

The reality distortion field is in the consumer’s brain - iProject
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/10/weve-located-the-reality-distortion-field-and-its-in-the-consumers-brain/

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droithomme
This is an interesting hypothesis, but the one example they give of what they
actually tested leaves me skeptical.

In one case the product contains "natural enzymes", in the other the product
contains "grains made of alcalase and esperase protein molecules". The problem
is this latter explanation does not really explain more since the meanings of
alcalase and esperase would only be known to experts who probably make their
own detergent in their private lab.

To reach a credible determination whether people like more complex
explanations, the more complex explanations need to be good ones, and not ones
intentionally designed to intimidate people with undefined specialist
language.

It should be one that someone reasonably knowledgable would have a fair chance
of understanding. For example, someone with a high school education level
could be told "Contains enzymes for better cleaning.†" and then in
explanation, "†Enzymes are protein molecules which can act as a catalyst to
change the energy levels required for chemical reactions. We extract enzymes
called alcalase and esperase from bacteria found in bird feathers and hay.
These enzymes allow water to bind with the proteins that hold grass and sweat
to your clothes, allowing them to be broken down by the soap into more soluble
compounds so that they can then be washed away by the water."

Now maybe people would hate knowing that, but at least it explains what is
really going on to a depth that an intelligent non-specialist could understand
it. Myself, knowing that a given detergent uses enzymes known as alcalase and
esperase, where they come from, what they do and how they work gives me more
confidence in the product. Knowing that it has magic beans called alcalase and
esperase isn't very helpful though and is just frustrating because the
explanation is obviously lacking sufficient detail for much anyone but a
detergent specialist to follow.

I am not surprised that people told the detergent had specific types of enzyme
magic beans rated their understanding of their product at a lower level than
those told it had enzymes generically. Nor would I be surprised to find in a
more detailed study of actual understanding should both groups actually have
identical and very shallow understanding.

