Using neuroscience to understand how messaging can influence how you see yourself

FLEMINGTON, N.J., Nov. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- HCD Research, a global leader in applied consumer neuroscience research, will be presenting research at the Society for Neuroscience on how messaging can influence self-esteem and behavior. The research highlights how implicit cues, such as those found in advertising and product design, target a person's self-concept and can influence the way they react psychologically, physiologically and behaviorally.

"With concerns being voiced over the positive and negative effects of advertising on self concept, we wanted to see how messaging might affect people both psychologically and physiologically," explains Michelle Niedziela, PhD and scientific director at HCD. "We were curious if an implicit message could prime a person to think about negative or positive features of themselves and how this would affect their behavior and mood." To examine this Niedziela and team studied the effects of positive and negative psychological priming on women as they examined pictures of their own faces using physiological measures of attention, arousal, mood and eye gaze.

HCD is using similar techniques to study marketing communications for many years and have been expanding their capabilities to study interactions between consumers and products. "Product experiences can have distinct emotional messages that support brand and positioning. These cues may influence a person's mood and behavior," explained Niedziela. "Messaging comes in many forms, even through colors and smells, and can have effects that extend beyond the product."

Niedziela and HCD Research use applied consumer neuroscience and neuromarketing to help clients better understand their interactions with consumers. "The 'neuromarketing' field has been plagued with mis-steps in the past, we are hoping to bring the science to the forefront by presenting our research at scientific meetings," says Niedziela, a neuroscientist first and market researcher second. Not a fan of the term "neuromarketing", she prefers to use "applied consumer neuroscience" to describe the application of neuroscience to business. "The field is maturing. There is a real place for neuroscience, done properly, in business and industry."

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system and its annual meeting will take place November 15-19 in Washington, DC. To learn more about HCD Research, visit their website: http://www.hcdi.net.

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