Zu unserem Trend BrainMind hier ein schoener Beitrag im Blog Mission to Learn von Jeff Cobb. Er reflektiert sehr schoen die Zusammenhaenge zwischen Lernen und Hirn.

George Kembel, Mitbegründer der d.school in Stanford beschreibt in diesem Video den Ansatz des "Design Thinking" und erklärt seine Bedeutung für Universität und Beruf. Die d.school bietet auch sehr erfolgreich für Manager Bootcamps zum Design Thinking an.

[blip.tv ?posts_id=871071&dest=-1]

Seit ein paar Monaten gibt es auch eine deutsche d.school. Sie ist angesiedelt beim Hasso Plattner Institut in Potsdam.

Ein spannendes Interview mit George Kembel findet ihr hier.

Nicht nur wegen seiner imposanten Erscheinung, es sind vielmehr seine raumgreifenden Gedanken. Sie weisen einerseits weit in die Zukunft, fussen andererseits bodenständig auf einer scharfen Analyse. Wobei der Meister ein geschicktes Händchen für verbale Neuschöpfungen hat; realistischer als Gerken, intelligenter als Horx und ... ist Ihnen zu schwülstig? Dann klicken Sie doch einfach mal auf das Video weiter untern - eine von 22 Antworten, die wir aufbereitet haben.

Für mich war es das zweite Date in Bremen und beim Videoschnitt kam mir der Satz: ein grosser Medizinmann . Oder eine Oktave tiefer: Kruse hat bei Hypno, Trance und Erickson gut aufgepasst! Der Experimentalpsychologe an der Schnittstelle zur Neurophysiologie ... kennt aber die Arbeiten von der GRP nicht und in Sachen Web 2.0 hatte ich (schon mit ihrer Studie, hier ihre Presseerklärung) den Eindruck, daß da jemand aus zweiter Hand plaudert.

Aber Puh - das sind nur Bemerkungen eines Bären von sehr geringem Verstand und SCOPE möchten Ihnen dieses Interview wärmstens ans Herz legen und nachdrücklich empfehlen. Eein Tip: Papier und Bleistift zurecht legen, Zeit nehmen, bevorzugt mit mehreren hören und sich anschliessend austauschen. Denn Peter Kruse hat was zu sagen, formuliert es druckreif und sorgt so für eine nachhaltige Endorphinausschüttung:

http://www.pfizer.com/brain/teachers_html.htmlhttp://www.teachers.tv/video/19829

http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_05/d_05_cr/d_05_cr_her/d_05_cr_her.html

Brain-gym info

http://www.brainwise.co.uk/home/index.html

Plus some Mind-mapping sources

http://www.collegedegree.com/library/college-life/99-mind-mapping

—–0—–

All postings to this site relate to the central model in the PhD.

Summaries are HERE

"We hear teachers complain so often about the Digital Natives’ attention spans that the phrase “the attention span of a gnat” has become a cliche. But is it really true? “Sure they have short attention spans—for the old ways of learning,”...

Alles in allem einer der lesenswertesten Artikel zu diesem Themenkomplex, die ich in den letzten Monaten in die Finger bekam. In seiner radikalen Konsequenz erinnert er an die Forschungen der GRP, die in den Achtzigern für Furore sorgten. Forschungsleiter Henner Ertl damals: "Wenn der Entwicklungsprozeß in dem Tempo weitergeht, leben bereits in 50 Jahren völlig andere Menschen. Sie empfinden anders. Sie denken anders. Sie reagieren anders."

Und nicht nur das - sie sind längst unter uns!

The trend for more kids to have autism makes the society worry if this is a new threat to the health of the young nation coming with it.

Surely autism is not something that was noticed just a while ago, many parents are trying to focus public's attention on this problem and demand from the scientific society to find explanations and solutions to this problem. As any big problem autism created many trends in explaining the problem and its reasons.

For example, ultra sound diagnosis at early stages of pregnancy are rumored to create a possible effect of autism on the kids. Gender "curse" as out of 5 kids diagnozed autism statistically there are 4 boys and 1 girl, and so on and so forth. Add to this cases when some kids have been thought to be autistic, whereas in reality they just head the hearing problems and could not interact socially.

These informational puzzles create a real mess in the heads of people instead of showing them the way out.

To clear the picture and shift away the scary stigma from autism. Let's have a look at 3 major theories that try to explain autism.

