Why do we get such a kick out of focusing on ourselves?
Thirty to 40 percent of human speech informs others about ourselves. Eighty percent or more of social media posts announce our own experiences or views. Nine-month-old babies already try to draw the attention of others to things they find important in their environments. Adults in all societies try to share their knowledge with others.
Humans are wired to disclose. In fact, a battery of studies by Diana Tamir and Jason Mitchell of the Department of Psychology at Harvard University finds that talking about ourselves lights up the same brain pleasure centers as food, money and sex. We can’t help talking about ourselves because it feels so good.
The full research article can be found in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
If our brains so deeply enjoy it when we talk about ourselves, what are the implications for public relations? Sue Wolstenholme, chair-elect of the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations (good friends but no relation to our own Institute for Public Relations), says, “We have to listen even more!”
Now you have an answer the next time a client or a senior executive wants to know why your social media strategy is less about pumping out company messages and more about hearing what your stakeholders have to say.
Frank Ovaitt is president and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations.
Thanks Frank for bringing brain science into public relations. I just finished the book “You Brain at Work” and found it fascinating. The book explains the nature and functions of the brain, and why we couldn’t deal with overwhelming amount of information, and why we “lose it” in emotional upheavals. When I was a graduate student of PR, I never learned this knowledge, which would be so beneficial in real-world situations. I’m thinking about a way to incorporate these insights into the curriculum of PR. The tips and strategies to tackle difficult situations would serve students well to stay calm and sane to actually remember the knowledge of PR obtained in classrooms.
Thanks, Jim!
Please fix the typo in the third graph. PR people need proofreaders, too.
Thank you, Lana. Great idea, David. Maybe we can work on that together.
To complement this theme, we also should consider the neuroscience view on deception and self-deception. See the work by Robert Trivers, for example. Why are we programmed to so readily deceive ourselves and to deveive others? And what does that mean for public relations?
“Now you have an answer the next time a client or a senior executive wants to know why your social media strategy is less about pumping out company messages and more about hearing what your stakeholders have to say.”
I think that about sums it up! Cool article and very enlightening. PR is about being seen and heard, no matter what the message is. So, it’s understandable that someone lights up the same sensors when speaking of self in a glorifying way. We all want to feel like we are belonging… In a sense. Some even want to feel they belong to a higher quo.