All posts by Philip Graves

The decision has been taken: there is to be an addition to the household. A puppy, that the family has named Willow, will be arriving in a few weeks. As the resident psychologist I have taken on responsibility for training Willow: from what I’ve read this is a reasonably straight-forward exercise involving tasty treats, repetition and the avoidance of saying one thing whilst everything else that’s happening is signalling something else to the dog. Of course, Pavlov famously demonstrated the nature of conditioned response with a dog and, whilst there is much debate within the dog training world, most training boils down to this principle. Most people recognise this response mechanism within dogs, after all, unlike us, they don’t have access to the critical thinking processes that we do. What we tend to focus on much less is our own conditioned responses. We are far more like dogs than we would […]

Many young children, particularly boys, are obsessed with superlatives. What’s the biggest building, or the longest road; the fastest car, or the most valuable guitar (these are all questions that have been asked in my house). Fortunately, the internet makes answering such questions easy. And a book of facts and figures (like the Guinness Book of Records) is a guaranteed hit as a present: many hours will be spent marvelling at the information and, entertainingly, every now and then a new piece of trivia is thrown into conversation: a fact grenade to amaze and impress. One question, perhaps the one that is asked more often than any other, is usually impossible to answer: “Who or what is the best ______?” It could be anything: guitarist, tennis player, runner, swimmer, teacher… It’s apparent that such topics of conversation fuel many a playtime debate. Of course, the problem is that often there […]

Recently I was asked to speak on BBC Radio Scotland about the use of business cards: does anyone still use them and, if so, what role to do they play? There’s no denying that there’s something very old-fashioned about business cards.  The days of calling cards are long since past.  Having spoken to people who remember them being in use, they recall butlers being handed cards that were carried on silver salvers to a waiting householder. I’m told that if the person the caller wanted to see wasn’t available the inclusion of an address on the card meant that etiquette necessitated a letter being sent: these days people don’t always reply to emails containing direct questions! To date technology hasn’t replaced the humble business card.  It’s still the best way of quickly giving someone your contact details.  And it’s an uncomfortable moment when someone gives you their card and you […]

Normally, when writing an article of this kind, I’d keep the punchline to the end. But I’ll tell you upfront what the secret is: it’s having the right focused message. What’s interesting is why this is so important. If you think to some of the most successful brands, how would you characterise them? In behavioural terms I think the brands that have achieved the most are the ones that most people would be keen to investigate if they heard they were launching something new. At a psychological level, I would say the most successful brands are the ones that consistently influence how people behave when they’re subliminally exposed to them: that’s clear evidence that they’ve imprinted themselves on people’s unconscious minds. One of the challenges brands face is from within the companies that own them. Often new marketing personnel are keen to make their mark and that means doing something […]