Theory of Mind

Within the framework of this theory every human being is capable of understanding what thoughts or ideas trigger people to do some actions. This gives us a pocibility to "foresee" these actions and act adequately. For example, you are at the cross roads waiting for the greet traffic light, you know that a person next to you is standing and also waiting for the same light to cross the street. Hence, you can "foresee" that when the light is green, he or she will start crossing the street. No big magic. But having that in mind you would not put let's say a suitcase right in front of this person, because you know that when the light gets green he/she will go forward and will need to step over it.

Still, let's be frank - we can only suppose that we know what is inside the mind of another person, based on our experience and logics. In reality the mind of another person is a black box for us.

Autistic people cannot make predictions of what another person will do in standard situations. This makes them not well adopted to many routine situations in life. But still, maybe they are not that incorrect being unable to foresee the actions of other people?

Executive Function

Whenever we do something routine, we are a little above the thing. We see our actions as the line of things to do that will give us some results. Autistic children tend to get dissolved in the process - they just do and do and do and this doing become everything for them. Perhaps, it is possible to say that they do just for doing instead of trying to find sense why they are doing so.

That is why a typical picture of a kid with autism is a kid that "got stuck" on the same action - line of toys, one and the same symbol on the paper, etc.

But then let's put up a question to ourselves. Are we really better because we do something for a purpose? No. We are just different. Which makes the issue of standards pretty lame with autism.

Central Coherence

We see ourself as part of the bigger picture: I go to the office because I need to do a job because I need money because I need to have food, clothes and place to live, because, because, because. Once again, we can say that people who do not have autism can for a split of a second get above the situation like they show in the movies of zooming out picture and end up with the whole globe seen from the satellite.

Kids with autism do not do like this. They are living exactly in this very moment. Yes type of living causes them many problems in our society where we expect others to understand what is going on.

Summary.

The idea behind this post was simple. Try to show how different theories understand autism and show that autism is an issue of other standards of social behavior - different from our. But as you can see, even logically we can make a conslusion - autism is not a stigma, they are not stupid of absent minded. They are just different in some issues.

Maybe this is the key to the problem?

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For more information about autism please consult autism informational portal or grab this autism RSS feed.

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Chapter 13: Sublimation

Should an instinct be denied its expression and all ideas connected with it be repressed into the subconscious, trouble will ensue. The lower reaches of a river can be emptied by the simple expedient of placing a dam across its channel, but this does not solve the problem of the surplus water, which gathers head behind the obstruction till it bursts its banks and makes a morass of the upper reaches. If it is necessary to deflect a river from its bed, then an alternative course must be provided, for the water continues to come down from the hills and must by some means be disposed of.It is precisely this engineering problem that the psychotherapist has to deal with. We know that a large percentage of mental and nervous disorders are caused by the repression of the sex instinct. This great instinct, in its mental and physical aspects, is so fundamental and so powerful that it cannot with safety to the individual be entirely repressed, nor with safety to society be given free rein, and we are on the horns of a dilemma, for social laws demand that it shall only be expressed under very limited conditions those of legal marriage, and even then not to an unlimited extent; and nature demands that it shall be expressed as soon as the physical organs of its manifestation are sufficiently developed to function.The average man solves this problem for himself by conniving at the maintenance of a pariah class of women whose very existence is socially ignored and is a fertile source of misery, disease, and crime; but for women, unless they are prepared permanently to join the pariah class, a social safety valve does not exist, and we find among them a much higher percentage than among men suffering from those nervous troubles that are due to a repression of the sex instinct, and this also applies to men who, whether from idealism or fear of disease, do not avail themselves of a compromise.This problem would prove as intractable in the future as it has in the past were it not that we now know that the law of transmutation of energy from one form to another is as true for psychology as it is for physics, and sex force can be utilized for other purposes than physical reproduction. This process of conversion is technically known as SUBLIMATION.This is one of the most important discoveries of modern psychology, for it provides the solution to grave social problems that menace the fabric of civilization.How, in actual practice, can this result be achieved?First, by altering our entire attitude toward sex, and realizing that a problem is not solved by ignoring its existence. Secondly, by taking the sex problem out of the domain of the subconscious into the conscious mind and frankly facing it, and acquiring dominion over it by the practice of thought control, transmuting our emotions instead of repressing them; and thirdly, by providing a channel of creative interest down which may flow the energies we wish to deflect from their primitive channel of manifestation.The key to the whole problem lies in this, the life force flows to the point of interest. If the interest and attention are centered upon physical sensation, then the life force will flow, or attempt to flow, through the channel of the reproductive organs, or if denied manifestation, will keep up a constant irritation and stimulation; but if the interest be shifted to an emotional or mental level, then the life force will find an outlet in creative activity upon these levels and drain the pressure from the physical.The mental and physical habits of a lifetime are not easily broken, but if the thoughts be patiently and persistently kept away from physical sensation and concentrated upon external interests, the law of mental and physical habit will come to our aid, and the life force will learn to flow through its new channel with safety to the individual and benefit to society.The process of thought control must not be confused with the dissociation of ideas. In dissociation we are dishonest with ourselves, denying that certain qualities exist in our natures; the ideas connected with them are repressed into our subconsciousness, and it is the involuntary subconscious censor that holds them down; whereas in thought control we admit the primitive side of our natures and set to work to train it, and because we know that dwelling upon mental pictures of a sexual nature produces a physical reaction, we exclude these ideas from consciousness; but in this case the repression is not into the subconscious mind, but into the foreconscious, and it is one of the voluntary censors that enforces the command and remains under our control.The distinction between repression and dissociation must be clearly borne in mind in all re-educational work. A certain amount of repression is unavoidable in a social life; for each individual sacrifices something of his personal desires for the sake of the benefits of co-operation with his fellows, and the energy thus sacrificed is turned to social purposes. Dissociation, however, is always a pathology, and should never be allowed to occur.

