The Brain Sell: How the new mind sciences and the persuasion industry are reading our thoughts, influencing our emotions, and stimulating us to shop

such innocently “invented” recollection of events is commonplace and is one of the reasons so little trust can be placed in even the most diligently reported memories.

brands are also able to trigger the release of oxytocin and so make consumers trust them more.

Smidts explained that neuromarketing’s purpose was to “better understand the customer and his or her response to marketing stimuli, by direct measurement of the processes in the brain,” and to increase “the effectiveness of marketing activities by studying the responses of the

Emotion-driven shoppers, by contrast, often find it very hard to explain the logic behind what they have bought.

brands are also able to trigger the release of oxytocin and so make consumers trust them more.

rational shopping decisions occur mainly in the cerebral cortex,

As a result of extensive research into the relationship between humans and intelligent-seeming machines, we can say with confidence that a close, even emotionally intense psychological bond can develop.

While this reflective approach to shopping usually leads to a more satisfactory outcome, the investment of both time and mental energy is much higher than for the impulsive shopper.

Once inside the mall, by contrast, they are able to change gear cognitively. They can, and do, safely switch to mental autopilot