We're only human

We are forever indebted to The Oatmeal for explaining how human brains react to ideas

You would think we have evolved enough from our cave-dwelling past not to instinctively fear The New.

The likelihood of a sabertooth tiger just around that large rock ahead is rather remote. And we have plant identifier apps on our smartphones if we’re feeling peckish.

And yet — try suggesting a new restaurant, an unfamiliar movie, a different route, an unproven theory today.

For that matter, try to save a population from a deadly virus with a new vaccine.

Or even discuss new policies.

We remain a knee jerk species, primed in some way to reject new concepts; even if those concepts would ultimately benefit.

This is, without a doubt, the largest challenge facing Idea People, given it is our purpose to suggest, pitch and unveil The New. So, how do we de-risk these moments and cultivate at least a curious reception?

Thank goodness for the Decision and/or Behavioral Sciences.

In 1984 the noted psychologist and author Robert Cialdini published Influence, and in 2016 the book Pre-suasion. Both dive deep into the conditions, habits, conceptions and behaviors associated with pitching new concepts. A core attribute he illuminates is context, i.e. the frames, anchors, primes, or mindsets “in which an appeal is first placed can cary equal or even greater weight” than the appeal/idea itself!

Cialdini helps us recognize our audience and the moment in which they arrive is equal in importance to our idea. Understanding their enthusiasms and reluctances helps us prepare the table, so to speak—and perhaps even the metaphoric room, house, yard, and neighborhood—into which our idea can receive the greatest benefit.

A similar line of thinking appears in Daniel Kahneman’s 2011 opus, Thinking Fast and Slow. He writes, “The main moral of priming research is that our thoughts and our behavior are influenced, much more than we know or want, by the environment of the moment.”

Selling The New, then, is also an act of comprehending and conditioning the moment as much as one possibly can.

We’re entering the realms of theater, and architecture. To de-risk negative reactions, we recognize the journey into our idea becomes as important as the the idea itself.