Chapter 14: Maladaptation to Environment and Psychopathology

The classification of diseases was carried out at a time when the body was regarded as the whole of man and the mind looked upon as an unimportant by-product whose influence was negligible. Modern discovery, however, has radically changed our outlook.Much mental disease has a physical origin and should not be classified as mental at all. To this class belong the mental disturbances arising from disease of or injury to the brain; womb trouble; poisoned blood conditions and the faulty functioning of the ductless glands, whose place in our economy is so important and so little understood; and many other causes of a like nature.Setting aside this type of disease, with which psychology, strictly speaking, is not concerned, we find the true mental diseases fall into a first broad division, those which are congenital and those which are acquired. In congenital disease an abnormal individual breaks down in a normal environment, and in acquired disease a normal individual breaks down in an abnormal environment. In both cases the results are the same, but treatment and prospect of recovery are very different.The boundary line between a healthy and diseased mind is not easy to draw, but we may reckon a mind diseased when it fails to react normally to its environment; thus, if happenings which should stir us deeply leave us unmoved, or we are upset by things which should have no power to disturb us, we may consider our mind is not working well. Let it never be forgotten, however, that mental disturbance ranges from irritability, depression, and bad memory, to its extreme manifestations in the different forms of insanity.The division between nervous and mental disease is even harder to draw, but for all practical purposes the sense of reality may be utilized as a dividing line; as soon as he loses his sense of reality a man passes the boundary line of insanity. The neurotic knows that there is something wrong with him, but that the world is all right; the lunatic believes that he is all right, but that there is something wrong with the world. It is the constant aim of the mind to maintain harmonious relations between the individual and the environment; to secure an adjustment to, and to make the best of, the constantly varying conditions to which the organism is subjected. If it fails to do this, the law of the survival of the fittest comes into action and automatically eliminates the unfit whose who have failed to adapt themselves to the conditions in which they live. Failure to adapt may be due to one of two causes: the individual may be abnormal,or the environment may be abnormal.Modern social conditions in a civilized community tend to prevent the automatic elimination of the unfit and to permit them to live on. With physical failure to adapt, due to malformation or lack of stamina, we will not deal here, but will confine ourselves to the problem of adjustment on the mental level.If there is difficulty in making a mental adjustment to environment and finding contentment and peace of mind, then the individual is faced by a peculiar problem, he is allowed to continue his physical life, but cannot find mental peace. In order to obtain relief from this intolerable condition, certain devices are unconsciously resorted to. These devices are of the nature of buffers or shock absorbers, and provided the individual does not deviate too much from the normal type, which is adapted to the environment, and that the environment likewise does not differ too much from the type for which the individual was designed, then these devices effectually protect his feelings from the rude shocks of circumstances and enable him to keep his poise and peace of mind. If, however, the strain thrown upon the psychic shock absorber is too great for it adequately to absorb, then the rebound of the buffer-springs throws the machinery of the mind out of gear and makes itself felt in nervous and mental disorders. Like physical disease, mental disease is Nature’s effort at repair which overreaches itself.This, then, is what constitutes mental disease (the organic insanities being excluded from this definition) the reaction of the mind to what it cannot assimilate. It must not be thought, however, that mental disorder necessarily means insanity. Any faulty functioning of the mind comes under the heading of psycho-pathology, and just as the diseases of the body range from a passing indisposition to some fatal organic disease, so the diseases of the mind range from irritability and forgetfulness to the complete collapse of lunacy.

