, the "Curse of Knowledge" is introduced in this chapter and this concept refers to fact that the person delivering the information has a lot more detailed and insightful knowledge on the topic than the audience does and therefore forgets to effectively explain the ideas (Heath & Heath, 2008). In order to create a sticky idea you must you Simple.Unexpected.Concrete.Credible.Emotional.Stories. 

Simple:

To keep things simple and sticky you must do two things (1.) find the core and (2.) share the core. Finding the core means taking your greatest ideas and trimming them down to the one most important all inclusive idea. When doing this we must avoid two things (1.) burying the lead: is a journalism term in which the core idea in an article get buried too far down in the piece "buried" under all of the less important ideas and (2.) decision paralysis: which is when given options, even options completely irrelevant to the decision people have a harder time making a decision and chose differently. Sharing the core  is basically having the ability to convey your message in a clear way that motivates people to make decisions in regards to your message. Ultimately parsimony is best in this situation, and in order to be as simple as possible it is best to play off of people's schemas for bigger things. In doing these things a person can make simple ideas complex and sticky. 

Unexpected:

You have to do two things to get your message across: Get people's attention and Keep it! In order to get people's attention one must break the mindless routine most people live their lives in, you have to do something unexpected and bold to do so. Surprising someone increases alertness and focus which is a good start but then we must keep them interested in order to be successful in persuading them (Heath & Heath, 2008). To keep people interested we must open "gaps" in their knowledge and then let them know we have the information to close those gaps (Heath & Heath, 2008). 

Concrete:

When conveying an idea you must avoid abstract language or jargon, it is more efficient to use tangible concrete object for you examples, because it makes it easier for people to attach those ideas to previous memories which then makes them think about them more. Obviously, the more you think about something the more cemented into your brain it is.

Credible:

People believe things more easily if a person in an authoritative position says them. Unfortunately, a lot of the time we cannot get an expert to come support our message so we must do one of the following to create a sense of credibility in what we are saying: (1.) use an anti-authority, example in the book was a smoker for non-smoking campaigns, (2.) use concrete ideas, using vivid and personal details that people either relate to or know for themselves, (3.) use statistics, illustrate a relationship not just numbers because people fall victim to the base-rate fallacy, people aren’t receptive to information given in a numerical way (Argote, Devadas, Melone, 1990), (4.) The Sinatra test, if an idea can make it in one place it can make it anywhere, (5.) testable credentials, challenge the consumer to test the idea or product out them self (Heath & Heath, 2008). 

To get people to listen to our ideas we have to get them to stop thinking analytically and think on a more emotional level, feelings invoke action where as analysis takes a lot of time. Therefore, your idea should appeal things people already care about, or their self-interest and identities. In provoking associations between what they know about others and themselves and your idea you make an idea even sticker. You get people thinking what is everyone else doing? and what are other people, who are like me, reacting to this information? Thus, further cementing your idea into their brains and keeping them thinking about it. 

Stories: 

When people hear a story they play it over and over in their head, so when you turn your idea into a story then a person will think about it over and over and over. There are three types of stories that make an idea stickier: (1.) The Challenge Plot, this refers to the classic underdog, rags to riches, or will power triumphing over adversity stories, (2.) The Connection Plot, these are stories about people who develop relationships that bridge gaps (either racial, or class, or ethnic, or religious, or demographic), (3.) The Creativity Plot, these are stories of people making mental breakthroughs or coming up with innovative ideas. The stories work because of social comparison theory, the theory that people evaluate their own thoughts and behaviors by comparing themselves to others (Leon Festinger, 1954). Therefore, as they are thinking of your idea in terms of the story you told they are thinking of how they fit into it, and how to apply that idea to their lives.

Overall, these tactics are successful because the employ a number social psychological methods. The most important being the theory of planned behavior, when making decisions people are influenced by their attitudes toward that behavior, subjunctive norms, and the perceived control to influence their actions (Ajzen, 1991). For example, a person is presented with the advertisement to buy a new Ipod (I am currently looking to buy a new Ipod or music device) they know that they want to indeed comply with the message, but two other issues may arise in making this decision. The first being, what type of mp3 or music playing device should I buy? Well if that person looks around them they will see pretty much everyone has an Ipod, so because of conformity and both informational influence, people want to make correct judgments so they will often look to see what other agree on and if the majority agree then they must be right (Sherif, 1936), and Normative influence, people don’t want to be seen as deviant so they conform to what the group thinks or does (Schachter, 1951),  that person is most likely going to buy an Ipod, if they have the perceived means of buying it (i.e., money). These processes often lead to private conformity, a person changes their actual beliefs to match that of society (Kelman, 1961), and many of you including myself have done this for this exact topic. I know that when I go to buy a new music player I’m going to get and apple product and I’m sure that many of you are also loyal customers, because everyone was getting them and then you got one and well they aren’t too bad so they have continued to be popular and the idea has continued to STICK! Other very important social concepts to recognize here have to do with the routes people take to persuasion. First, it is important to recognize that people have different needs for cognition, this is an aspect of a person’s personality that is based on how much that person likes thinking effort-fully (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982), and levels of elaboration, this is the process of critically analyzing the arguments in persuasive messages (Greenwald, 1968). Obviously, this book appeals to both the people taking the peripheral route to persuasion, because using these tactics a person is presented with the most basic and memorable message making it easy for them to make decisions about it; as well as people taking the central route to persuasion, because even those the base message is simple the idea may not be the influencers may be using one simple idea that connects to your schemas for other things as well as how you think of yourself and the people around you (Cacioppo & Petty, 1986). Now let’s connect this to our buying a new music playing device dilemma, I like to make a smart choice when I am buying anything (especially something expensive) and I don’t want to fall for any sneaky persuasive tactics so I want to take the central route in choosing. Luckily I can take the simple ideas and messages from all the apple commercials and mix them together to get a larger more complex message that includes memory, how they function, other people’s assessment of the product, and my own personal experiences with the product. This means that Apple has done a very good job of making the products sticky in people’s brain, most of the time people won’t even consider another company’s product.  

The authors say one of the best examples of SUCCES is the Dont Mess With Texas Campaign, which I know we are all familiar with so in order to give you a reason to reply to my blog in a analytical manner (helping you out lol) I would like for you to use the ideas that I have presented here and tell me why this is successful! Hopefully these analogies will help you remember: 
Pay attention: Unexpected

2.      Understand and remember it: concrete

3.      Agree/believe: credible

4.      Care: emotional

5.      Be able to act on it: story 

(Heath & Heath, 2008).

Citation:

Heath, C., & Heath, D. (n.d.). Heath Brothers. Heath Brothers. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://www.heathbrothers.com/

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Argote, L., Devadas, R., & Melone, N. (1990). The base-rate fallacy: Contrasting processes and outcomes of group and individual judgment. Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, 46(2), 296-310. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(90)90034-7

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior And Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., Kao, C., & Rodriguez, R. (1986). Central and peripheral routes to persuasion: An individual difference perspective. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 51(5), 1032-1043. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.5.1032

Greenwald, H. J. (1968). The Basic Assumptions of Dissonance Theory. Psychological Reports, 22(3,PT. 1),

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Schachter, S. (1951). Deviation, rejection, and communication. The Journal Of Abnormal And Social Psychology, 46(2), 190-207. doi:10.1037/h0062326

Kelman, H. C. (1961). Processes of opinion change. Public Opinion Quarterly, 25(1), 57-78. doi:10.1086/266996