I suspect, or rather, hypothesize, that with a _good_ explanation, people
might rate their understanding higher _and_ actually have real understanding
of the product rather than the superficial one they would get from either of
the descriptions tested by this study.

~~~
droithomme
Follow up.

I tracked down the actual study "Explanation Fiends and Foes: How Mechanistic
Detail Determines Understanding and Preference".

The "alcalase and esperase" explanation was from the "non-causal detail"
section of the experiment, where they constructed detailed explanations of
things that had little to do with the actual reasons for the benefit claimed.
They also tested people with "causal detail" explanations that had relevant
explanations. The understanding scores were higher for causal explanations
than non-causal.

Example non-causal:

"The post-free beater is made from a steel alloy, which is made by combining
iron ore with small amounts of chromium and aluminum under very high heat.
This reduces mixing time."

Causal detail:

"Without a center post to hinder movement of the ingredients, a vortex is
created within the beater that forces dry ingredients to dissolve more easily,
thereby reducing mixing time."

Causal details resulted in more understanding, as one would expect.

They also tested for several different levels of detail. The highest level for
beaters was this:

"Without a center post to interfere with movement, liquid molecules move
uniformly within the beater creating a lot of spin. This forces dry particles
into suspension in the liquid, thereby reducing mixing time."

Rather than say "dissolve" they say "force into suspension in the liquid".
Self evaluation of understanding went down for both groups once it got to that
level. It seems clear to me that "force into suspension in the liquid" is less
clear and provides no real additional details beyond "dissolve", which
contributes to the confusion. It's not that people don't like technical
details, it's that the explanation is actually less clear.

Compare also the explanations for white saran wrap being better because it
blocks light:

intermediate: "The white coloring reflects light waves that would otherwise
break down the amino acids that maintain the structure and freshness of the
food, thereby keeping food fresh for longer."

detailed: "Atoms in the tinting agent oscillate when hit by light waves
causing them to absorb the energy and reflect it back rather than reaching
food where it would break the bonds holding amino acids together, thereby
keeping food fresh for longer.

"Atoms in the tinting agent oscillate when hit by light waves causing them to
absorb the energy and reflect it back" is cool, but "The white coloring
reflects" is really a better way to explain it. Dropping down to the level of
atoms in the wrap itself doesn't convey more relevant detail, it just obscures
the meaning at this level. (Covering how the photons break amino acid bonds by
causing molecules to shift configuration to handle the extra electrons created
from the photon collisions might have been a better way to go hard core in the
"detailed" level since that speaks more to the mechanism.)

The non-causal explanation for this one was "The cling wrap uses a white
tinting agent which is composed of a mixture of titanium dioxide molecules and
other binding agents. This keeps food fresh for longer." This fails to include
the detail about light breaking down amino acids leading to less fresh food,
so it introduces confusion since the TiO2 detail is less relevant than the
amino acid detail. And as one would expect, fewer people felt they understood
what was going on with this explanation than when the actual causal chain was
presented.

In summary, the arstechnica article's example was selected incorrectly as it
was from a different part of the study than what the arstechnica author was
discussing at the time: he looked at Table 2 which dealt with experiment 3
rather than Table 1 which covered all phases including Experiment 1.

Also, in Experiment 2 where they tested whether people would be more likely to
pay more for a premium product with additional features the curves for low CRT
people were not linear. It went down from 4.3 to 3.1 with intermediate
explanations, but back up to 3.4 with detailed explanations. This also
suggests the possibility that it is not explanations but inadequate
explanations that are confusing for some people.

Also relevant is that in Experiment 1 the level by which which reported
understanding went down by "Low CRT" people was quite modest, only from 5.5 to
5.0 as explanations went from shallow to detailed. It should also be mentioned
it went down slightly for high CRT people as well, from around 6.0 to 5.9 or
so. (Estimates since I'm eyeballing the graph in the article.)

Finally, an extremely relevant detail is that when going from no detail to
some detail, both understanding and product preference went up for BOTH
groups.

Consider the example of bandaids with bubbles compared to bandaids without
bubbles.

no detail: "The bubbles help cuts heal faster."

shallow detail: "The bubbles increase air circulation around the wound,
thereby killing bacteria. This causes cuts to heal faster."

detailed: "The bubbles push the padding away from the wound allowing air to
circulate. Oxygen in the air interferes with the metabolic processes of many
bacteria, killing them and allowing the wound to heal faster."

Understanding goes from 3.5 to 5.5 for the low-CRT people and 2.2 to 4.5 for
the high-CRT people. Some detail is better for everybody, and I would even say
that the level of detail given here is sufficient for many to posit a more
complete explanation, or at least find one through research if curious.
Whereas the no detail explanation offers nothing, it might as well define
energy as "energy makes things go" and it's certainly expected that this would
result in the least understanding across the board.

Product preference goes from 3.9 to 4.3 for low-CRT people when we go from no
detail to shallow. And 3.1 to 3.5 for high-CRT. So everyone benefits from a
reasonable level of causal information.

This is extremely different from the vibe given by the article, which
suggested that saying "it's blue" or "it's newfangled" was all you needed.
That is not correct, that level of explanation performed the worst for all