Chapter 15: Conflict

As we have already seen, our life is motived by three great instincts. A moment’s thought, however, will cause us to realize that, as these instincts are diverse in their aims, they may sometimes find themselves in opposition to one another; this condition is known to psychologists as CONFLICT, wherein one instinct can only be gratified at the expense of another. For instance, a man may be starving, and be tempted to steal in order to satisfy his hunger. Here we see a conflict between the self-preservation and herd instinct, for if he steals, he may lose his place in the herd, and if he does not steal, he may lose his life, and it is astonishing how many will choose the latter alternative, proving the power and fundamental nature of the herd instinct. The man will be torn two ways, and can only gratify one instinct at the expense of the other. Or, again, he may fall in love with a woman who is denied to him by the marriage laws of his country. Here we see a conflict between the sex instinct and the herd instinct. Or he may fall in love with one whom it would be disadvantageous socially or professionally for him to marry, and here we see a conflict between the sex and self-preservation instincts.Now, in each of these cases a large amount of force is locked up and rendered unavailable for the general purposes of the life, for a head-on collision between instincts is involved, and each employs the whole of its energy to neutralise the force of the other, and the whole life comes to a standstill while the battle is fought out. It is notorious that an individual in such a dilemma can come to no decision, take no decisive action, in any department of his life. Some solution has to be arrived at, and any solution is better than a continuation of the conflict, the pain of which is intolerable.First, the man may think the whole matter out, and, acting according to his nature, give the victory to one or other of the combatants, leaving the vanquished instinct to seek adjustment as best it may. It requires great strength, however, to take such a stand, and many are not able to do it. Some seek a solution of the problem by keeping the instincts in separate compartments of the mind, and never comparing their special pleadings, as did a science teacher known to the writer, who on weekdays taught the doctrines of evolution, and on Sundays the doctrine of special creation, and when questioned on the matter, burst into a towering passion and refused to discuss it.A third solution, however, is very often found by the perplexed mind, and that is known as dissociation.Now, REPRESSION and DISSOCIATION are two terms current in modern psychological parlance, and the writer has often heard them used as if they were interchangeable terms, but this is not the case. Repression means that certain ideas are put into the subconscious mind and not permitted to return to consciousness, but dissociation means that some of these ideas, instead of lying quiet in the subconscious, split off from the integration of the personality and function independently. These two factors of mentation will be studied in detail in the following chapters.

Chapter 16: Repression

Repression is a refusal to permit an idea to enter consciousness. The instant it looms up upon the fringe of consciousness the attention is resolutely turned away from it. This device is resorted to when an idea enters the mind which is repugnant to our character, when we find ourselves thinking thoughts which are out of harmony with the general tone of our nature. Unwilling to admit to ourselves that we have such a side to our dispositions, we turn away from the repulsive images; but as it is impossible to erase from the mind any idea which has once entered it, we endeavor to store these ideas, since they must be stored somewhere, in that part which is furthest away from consciousness, and so, to use the technicalities of the psychologist, we repress them into our subconscious.When it is remembered that every child is born into the world a little savage, and that it is only by education he achieves civilization, it will readily be seen that our primitive nature is not a thing which our cultivated self can regard with any complacency. That the untrained child is selfish and dirty, we are all aware; and that we ourselves, before our training had time to take effect on us, were also selfish and dirty, we cannot with logic deny; but a merciful veil of forgetfulness has been drawn across this period, for we have developed into something so different from what we were that our primitive self is utterly repugnant to us, and repression is resorted to to prevent this unpleasant ghost of our original natures from intruding upon our self-esteem.All ideas of an uncivilized type which enter the mind are apt to call forth a certain amount of response from us—hence the success of the smutty story—for the primitive side of our natures is not dead, and stirs in its sleep if a note of the same pitch is sounded in its hearing; therefore ideas which wake our lower nature are quickly repressed into the subconscious lest they should be translated into action. Repression is essentially the mechanism of self-disgust.It is still an open question whether repression is normal or abnormal; whether it is part of the functioning of the healthy mind, or whether it is to be regarded as a psychic corn or callosity, an endeavor on the part of nature to reinforce a point of pressure, which, though intended as a defense, is apt to become a disease.The part played by consciousness in repression is equally an open question. In my opinion, an idea must be present to consciousness before its nature can be apprehended and the judgment formed which leads to its banishment.There is no question but that, if we were strong enough, we could deal with these problems in the conscious mind by means of thought control, and that repression is only resorted to when the first line of defence has gone down before the onslaught of the lower side of our natures.Repression may therefore be looked upon as a reaction due to weakness; the mind that was perfectly adapted to its environment would assimilate all experiences and grow stronger in the process.

