While reading through Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, two lines have stood out to me and made me take a second to think. I've only read through the first chapter thus far, however, after reading it, I am excited to finish the book to fine more of these "tweetable" one-liners.

The first of the lines was on page 3: "Like an airplane pilot landing at night, we want runway lights on either side of us, guiding us to the place where we can touch down our wheels." This sounded very poetic to me and makes a ton of sense. This line referred to others around us or others that are related to us influencing what we want to do. The book talked of a scientist that wanted to receive a Nobel Piece Prize for cancer research, however, when his friends were making more money than him in the field of science investing, he took a job on Wall Street so he could really start "stacking the cheese." He ended up making plenty of money, but gave up on what he originally intended on doing with his life.

I notice this idea of people around you leading you to your final decision in my life on multiple occasions. For instance, when I was in middle school, I enjoyed drawing floor plans of houses, businesses, schools... You name it. Teachers saw what I was doing and suggested that I become an architect. From that day, I was determined to become an architect. I continued to draw floor plans, I got a drafting program for my computer, and went to Montana State to study architecture. I switched my major after my freshman year to business marketing. Because of something that others had told me in middle school, I had decided to go to school for architecture, and found that I was not as passionate for it as I had originally been. As a result, I had no idea what I wanted to study, but had a few friends in the school of business. This was a big reason why I am studying marketing right now. As it turns out, I really enjoy marketing so far and couldn't be happier with the switch. But again, those around be influenced a big decision that I was facing.

The second line that stood out I don't even have to check my notes to recall: "The more we have, the more we want." This was another that really spoke to me because of its simplicity and accuracy. As a college student, I don't have much. However true this may be, I still am looking to upgrade my current possessions to something bigger and better. For instance, I bought and installed new fog lights on my vehicle. A month or so later, LED light bars were becoming a big thing. I have always been a fan of LED lighting and have many LED bulbs on my vehicle already and immediately wanted to upgrade my recently installed fogs to a light bar. In doing so, I spent money that could've been spent on food or on beer as cold as the Rockies. Another example could be found with my stereo deck (I love upgrading my vehicle). I purchased a stereo deck for my first vehicle back in high school. This deck worked fine and would connect to my phone just fine via USB. However, that wasn't enough with the advances in Bluetooth technology. I upgraded to a new stereo deck with Bluetooth capabilities about a year after I purchased my last deck.

The first chapter of this book has been very interesting to me and has made me think about how some of the key concepts have impacted my life. I am looking forward to digging further into this book and finding more connections.

ZMET Analysis

This week in my marketing research class, we had a huge project due. We had to provide exploratory research to a nonprofit radio station based in Billings, MT. This whole process was very educational and allowed my group to incorporate many of the principles and techniques that were learned in Consumer Behavior. For instance, we used the ZMET to interview a few people. While interviewing subjects was useful to see what people liked to hear on the radio, the ZMETs were helpful in finding out why they liked those certain things. It gave our group a deeper understanding on the subconscious view of radio to the public.

For those that are unfamiliar with the process, the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) is a technique that explores both the conscious and unconscious thought that consumers have towards a particular product or service. This technique proved extremely successful for Coca-Cola. After hiring Gerald Zaltman, the developer of the ZMET, to conduct the process, Coca-Cola was able to create new commercials and campaigns that would better sell their product. The ZMET revealed that Coca-Cola had large ties to family. This allowed them to strike up a new ad campaign that focused on the family aspect. Today, they are still very successful with their ads and the family/sharing aspect of the soda.

Anyways, through conducting ZMETs, we found that there is still a large social aspect to listening to the radio. While many people use music downloads and digital streaming to access music, the radio seems to still have a large roll when people are socializing, typically when in the car. Another interesting finding was that people change their taste in music based on who they are around. Of the subjects interviewed, many stated that they would change the station when around others to allow the music to appeal to the other occupants. This can be further supported through the aspect of passing the auxiliary cord around the car. When you get the aux cord after someone has already had it, you are far more likely to listen to a similar genre to what was previously played, even if it is known that you enjoy listening to a completely different genre regularly.

Why Is Jabs Hall So Cool?

Jabs Hall is a sweet building. But anyone that has been inside (or has even seen the exterior) can come to that conclusion. Does the building encourage students to learn? Personally, I believe it does. The essence of the building makes me want to be here, and helps me study and finish my projects in the long run. In the past semesters, I had plenty of buildings to study or work in, but none were a go-to. Now that the College of Business has a new and innovative home in Jabs, I don't mind coming to campus to study and now have a preferred space to study.

In the past, the home to the College of Business could've been considered Reid Hall, an all but impressive building. I hated studying in there, and would only work in there if I needed to use a computer. I hated the atmosphere of the building, it is so bland! Rather than coming to campus, I would stay home and often get distracted. I hate confining myself to a small space and would usually do my homework and projects in the dining room, which just happened to be next to the living room. It would take me a while, sometimes hours to even start on my work thanks to the constant distraction of roommates and Netflix. But now I have Jabs Hall, and when I come in, I don't mind being here and am actually encouraged to stay and work. I have closed down Jabs on multiple occasions this semester and think that it has improved my grades. 

Not only is the building modern, but it is also open and contains plenty of glass. In my opinion, this speaks collaboration. The openness invites second opinions and forges relations between the building's occupants. There are also multiple collaboration spaces in building including student study rooms, interview spaces, and plenty of spaces in nooks and corners that offer some seclusion without being completely severed from public areas.

I think that this interesting building encourages learning and gets people excited about exploring what business can be as an occupation. After talking to multiple people about Jabs Hall, I would say that there is a common theme: Learning has become more enjoyable thanks to the new space. This is exciting to me because this says that how a space looks and feels has serious implications to how humans respond to that space. This means spaces can be interpreted as nudges. The layout of a space can define how people will act and even interact in that space! This could be used to inspire much more than education. For instance: it could be used to boost purchasing among consumers just by changing the layout of a space.