下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
Psychoanalysis is a method that bears some similarities to Ai. Artificial intelligence needs personal data to find a solution to your problem. Psychoanalysis needs private and unconscious data to establish a diagnosis and deliver a prognosis. Before considering people's consumption of GAFA's AI, it is important to understand the psychoanalytic link between brands and consumers. Indeed, the journey of psychoanalysis from clinical psychology into the field of marketing is a chapter all its own in the history of behavioral sciences. It is a chapter embedded in global politics and animated by creative and provocative explanations of consumption behavior. The application of psychoanalytic theory and tools to marketing concerns has yielded seminal concepts that have defined and elaborated the brand image, consumption symbolism, and consumer motivation, among others. The focus has almost always been on the meaning individuals derive from their consumption activities and aspirations.
Investigations of group dynamics in marketing situations typically focus on the observable structural properties of groups, the roles of group members, and the policies and processes that guide a group's activities—specifically, who are we imitating when we buy something? In this section, we will examine the importance of psychoanalysis for individuals and groups and its influence on marketing techniques. Additionally, we will discuss how businesses exploit traditional techniques such as the demonstration effect or Milgram's obedience paradigm for improving their understanding of consumers.
Within marketing, there has been a general preference for investigating groups using the concepts and tools of social psychology. As a consequence, surveys and experiments are fielded to examine the roles and affiliations of group members, and the policies and practices that guide group activities. One particularly prominent topic of group behavior in marketing is what is called“groupthink.”
The collective elements of a group's thinking have thus far been considered as being explicit and consciously shared by group members. To date, none of the literature acknowledges the possibility of unconscious psychic forces within a group, yet the proximity of groupthink to the psychoanalytic conceptualization of the collective unconscious is striking and, we believe, worth exploring. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung's concept of the collective unconscious has been the most influential, although Freud himself made references to similar phenomena. In addition to individuals'personal unconscious, Jung argues that there is a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is common to all individuals.
In the context of taking selfies(a huge source of data for GAFA；one trillion pictures are taken every year with our smartphones, and all the pictures are anonymously analyzed on the Cupertino servers of Apple and Mountain View servers of Google), there is again individual dissent but collective acceptance. In other words, no one seems to like the taking of selfies, yet everyone has reasons to take them. Selfies often evoke criticism and are associated with inauthenticity and attention-seeking. People are however inclined to take group selfies. Group selfies are generally taken in social situations and are posted and shared with others, as these acts are considered a normal part of social activities. Extraversion and agreeableness are associated with a greater awareness and compliance with group norms, so these personality characteristics are associated with increased likelihood that people will post photos of these types of events, but not with the likelihood that people will post photos of themselves alone. According to a Syracuse University study, people who take group selfies have a desire for popularity. Some people even feel“peer pressure”to engage in taking selfies because of the widespread belief that if a picture has not been taken of the event or experience, it did not really happen.
The concept of a“collective unconscious”refers to those aspects of the unconscious which manifest in universal themes that permeate human life. The essential contents of the collective unconscious are identified as“archetypes”—“primordial images”that reflect fundamental patterns common to all, and which are believed to have existed universally since the dawn of humankind. The frequency with which marketing dialogue refers to groupthink and managers'irrational collective beliefs provides some support for Jung's premise. Jung's world, like Tolkien's imaginary kingdom Middle Earth, is animated by unseen forces, conflicts, and dangers, and enacted within archetypal motifs involving particular archetypal events being played out by archetypal figures. We will see how brands integrate techniques in their marketing strategies—which draw inspiration directly from psychoanalysis and consumer behavior—in order to galvanize loyalty and cultivate obedience from consumers.