Chapter 17: Dissociation

While the device of repression may adequately deal with many of the unwelcome thoughts that intrude themselves upon us, it is not capable of doing so in every case, and then the process is carried a stage further, and DISSOCIATION takes place.Dissociation is pathological forgetting. Emotion is the life of an idea. In ordinary forgetting a memory sinks into the subconscious because insufficient interest is attached to it to enable it to remain in consciousness; if, however, an idea associated with some strong emotion is repressed into the subconscious, that emotion will, as it were, vivify it, and cause it to have an independent life of its own; it splits off from the personality and is said to be dissociated.It will be noted that in our study of memory we saw that ideas never remain solitary, but tend to form associations among themselves, or, as they are technically termed, complexes. The dissociated idea is no exception to this rule; not only does it form alliances with its fellow prisoners, but its chains of associations manage to evade the censor and ramify through the other levels of the mind with far-reaching consequences, giving rise to much of the illogicality and unreasonableness which disturb our attempts at rational thinking. We have already noted that a complex is a group of ideas held together by some emotionally toned interest; and as all emotion has its root in an instinct, it follows that all complexes must be affiliated to one or other of the instincts; as they sink into the subconscious they therefore go down the channel of the instinct to which they belong, and as they are swimming against the current they tend to block the flow of that particular instinct and to causeit to express itself through the subsidiary channel which they are endeavoring to open up.It can readily be seen that serious consequences must arise from an obstacle lodged in the fairway of so great a force and drawing to itself, under the law of association of ideas, all thoughts that may enter the mind on the same subject, or that have a real or symbolic resemblance to it. As has been truly said, the subconscious grows at the expense of the conscious, and the balance of the mind is upset; the thrust of life, the source of all energy, instead of flowing freely from level to level, is blocked by the complex and held up in the subconscious, causing the pressure on that level to rise to danger-point, while the conscious mind is sapped of its vitality, producing an individual of imperative and chaotic needs, which he is unable to formulate, even to himself, and with no power to give them expression or obtain their satisfaction.

Die Studenten, die ihre geistige Vorstellungskraft gezielt trainierten und beim Lernen einsetzten, schnitten durchschnittlich 12% besser ab, was das unmittelbare Erinnerungsvermögen anging, im Langzeit-Test behielten sie sogar 26% mehr Lernstoff.

David Meier über die Ergebnisse: „Die Anwendung der Multi-Sinnesvorstellung im Bildungsbereich ist nur natürlich. Wie unsere Studie zeigte, personalisiert sie das Lernen, es macht mehr Spaß und es hilft, das Gelernte zu behalten.

Es gibt kein Mittel, ganz gleich, wie hochentwickelt es auch sein mag, das der Stärke, der Flexibilität und der bequemen Anwendung der menschlichen Vorstellungskr gleichkommt. Wir müssen der geistigen Vorstellungskraft dieselbe Aufmerksamkeit widmen, wie den komplizierten, von Computern unterstützten audio-visuellen Lerngeräten. Wir besitzen die beste multi-sensorische Lehrmaschine der Welt mitten in unserem Kopf."

Weiterer Vorteil der Verbindung Lernen und bildhaftes Vorstellen: Visualisieren funktioniert unabhängig von Geschlecht, Alter, Schule, ethnischer und sozialer Herkunft. Übrigens ein alter Trick in neuen Kleidern: Bereits die alten Griechen wußten um die Kraft der Bilder und setzten sie gezielt in Universitäten und Schulen ein...

So entstand ein gehirngerechtes Unterrichtsmodell, das mehrere tausend österreichische Schulkinder (trotz Wiederstände der Kultusbürokratie) wieder mit dem Lernen versöhnte. Seit kurzem lernen auch in Lichtenstein 8 Schulklassen unter Laborbedingungen mit diesem Modell, in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Professor Guttmann, dem Schulamt Lichtenstein und den beteiligten Lehrern.

In der optimalen Schulstunde stellt der Lehrer zunächst den aktuellen Stoff in einer kurzen Übersicht vor, Zeit für die Klasse, sich vorzubereiten und mental einzutunen. Die darauffolgende Entspannungsübung versetzt die Schüler in einen Zustand erhöhter Leistungsbereitschaft und dient der geistig/körperlichen Aktivierung.

Danach wird der Lernstoff in knappen Schlagzeilen präsentiert, den sogenannten Kerninformationen (möglichst mit optischer und akustischer Unterstützung). Der nächste Schritt führt in ein weit entferntes Wissensgebiet, um die Verarbeitung der Kerninfos nicht zu stören.