subjects in both understanding and product preference.

There's also a fourth Experiment in the paper. It should be addressed, but
mostly to note that it is quite different from the rest. Subjects were
presented with four products that were considerably less familiar than
bandages and washing soap. They were given shallow explanations taken from
product marketing literature, asked to rate their understanding, and then were
ambushed with a demand to write a detailed essay describing in precise
scientific detail exactly how the product actually worked, step by step. After
this "exercise", not only did their evaluation of their own understanding go
down (obviously), but the non-CRT people became quite hostile to the product
itself and were much less likely to buy it.

Recall that in Experiment 2 these same people liked products more when
proceeding from no explanation to a shallow one. In this experiment they did
NOT test how willing they were to buy it after explaining it and before
ambushing them, they only tested how willing they were to buy after ambushing
them. The experimenters conclude that the explanation caused them to be less
likely to buy. This is a plainly absurd conclusion and the experimenters have
to realize this. It was the ambushing and demand that the person provide an
essay describing the detailed workings of the product after forcing them to
state whether they understood it or not that made them angry that is the cause
here. This also is a scenario that is never found in actual consumer
purchasing workflow, and quite irrelevant to marketing other than to tell you
it is a mistake to corner your customer and demand explanations of them of how
your product works after asking them if they understand it. All that does is
embarrass them. Yes, the high-CRT people did well with the the exam and were
more likely to buy, but obviously this is because they did understand how it
worked. This experiment is completely disconnected from the important
observation that a cursory, accurate and functional explanation of product
benefits improved desirability of the product.

------
dkarl
_Those with low cognitive reflection scores felt their understanding was
sufficient with the minimalist information—any more and their sense of fluency
dropped. Those who scored highly on the CRT showed a linear increase, where
more details meant greater understanding._

In most other contexts, I'd say the low-CRT people had a point. It's
reasonable to expect that someone will tell you what's important and leave out
what isn't important, so it's reasonable to estimate your competence by how
well you understand what is presented to you. Your average consumer doesn't
know what enzymes do, so if the ad doesn't explain, they conclude that they
don't _need_ to know. When the ad starts to explain, they conclude they _do_
need to know, and they rate their knowledge lower. It makes perfect sense. The
mistake is not in how they process the details but in their implicit
assumption that the advertisement is a cooperative, good-faith interaction
instead of an adversarial one.

------
6ren
> _"Contains natural enzymes" to "The detergent has enzymes. Grains made of
> alcalase and esperase protein molecules are dissolved in the detergent,
> thereby making clothes cleaner."_

I think the latter is a less complete explanation, in that it introduces
concepts without explaining them. What are alcalase and esperase,
specifically? These are unfamiliar terms to me, what do they refer to? How do
they differ? And how exactly do enzymes make clothes cleaner, anyway? I find
this explanation annoying and dissatisfying, because it's a specious
explanation, and doesn't actually explain anything. It raises more questions
than it answers.

The former "explanation" is complete, because it's just a claim. It doesn't
even attempt to explain.

Of course, you can always request a deeper explanation (just respond "why?"),
but one can work within a level of abstraction, which can be more-or-less
complete and self-consistent within its terms. A gross example is sociology vs
psychology vs biology vs. chemistry vs physics vs <http://xkcd.com/435/> To
introduce new terms without explanation or definition is incomplete.

------
grecy
When watching TV ads it's easy to spot the products that people don't really
_need_ to continuously buy month after month, but the company trying to sell
it continually tries to ram it down our throats anyway.

Any ad for a toothbrush, razor, shampoo, sweeping device, detergent etc. will
use the words "New", "Improved", "Re-Designed", "Bigger/Better/Faster" many
times throughout the ad, often using the name of the product only once.

In order to sell a razor, they don't spend time telling people it's a razor,
or what it can do, they spend time saying over and over how "New and Improved"
it is, often leaving me guessing through the ad as to what they are actually
selling.

tldr; Consumers don't care what a product is or what it does, they just want
"NEW".

~~~
tsotha
>tldr; Consumers don't care what a product is or what it does, they just want
"NEW".

Really? When I see "new and improved" on a product I use I think "Great. I was
perfectly happy with this product and now they've gone and changed it. All I
want is a frickin razor that works."

------
bitwize
It's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes!

------
gingerlime
I wonder if there's some information about the ratio of high vs. low CRT
people. Are most people low/medium/high? Is there some kind of a bell-curve
for distribution in the general population? between genders or ethnic groups?
This can certainly help deciding what's the best marketing strategy for
products or services.

------
stcredzero
Almost all consumers -- heck, almost all human beings -- have one of those
reality distortion fields. The trick to being an entrepreneur is to have much
less of one than average.

------
willismichael
Now I want to take the Cognitive Reflection Test, but I'm afraid that just
knowing what it is will unfairly alter the way that I go about taking it.

~~~
droithomme
Very likely you've seen all three questions before. Here's one.

In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in
size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long
would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

