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Ad Psychology

What is Neuromarketing?

Advertisers use brain imaging and biometrics to test which colors, sounds, and edits trigger the strongest reward responses, then build ads around the results.

Where it comes from

Biometric Ad Research Firms (2000s)

How it hooks you

Exploits affect heuristics: an engineered emotional response is easily mistaken for genuine desire.

What the research shows

Emotionally rich ads reliably activate the amygdala and insula in fMRI studies, correlating with increased purchasing.

Source: Ariely & Berns, 'Neuromarketing: hope and hype of neuroimaging in business', Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2010)

How to resist it

Treat a strong emotional reaction to an ad as information about the ad, not the product. Check price and usefulness separately.

More ad psychology tactics

Explore all 66 tactics in the app