Danach kommt die erste Wiederholung der Kerninformationen in thematisch leicht modifizierter Form. Es schließt sich ein weiterer Ausflug an, abschließend die zweite Wiederholung der Kerninformationen.

Das Wiener Unterichtsmodell:

1. Einführung 5 Min.
2. Entspannung 5 Min.
3. Kerninformation 5 Min.
4. Intervall 1 5 Min.
5. Wiederholung 1 5 Min.
6. Intervall 2 10 Min.
7. Wiederholung 2 10 Min.

Mehr darüber in dem Artikel "Lernen durch Selbstkontrolle" von Ernst Bauer.

Klare Ziele
eindeutiges Feedback
Konzentration durch Stimulation
Stärkung des Selbstbewußtseins
gezielte Motivation
Veränderung des klassischen Zeitbegriffes und
der erfassbare Sinn einer potentiellen Kontrolle.

Zu ähnlichen Ergebnissen kam auch das interdisziplinäre US-Lernprogramm ZERO. Als elementare Bausteine des Neuen Lernens gelten hier abstrakte Fähigkeiten wie

Mentales Management
Meta Kognition
(die Reflektion über das eigene Denken aus der Satellitenperspektive)
unterschiedliche, problemorientierte Lernstrategien.

Daher soll in Zukunft - so die Experten - die Ausbildung in erster Linie Denkstrategien und Lerntechniken vermitten, für blosse Kompetenz ändert sich die Gesellschaft viel zu schnell. Wer macht den Anfang?

Neuromerchandising involves all the sensory elements--what works within different retail contexts to elicit positive reactions. And it's more. It's also about archetypal meaning, storytelling, employee paralanguage and non-verbal language. There are too many elements left out by retail environment designers that reach deeper and bring in better results.

It never ceases to amaze me how predictable, dull and streamlined retail establishments remain.

Last weekend I visited a store named Hollister, a California surfer apparel store targeted at teens, under the management of Abercrombie and Fitch. Finally! a retailer who understood lighting and texture. Drama, depth-of-field, colour, sound, storytelling, employee behavior--it was one of the best retail environments I have seen in Canada yet. Mind you, the setting would not apply in another context such as pharmaceutical or automotive maintenance--but the cues and stimuli were excellent. And product was flying off the shelf.

Retailers need to stop thinking cost per square foot as a driver of design but rather emotional quotient per square foot "EQPSF".

Lesenswert in Scientific American ....

Ein Trend, der von Helge Staedtler in die Diskussion gebracht wurde. Spannend!

Hier ein erster Link: http://www.first.fraunhofer.de/bbci , das Berlin Brain Computer Interface ...

oder hier http://www.ifeb.uni-bremen.de/wordpress_staedtler/?p=138

Und so wird er im Expertennetzwerk brainguide vorgestellt:

"Tom Groth blickt beruflich ins Fernrohr. Als Chief Visioneer von Sun Microsystems, Inc. beschäftigt er sich mit Trends und spürt technologisch Machbares und gesellschaftlich Akzeptiertes auf. Tom Groth war Mitglied des strategischen Positionierungsausschuss der Fraunhofer Gesellschaft und betreut diverse Venture Aktivitäten. Überdies ist er TRIZ Trainer und Innovationscoach bei Management Forum Starnberg. Tom Groth ist seit neun Jahren bei Sun Microsystems und ist heute beim Corporate Strategic Insight Office beschäftigt.

Als Coach und Partner für die Industrie, beschäftigt sich Tom Groth seit 2002 damit, Produkte und Dienstleistungen zu erfinden und erfolgreich zu machen. Zu seinen Tätigkeiten gehören die strategische Neupositionierung von Unternehmen, Aufbau von Innovationsabteilungen, Coaching und Moderation von scheinbar "unlösbaren" Problemen, sowie proaktive Ideen und Konzeptentwicklung für Produkte, Dienstleistungen und Geschäftsmodelle. Auch in den Bereichen M&A Bewertungen und das Erstellen von "Reverse Technology Roadmaps" (für nachhaltige Bewertung von börsennotierten Unternehmen) ist Teil seiner Aufgabe.

Tom Groth nutzt methodische Verfahren kombiniert mit pädagogischen und psychologischen Effekten."

VISA's current TV commercial delivers cues, archetypal content and social psychology that blend to effect results.

