Title: The Reptilian Brain: Emotion and Design
Context: There’s nothing wrong with applying a little evolutionary biology between friends. Or between designer and user.
Synopsis: Once you get past the tawdry exploitation of human primal brain function for the purposes of selling designer products through base sexual appeal, you realize that you can also capitalize on people’s elemental sub-intelligence to get them to do loads of other things their higher functioning rational mind might never allow them to do otherwise. Let’s not look at this evolutionary response-hacking as an ethical lapse on our part as designers, but instead consider it a simple shortcut to sub-consciously trigger behaviors the user would want to do anyway. So really, we are doing them a favor by saving them the time and effort of having to actually consider their actions. Yay us! Of course, we would never abuse this power of reptilian brain appeal. We’re the good guys. Why put a busy user through the whole process of distinguishing good decisions from bad when we can just shock their primeval fight/flight mechanism into clicking the right button at the right time? Does anyone know how to say “you’re welcome” in lizard?
Best Bit: “The primal brain is relatively uncultured; it is interested mainly in distinguishing things that are good or personally beneficial from anything else in our environment.”
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