The relationship between brands and consumers is built from the same materials as a human relationship. Marcel Mauss's famous essay used the concept of the gift and the counter-gift；basically, when somebody is giving you a gift, you feel an obligation to give a gift back. Ergo, when a company like Walmart or Groupon gives you a gift such as a voucher or a discount, you feel compelled to buy something in return. Why? Because you are human. Your weaknesses linked to the gift and the counter-gift have been analyzed for the past 200 years. Companies do adopt the perspectives of sociology, psychoanalysis, anthropology, and psychology；hence social networks like QQ (the Chinese Facebook), Tik Tok or Snapchat , search engines like Baidu , Bing , or Yahoo , collaborative websites like Wikipedia or Skyblog , and instant messaging apps like WeChat or What's app have used this principle of reciprocity for analyzing your behavior. We are compelled, under the constraint of the“reciprocity standard, ”to help those who have helped us or to grant something to someone who has conceded things before. Moreover, through the effect of this standard, we feel obliged to concede more than we have received, which always gives an advantage to the original giver. Using free information on Wikipedia or free calls on Skype, we push ourselves into ever-increasing debt, donating when Wikipedia is fundraising or buying Skype credits for unforeseen usage. It is ingrained in humans to respond positively to a gift, even if it was not asked for or even wanted—either way, we automatically feel indebted to the giver. Companies use proposed benefits(like the free use of social networks, of maps, of Bing, of Gmail, etc. )and promotional offers over the Internet as ways of making customers feel that their interests are being catered to. In some cases, companies can use the reciprocity principle by inviting customers to a party at the firm's expense：as an effect of demonstration, if companies come up with an innovation that can change routines, people will be curious. People want secretly to break their routines. It is like wooing a potential lover—you must break the mold of the expected.
Most people want something they do not have. This reality is the subject of James Duesenberry's“demonstration effect, ” which is summarized as follows：an individual's consumption is a function dependent on the current consumption of other people. More specifically, “Duesenberry[sought to]emphasize that increased consumption expenditures arise because of the need to illuminate the feelings of inferiority created by other people consuming superior goods.”To avoid this loss of self-esteem, an individual will try to“keep up with the Joneses.”This phenomenon was the principal subject of Derrick Borte's film The Joneses , where a fake ideal family settles in a posh neighborhood in order to sell their lifestyle and mode of consumption to their neighbors. Most of the neighborhood, blinded by envy and jealousy, try to be like the Joneses by buying the same products they have. The film demonstrates how the desire to emulate and belong to a certain social category can be devastating if not attained. Frequent exposure to higherquality goods than one usually consumes will thus cause an increase in one's consumption expenditure.
Duesenberry further asserts that “‘newness of design'is often an important consideration in the general consensus of which goods are‘superior.'Consider clothes for example：will this year's fashions cover us better or keep us warmer than last year's fashions? Then why are new fashions‘superior'to old fashions? ”In fashion, consumers are enticed by marketers to buy something new every season. The frequent introduction of new clothing and quick delivery has come to be known as“fast fashion, ”a name derived from “fast food.” To keep up with the latest trends and to accommodate closet space, Americans are discarding more clothes than ever. The fashion industry has created an overabundance of used clothing and has consequently contributed to the problem of overconsumption. Hence advertising works through ostentation as the proposed purpose of consumption. This analysis implies a consensus on the model of consumption：every social class seeks to reach a higher class status and to increase its perceived distance from the lower class, with each member participating in the same race and accepting the same rules.
Self-comparison hence increases consumption of superior goods, and we find happiness when we experience high levels of consumption. The writer Bohler agrees that one of the main drivers of consumption today is jealousy resulting from constant social comparison. We wish to have all that our entourage has, possess all that the people we admire have. Say, for example, we want to check out a new Star Wars app. This app allows you to use telekinetic powers like Darth Vader in the movies. We could download a free demo version because we do not have enough money to purchase the full premium one. But the guy that does purchase the full version will be the first to consume the product in its entirety, which to him and many others is a superior experience. He is among the first. He has the full app before anyone else does, when it is new. And because people want to be first, they will always live in and perpetuate a consumption society. AI brands need only to use this concept to keep the process going.
The demonstration effect is the starting point of a consumption society；it explains that the behavior of individuals is predicated on observation of the actions of others. In order to understand marketing based more explicitly and intentionally upon principles of manipulation and obeisance in buying products, consider what has been called Milgram's obedience-to-authority paradigm . The paradigm arose from a famous series of experiments wherein members of the New Haven community(mainly men)volunteered to participate in a study ostensibly designed to investigate the effects of punishment on learning. When they turned up at the lab, they found themselves cast in the role of a“Teacher”and with the job of administering electric shocks to another man(the“Learner”)whenever he made an error on a word recognition task. The shocks were administered progressively via a machine on which 30 switches signified escalating levels of shock, starting at 15 volts(designated “slight shock”)but rising to 450 volts(ominously designated“xxx”).