The story takes place in a fantasy retail location, where a line-up of customers wait to check-out. The establishment shot features a wide palette of colours, cheerful music under and constant movement. The main character, a middle-aged female, proceeds to write a cheque--all music and movement stops--and everyone watching gasps. The archetype of movement bodes well as a metaphor for credit cards. (I'll guess VISA extracted this representation in emotional discovery). The colour and music serve as sensory cues, that compound the effect of movement.

Social psychology, "Social Proof" as described by Dr. Cialdini, is also very present i.e. we tend to follow the crowd. VISA cleverly made the line-up long--one or two customers would not have been social proof.

Do I like making people feel inadequate lest they do as marketers wish? No, not unless it is good for them. What is wrong in writing a cheque? Nothing. You are not borrowing; yet, credit card use is borrowing. VISA builds a case for humiliation to writing a cheque in a retail environment; not the case for spending with debt.

Effective spot, but I am not a fan of credit card companies and their marketing tactics. Now let me see this effective use of media dollars with brands that we love: food, beauty, apparel, recreation, travel, retail, home improvements...

There is no archetypal meaning in any of these characters; meaning can be unearthed in the ethereal dove, the free eagle or the dominant lion. Yes, I know! you have performed focus groups and follow-up awareness (unaided and aided) surveys. But these too bely the effectiveness of this content by survey method and design. They may even get attention from the viewer but that's all. Attention-getting cannot be your goal. (Attention and awareness are interchangeable.) Your goal must be to develop deep meaning that matches your customers' meaning.

Some brands may wish to be seen as friendly by featuring animals; but do check your customers' mental models. You will likely find that friendliness is not the driver nor are animals the "mindmatching" representations. After all the above-mentioned trade in car insurance, auto rental, and telecommunications. There is no doubt that these are anxiety producing segments and as such these brands require the most diligent investigation of customers' minds and corresponding representations in all its iterations.

Your absolute goal must be to find the meaning in your customers' minds about your brand and its context. Customers cannot access their thoughts (95%) related to your creative, your brand or its use in up to ten minutes in a focus group where others can judge and alter their responses or in a primed scripted survey by phone conducted by low-wage transient employees. You will never get the results you are looking for because you will never have the information that acually resonates with them.

Engage now in intimate, in-depth, one-on-one, unmoderated emotional discovery. You need only interview a small number to get reliable, scientific and rich information to guide your representations from here on. Market research firms do not generally offer these services because they cannot bill the usual hefty stipend for it.

Learn your customers' thoughts and you will soon release your cast to the wild.

Referencing the announcement on network TV yesterday that the recent talent search for a new Maytag man signals a return to "icons". Indeed. But more specifically the Maytag Man, the Green Giant, the Glad Bag man (to name a few) are NOT iconic characters; rather they are archetypal representations in our sub-conscious. That's why they work. You cannot create an archetype out-of-the-blue; it must come from the depths of our sub-conscious. (One media outlet referred to the Maytag Man as a mascot! So many folks are in the wrong job.)

Here are a few archetypes: the nurturer, the friend, the hero, the man of action. In fact, there are umpteen symbolic archetypes like "up" and "down", and, "light" and "dark"; these are more subtle in execution but also very useful.

My favorite comment from the network, "simple ideas are those that really work." Thank you.

Remembrance of good things past...

The many new faces of Aveeno in just 7 years!

I have watched this brand evolve over the last decade from a mere few facings in body care at retail to a healthy line-up of products that could likely sustain its own stores. Remember when you contacted poison ivy, the doctor would invariably recommend an Aveeno colloidal oatmeal bath to your mother? Well, this motherhood wonder dating back to 1945 was purchased by Johnson & Johnson in 1999. That explains the growth phenomenon that ensued.

First, J&J extended Aveeno into baby care in 2000 and on its heels a few years following, into skin care including anti-aging, lip and sun care products.  Now Aveeno wraps all its products in the Active Naturals banner with ambitious plans to continue developing formulations with natural ingredients. The inclusion of feverfew, an ultra-calming ingredient that also helps rosacea, into some of its products, is another of such innovations.

Although oatmeal-based products remain a staple in its arsenal of products, Aveeno's presence is evident on many store shelves beyond its traditional therapeutic facings.

What is quite evident to me is that despite the fact that its advertising or packaging are not remarkable, that  Aveeno benefits from an enormous reservoir of trust and childhood memories. So far, J&J has done nothing to damage this and continues its line extension within subtle cues that likely awaken "feel good" chemistry in the brain. But, I would certainly not guarantee that until in-depth emotional discovery of its brand and context is executed (perhaps Aveeno already that this neuronal information but I don't see it in its marketing expressions).

