Thinking
A bat and a ball cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? Believe it or not, the answer to the question has less to do with math and more to do with the science of decision making.
There are two distinct systems used in decision-making, and each leads to unique tactics that can affect consumer behavior. This article will focus on the distinguishing characteristics of the first system and provide a clear strategy to optimize marketing in this decision-making system.
Back to the bat and ball question; If you’re like most of the people in the study, you likely arrived at ten cents. Shane Frederick and renowned neuroscientist Daniel Kahneman famously created the thought exercise. The question was presented to Yale, Princeton, and MIT undergraduate students. About half of them arrived at the same solution; ten cents.
It turns out that ten cents is the incorrect answer. The correct answer is five cents. It makes sense when you slow down and put deliberate thought behind the scenario. Five cents would make the bat cost $1.05, which is exactly one dollar more than the ball and would let the bat and the ball together total $1.10.
So why do most people answer ten cents? It is not a matter of arithmetic skill but decision science and effort. It is because the ten cent answer is intuitive and does not take much deliberation. This is what Daniel Kahneman famously called System 1 thinking.
The opposite is System 2 thinking, a slower, more analytical mode of decision-making. It is slow and deliberate. When the brain is acting in System 2, it exercises deliberate control to slow down and analyze all available variables before coming to a conclusion.
All things being equal, the brain prefers less thinking to more thinking. So if there’s an easier, more efficient path to a solution, the brain will travel that route every single time by default. In other words, the brain wants to stay in System 1 by default and not switch to System 2 - where, again, rational, analytical thought processes exist.
This quirk is such a stable characteristic that it is referred to as a law - the law of least mental effort. This is what happens with the bat and ball problem.
As a marketer, most of the time, you will be speaking to the consumer’s default system - System 1. The strategy here is simple - keep things moving and do not slow the user down. Test your messaging, UX, and retail design elements, which fast-forwards users through their journey.
Next, consumers are happy to go with the flow unless forced to slow down and switch to system 2. So, the second strategy here is not to interrupt the users nor give them a reason to pause. You’ll need to review your messaging, UX, and experiential design elements that could inadvertently slow users down. Then, remove any or all of this friction while keeping them in the flow.
