Have you ever wondered about your behaviour? I mean deeply, consciously, significantly. There are actions we perform every day, we do not decide to do them, we just run the script. Now the question is: who set up the BIOS?
In this post we discuss some ideas that will help understand the pattern we all follow as human beings and the logic underneath some common behaviours. The same that are used in the creation of ad campaigns, television, marketing, strategic design and so on.
"In psychology one can begin to describe the whole situation by roughly distinguishing the person (P) and his environment (E). Every psychological event depends upon the state of the person and at the same time on the environment, although their relative importance is different in different cases."
– K.Lewin, Principles of topological psychology
-”This is not a topic exhaustible in one article. Or in other words, you’d better start a proper series on the topic, Federica!” - I am sure you thought it.
What is the BIOS, first of all:
"In computing, BIOS (/ˈbaɪɒs,-oʊs/, BY-oss, -ohss; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the booting process (power-on startup)."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS
- No, it is not that you want to drink coffee in the morning, is that the coffee is at hand at the bar in the morning! (or better the samples showing the size of the cup you may want to order happen to be there).
- No, it is not that you want to take the elevator, is that the stairs are a lot!
- No, it is not that you want to chill, smoke and gossip around instead of working, but they are all doing it!
- No, it is not that you want to approach them, is that they are so close and flirty!
- No, it is not that you want to eat fast food instead of preparing and eating a proper dinner, but is easy: It’s fast! and no, it is not that the name is casual, is intentional!
- No, it is not that you want to bite that cookies, one after the other, but they are so incredibly sweet and chocolate filled!
etc.
Your habits are programmable! At the end of the day, we crave the same things our ancestors craved in order to satisfy their needs.
How we decide the cue though? Is it maybe that we follow some sort of principle of conservation of energy? Well, we want it easy, we want it fast, we want it ready. Yes!
However, what makes something that is right there at hand, immediately available, actionable, low investment not satisfying anymore? Not enough for you anymore?
What is that make us wanna achieve more, be more, realise more? Grow as human beings? A feedback loop? And what if the feedback is not there? What if we have no one giving us the sugar after the jump?
What if we are asked to flight as humans, not birds? Why someone of us will construct a plane and someone else will just call himself out of the game without even seriously trying?
Let us try to figure out some immediate effective answer to that.
I can say something from my experience:
I saw my parents walking > I wanted to walk > I tried once > I failed > I observed > I stood up > I moved one step > I failed > I moved two steps > three > down again > [repeat] > I achieved the goal of being able to move as all other humans. Mission accomplished! > Proud parents clapping hands! [Sugar]
But how we react when exposed to negativity: "You cannot do it! You are not able to make it! This attempt is crazy!" - what would have been the message? what the result? what the setting in my BIOS?
And what if the BIOS is not properly configured? ----- ops!
This is a first thing to ponder.
Can we rewrite the script? Can we design spaces that stimulate enthusiasm, creativity, clarity, collaboration? Is the theory of Lewin, namely behaviour as a function of the person P and the environment E, really yielding a comprehensive explanation of the phenomena?
See you next time. Hope you enjoyed the reading and you will come back soon.
Thank you for your attention!
Federica
P.S.: Happy International Women's Day!
The curious reader may want to search autonomously for marketing strategies and compare them with the philosophy of this article. It is also a great exercise - and I really suggest it - to try one of them on you: put everyday a glass of water next to you and hide coffee in another room (or better do not prepare it at all). What will happen after enough repetitions? Are you still craving it or you learnt to drink the glass of water right there? Lemme know.
Suggestion for further reading: J. Clear, Atomic Habits