Our brain is a connection machine. This is quiet practical: if we eaten unknown fruit and feel sick afterwards, we avoid it in future, labelling the plant poisonous or at least unpalatable. This is how knowledge comes to be. However, this method also creates false knowledge. Russian scientist Evan Pablov was the first to conduct research into this phenomenon. His original goal was to measure salivation in dogs. He used a bell to call the dog to eat, but soon the ringing sound alone was enough to make the dog salivate. The animals brains linked two functionally unrelated things - the ringing of the bell and the production of saliva.
Pablow's method works equally well with humans. Advertising creates a link between products and emotions. For this reason, you will never see coke along side a frowning face or a wrinkly body. Coke people are young, beautiful and Oh so fun, and they appear in clusters not seen in the real world.
These false connections are the work of the
association bias, which also influence the quality of a decision. For example the often condemn bearers of bad news, since we automatically associate them with the messages contend ( otherwise known as
shoot- the- messenger syndrome). Some times CEOs and investors ( unconsciously) steer clear of these harbingers, meaning the only news that reaches the upper echelons is positive, thus creating a distorted view of the real situation. If you lead the group of people, and don't want to fall prey to false connections, direct your staff to tell you only the bad news - and fast. With this, you will over compensate for the
shoot the messenger syndrome. And you will still hear enough positive news.
In the days before email and tele marketing, travelling sales men went door to door peddling their wares. One day, a particular sales man, George Foster, stood at a front door The house turn out to be vacant, and unbeknownst to him, a tiny leak had been filling it with gas for weeks. The bell was also damaged, so when she pressed it, it created a spark and the house exploded. Poor Geogre end up in hospital, but fortunately he was soon back on his feel. Unfortunately, his fear of ringing door bells had become so strong that for many years he couldn't go back to his job. He knew how unlikely a repeat of the incident was, but for all he tried, he just could'nt manage to reverse the (false) emotional connection.
The take home message from all this phrased most aptly by Mark Twain : " We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there, least we can be like the cat that sit down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again - and that is well, but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore. "
