lukeprog comments on Feed the spinoff heuristic! - Less Wrong

49 Post author: CarlShulman 09 February 2012 07:41AM

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Comment author: lukeprog 09 February 2012 04:49:03PM 38 points [-]

If psychology worked, I would expect marketing firms to use it to make millions of people buy tons of shit that they don't need and that won't make them happy.

Comment author: waveman 09 February 2012 10:18:06PM 8 points [-]

Indeed. Case study of Freud's nephew who basically invented modern PR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

Comment author: AnnaSalamon 10 February 2012 01:42:47AM 15 points [-]

Is there any evidence, one way or the other, as to whether marketers draw useful info from academic psychology?

Comment author: lukeprog 10 February 2012 06:58:01PM *  8 points [-]

More cheap evidence: marketing textbooks are stuffed full of mainstream psychological results and applications to the business of marketing.

Comment author: JoachimSchipper 10 February 2012 12:42:52PM 3 points [-]

Cheap evidence: Hacker News is full of people trying to get rich by selling something (usually access to web applications), and e.g. "Predictably irrational" has been mentioned. The marketing guru Seth Godin says he's been influenced quite a bit by Poundstone's "Priceless", which "dives into the latest psychological findings".

Of course, this is only informal evidence, only shows "some marketers" and only shows "believed to be useful".

Waveman's comment also seems relevant.

Comment author: Dmytry 13 February 2012 09:42:29PM 2 points [-]

Well I think to large extent marketing firms rely on their own know-how, which I imagine is rather scientific. I have first hand experience with this (I am selling a computer game through Steam). Various statistics is used to see what does better. Their marketing people are really great at e.g. picking the most-clickable banner design, versus the one that I thought would be the most clickable (I did my own stats and confirmed their choice).

Comment author: play_therapist 09 February 2012 06:59:39PM 3 points [-]

I believe marketers do use psychology and many, if not most, Americans do buy "tons of shit that they don't need and that won't make them happy!"

Comment author: MBlume 09 February 2012 09:15:09PM 13 points [-]

I believe Luke intended this to be understood =)

Comment author: MichaelVassar 11 February 2012 11:15:51PM 1 point [-]

Don't they?

Comment author: lukeprog 12 February 2012 03:41:02AM 5 points [-]

Yes they do. That was my intended meaning. :)