Harnessing the Power of Storytelling and Novelty in Decision-Making

In episode 436 of The Brainy Business podcast, Melina Palmer dives into the fascinating biases our brains have toward novelty and stories. This episode, originally aired in 2019, is part of an eight-part series on biases and offers a rapid-fire overview of how our brains respond to new and intriguing stimuli. Melina explains concepts like the bizarreness effect, humor effect, pareidolia, and more, illustrating how these biases impact our decisions and interactions in both personal and professional settings.

Melina also touches on the importance of storytelling in building trust and engagement, setting the stage for her upcoming interview with Dr. Paul Zak, a pioneer in the study of oxytocin and its role in storytelling. This episode is packed with insights on how to leverage our natural inclinations toward novelty and stories to enhance marketing strategies, improve customer interactions, and create compelling presentations.

In this episode:

• Understand the bizarreness effect and how novelty impacts memory.
• Learn how humor and bizarreness can be effectively used in marketing.
• Explore the role of pareidolia in capturing attention.
• Discover the power of storytelling in building trust and engagement.
• Gain insights into biases like the empathy gap, optimism bias, and authority bias.

00:00:00 - Introduction Melina introduces the topic of biases toward novelty and stories and sets the stage for a rapid-fire overview of related concepts.

00:01:45 - Bizarreness Effect Explanation of the bizarreness effect and how our brains remember unusual items better than common ones.

00:03:30 - Humor Effect Discussion on the humor effect and how humorous content is more likely to be remembered.

00:05:15 - Pareidolia Exploration of pareidolia and how our brains are primed to see faces in random objects.

00:07:00 - Identifiable Victim Effect Examination of the identifiable victim effect and how personal stories are more impactful than statistics.

00:08:45 - Survivorship Bias Discussion on survivorship bias and the importance of considering all data, not just the successful cases.

00:10:30 - Just World Hypothesis Explanation of the just world hypothesis and how it affects our perception of fairness and morality.

00:12:15 - Authority Bias Exploration of authority bias and why we trust opinions from perceived authorities more than others.

00:14:00 - Reciprocity and Ben Franklin Effect Discussion on reciprocity and the Ben Franklin effect, and how favors influence future behavior.

00:15:45 - Social Desirability Bias Examination of social desirability bias and how it impacts the way we report our behaviors and characteristics.

00:17:30 - Omission Bias Explanation of omission bias and how we judge actions more harshly than inactions.

00:19:15 - Licensing Effect Discussion on the licensing effect and how doing something good can lead to justifying bad behavior.

23:12-  Conclusion What stuck with you while listening to the episode? What are you going to try? Come share it with Melina on social media -- you'll find her as @thebrainybiz everywhere and as Melina Palmer on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show. 

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Learn and Support The Brainy Business:

Check out and get your copies of Melina’s Books. 

Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode:

• What Your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You, by Melina Palmer
• The Life Saving Skill of Story, by Michelle Auerbach
• Magic Words, by Jonah Berger
• Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
• Bridges and Barriers, by Troy Andrews

Top Recommended Next Episode: Prince Ghuman Interview (ep 344)

Already Heard That One? Try These: 

• Michelle Auerbach Interview (ep 288)
• Jonah Berger Interview (ep 301)
• David Paull Interview (ep 289)
• Biases Toward Novelty and Stories (ep 54)
• Sarah Thompson Interview (ep 259)

Other Important Links: 

Brainy Bites - Melina’s LinkedIn Newsletter