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Eradicating status bias effects is almost certainly not possible. But there are effective and simple techniques for reducing your susceptibility to them. Minim
by mistercow 13y ago
Eradicating status bias effects is almost certainly not possible. But there are effective and simple techniques for reducing your susceptibility to them.
Minimizing the amount of marketing literature you expose yourself to is a good start. In fact, that's a good way to reduce your exposure to many of the weapons in marketers' vast arsenal. Exposure to marketing materials should be limited only to what is necessary to evaluate what objective benefits are offered with a product or service, and what it costs.
One technique is to read those minimum necessary materials, take notes on the actual objective costs and benefits, omitting all marketing buzz, and then walk away from it until any excitement from what you read fades. Later, you can review those notes with a clearer head. Or better yet, hand them off to someone else to evaluate, who hasn't been exposed to the propaganda.
It's also a good idea to read Robert Cialdini's Influence, and then reread it periodically. It's an excellent (but far from complete) run-through of some of the most common tools used by marketers, and techniques for resisting them.
- GFischer 13y agoOne problem with minimizing exposure to marketing materials is that it lowers your resistance to them :) I don't have TV, and when I go to somewhere that does have, it's very easy for me to become mesmerized.
- solistice 13y agoI've read Cialdini's Influence. It's a great book, but he puts forth the point as well that these mental shortcuts can be tremendously helpful heuristics. The crux is really in the differentiation.