In fact, the machine did not deliver shocks and the Learner was a confederate, but the Teachers did not know this. The true purpose of the research was also not to study memory, but to see how far participants would go in following the experimenter's instructions. Most critically, would they be willing to administer a potentially lethal shock to an innocent man when instructed to do so by a figure of authority?
When Milgram asked ordinary people what they thought they would do, most believed that they would go no further than 135 volts. None believed that they would go above 300 volts, let alone all the way to the 450-volt maximum. When he asked psychiatrists what they thought ordinary people would do, they predicted that only a pathological fringe constituting some five percent of the population would go beyond 300 volts, and that only just over 0.1% would go to the maximum. Yet when Milgram ran what he originally termed the “Coronary Condition, ”26 out of 40 ordinary Americans(65%)went up to 450 volts. In this condition(which later became known as the“New Baseline”)the Learner reacts to the“shocks”with a series of scripted exclamations and protestations, including, at 150 volts, “Ugh!!!Experimenter!That's all. Get me out of here, please. My heart's starting to bother me. I refuse to go on. Let me out, ”and at the 330-volt point he screamed“Let me out of here... My heart's bothering me. Let me out, I tell you. ( Hysterically . )Let me out of here.”
The moral of this story is that people are more likely to obey orders if they see the authority figure as morally justified or legally instituted. Why? Obeying authority figures is ingrained in us from the time we are children through such figures as parents, teachers, and bosses. People are likely to follow an authoritative figure's commands even if those commands are reprehensible. This theory is extremely helpful for explaining the thesis of this book. Consider how everyone understands that we respect Apple and Facebook, and no one cares that these brands do not pay their taxes. In fact, people love Apple, Google, and Facebook. So, why the hypocrisy? Consumers respect these brands because of the marketing, the logos, the colors, their knowledge, their innovations, but also the profits they are generating.
People are also more obedient when there is a reminder of God. The more unstable a country is, the more likely people are to seek comfort in faith. André Malraux explained that a civilization was everything built around a religion. Even when societies have tried to suppress faith, things were set up in its place, such as the cult of a leader or of the state. Many psychologists now think that belief in supreme images of authority is an extension of our recognition of the existence of others and our tendency to see the world in human terms. To understand this belief, neuroscientists have sought to compare the brains of believers and skeptics. We constantly look for patterns, structures, and cause—ef fect relationships. What if brands are becoming the objects of the new faith people are looking for?
Let us now turn back to the demonstration effect and Milgram's paradigm, which are two different mechanisms. The former has to do with wanting to be first, among other things. The latter explains how in a democracy, two-thirds of people will obey unconscionable orders including killing people if they believe in something(the cause of a higher supernatural being, perhaps).
With that in mind, we can understand why for instance scientists today are saying we need to drink more coffee because it's good for us and people obey, and yet the scientists'study has been funded by coffee producers, and other studies have found that coffee is not good for us. So, when we talk about lobbying, we know there is a stealth marketing connection there. Stealth marketing essentially occurs when consumers are not aware that they are being subjected to advertising. The evolution of marketing has been a succession of surprising and innovative techniques which had one goal：leaving the customer smiling rather than resentful for feeling an unconscious emotional connection with a brand through an advertisement for buying the product.
According to an article published in Collier's in 1950, “Perhaps the best and most judicious summary of the most generally accepted medical viewpoint is to be found in an editorial published a few years ago in the Journal of the American Medical Association . ‘Actual surveys indicate, 'it stated, ‘that the majority of physicians themselves smoke cigarettes. From a psychological point of view, more can be said on behalf of smoking as a form of escape from tension than against it. There does not seem to be a preponderance of evidence that would indicate the abolition of the use of tobacco as a substance contrary to the public health.'” This marked the earliest beginnings of a shift against cigarettes. In the years leading up to and following it, numerous ads extolled the virtues of cigarettes and deemed them to be nothing to worry about. They predicated their treatment of cigarettes upon the sentiments of doctors. For instance, the title for Time 's photo gallery of older advertisements, “Your Doctor Wants You To Smoke, ”says it all. Just as it is in our nature to obey authority figures, with brands as the new myths(and hence the new figures of authority), it is in our nature to accept this type of manipulation.
With the advancement of AI, brands will use a new mechanism to make you buy products. Because the AI will have information about each consumer, brands will be able to make a product based on what the consumer likes, and sell it in such a way as to make use of the Duesenberry effect：a unique product, like in “haute couture” whose consumption creates frustration for others. Moreover, brands will go further and anticipate a need before the consumer has thought about it. In this way, the development and expansion of AI will allow brands to manipulate the behavior of every consumer.
An author named John Kenneth Galbraith argued that“if the consumer can be reached and influenced by the producer, then much is changed and much that happens is at the behest of the producer, not the consumer.”Hence producers, not consumers, largely determine what is produced and, ultimately, how resources are utilized. This is especially the case in a system dominated by large corporations with large advertising budgets in the marketplace. Basically, Galbraith said consumers are not kings and people will obey figures of authority, just as Milgram showed. There are no rules in the market because there is no consumer or client who is king：they are not deciding with their purchases, they have been manipulated. In this system, consumers cannot tell companies what they want. Companies push people to love products, understanding what they ought to want. Hence Galbraith's innovation of the“revised sequence, ”whereby the initiative originates with the company defining needs and fashions. The consumer only intervenes at the end of the sequence through submission. Consider these words spoken by Henry Ford(or at least a statement that is often attributed to Ford)for an illuminating illustration of why this might be：“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”The idea here is that you can create radical innovations without heeding the express desires of consumers. Ford did exactly that. Ford did not give people faster horses. He gave them cars. And he did so successfully, at least initially. But eventually, it became clear that there are limits to how far companies can go in dictating what consumers want. Companies can push consumers toward getting what the companies want them to get. Sometimes consumers will bite：consider Google Glass for an excellent example of this；the public backlash at the time of its release is the stuff of legends, with privacy issues leading 72% in the US to disparage Google's product. The mission of the brand is to make consumers dream and to find ways to seduce them again and again. AI helps in carrying out this mission with a large margin of success. People consume brands. Why so much seduction from brands? Because retaining a customer costs less than attracting a new one, and is seven times more profitable. As among lovers or in the relationship between a brand and its consumer, fidelity brings many pleasant surprises—a plane ticket to celebrate a wedding anniversary works the same way as the Nespresso loyalty card that awards points to shoppers. According to Nietzsche, “fanaticism is the only form of willpower that even the weak and insecure can be brought to attain.”Are not we all“weak”and“shy”before the commanding power of brands and the vast financial resources that are allocated to their advertising propaganda? Just like the witness in Milgram's experimentation, the slave in love with its servitude in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World , or in the theories of La Boétie, consumers do not realize that they are happily consenting to consume advertisements without knowing it.
Brands are persuading people on a scale comparable to that of the deities of ancient Greece. For thousands of years, humans have believed that gods had supreme authority, and when time passed into the modern era, humanism gradually shifted authority away from deities to people.
In Homo Deus , Harari looks ahead to the future where there is a shift in global supernatural power, when the forces of natural selection are replaced by intelligent design. Questions arise over what will happen to democracy and the challenges it faces when the powers that be, like GAFA, know our likes and preferences better than we know ourselves. In the absence of old myths, a new one will have to emerge in order for us to make sense of the world. Thus dataism , a universal faith in algorithms, arises. Humans essentially become a collection of subsystems monitored by this central spirit, informing humans of how to feel. With the usage of AI as a tool to predict consumers'behavior and manipulate them, Harari may be closer to reality than the fiction he sought to portray. To get a better understanding of the concept of business manipulation between the manipulators and the manipulated, we can look to the schema below.
In the next section, we review the history of this form of persuasion. We will continue to demonstrate that it is in the companies'and brands'nature to manipulate people, and the rise of AI will accelerate the process.