Aveeno's web site is equally up to measure. Of note, is its excellent Skin Care Advisor section with advice on everything from skin discoloration to unwanted hair. It is commendable when a brand provides a gratuitous service beyond its mercantility.

While my recognition is stated here Aveeno has collected many awards from reknown publishers including Allure, Self, Natural Health and InStyle. Of special acclaim is Aveeno's Body Firming Lotion--the accolades come from readers and dermatologists. Aveeno continues to be lavished with praise. In natural skin care , Aveeno is hard to catch up too.

But really what I am celebrating today is Aveeno's extraordinary growth over a short time. Now the challenge will be to dig deep into Aveeno's meaning and cultivate this in all its expressions, advertising, merchandising, training, packaging and even sensory cues when in hand. Aveeno has a chance to get into widespread long-term memory beyond the biggest brands who frankly may have less to hang their claims on.

My personal meaning: I can't seem to shake Norman Rockwell, the Quaker icon and sitting down for a happy family breakfast when thinking Aveeno. Is that mental model shared? Perhaps not. But the specific memory neurons that fire when a brand stimulus is offered boggles the mind. This is one brand that surely fires up rich, deep meaning.

The issue of manipulation comes up from time to time about marketers' healthy interest in customers'  minds. There is undoubtedly those who trangress.  The new neuromarketing which emotional branding has matured into must be learned and cultivated within a model of integrity. This is certainly my practice.

For several years there has been a backlash from consumer advocates and activists (like Naomi Klein who is covered in logos) about FMRIs (functional magnetic resonance imaging) . And many corporations are loathe to volunteer that they partake in the practice of reading neural activity in the brains of consumers in response to stimulus they provide. Yet brain scanning is just one of a panoply of ways to uncover the mysteries of the consumer's mind.

Consumers indeed do not want to think that they are being inadvertently incited to action by brain-trickery. But frankly, the moral majority of marketers are more interested in providing customers with pleasure than tricking them. Manipulation or lies have been around for time immemorial. Here are just a few lies that will resonate:

• FOCUS ON THE BENEFIT LIE: they tout the current, popular benefit while their product carries ingredients that carry long-term health risks (e.g. food processors that boast O trans fats yet have high saturated fats, sodium, sugar, MSG and many chemical preservatives that accumulate in the body)
• THE DO GOODER LIE: they are quick to announce the good things they are doing, but not the good things they should be doing and are not doing (e.g. say they are do-gooders but invest little in any cause like the Wal-Mart family--less than 1% as reported by US news lately)
• THE HOOK AND SINK LIE: they provide a service that is so sugar-coated with emotional value that when you succumb, it will surely be bitter (e.g. credit card companies who change interest rates for whatever reason they cook up)
• THE HOPE LIE: their advertisements make claims that are simply obfuscations (e.g. wrinkle creams using 20 year old models)  
• THE SORTA LIKE LIE: their categorize themselves as providing a product or service by merely offering a fraction of the standard (e.g. products with fillers)
• THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE LIE: they manufacture a product that is killing people (e.g. cigarettes, silicone implants)
• THE VOODOO LIE: they inject images invisible to the eye in TV or print content, subliminal advertising--remember Vance Packard's Hidden Persuaders e.g. McDonald's insert in Iron Chef show as seen at Brand Revival

These are true examples of manipulation or lies. They are old, enduring standards that made consumers cycnical long ago.

If we are now entering the era of neuromarketing, wanting to learn how customers truly think, so we may please them better, it is not manipulation. Yes, those who learn what human beings need and what their triggers are, can abuse this information. Beware though, in this era of transparency all gets known fairly quickly--and can kill a brand at the speed of internet buzz. That's less than a business day.

Take that neurophysiological and neuropsychological knowledge and turn it into authenticity and personal resonance. That's truth.

Every single TV program you choose will affect the response to your ad. Programs that precede your spot specifically. Be forewarned that the fear or disgust chemicals, cortisol and glutamate respectively,  released in the body linger for up to 20 minutes. Is your brand suited for the following programs (naming a few)?

• Insider's Report, Extra (celebrity tabloid gossip)
• WifeSwap (literally)
• King of the Hill
• Cheaters (about spouses in the act)
• The View (Rosie O'Donell offends many)
• Judge Judy
• South Park
• Any CSI
• Sex in the City
• Oprah when hosting KKK or pedophiles

There are advertisers that are suited for these programs. But, at the risk of seeming sanctimonious take heed that Middle America and Middle Canada does not respond with good chemicals in the brain, dopamine and oxytocin, when confronted with graphic content and language, and, morally questionable context.

Can a spot for a chocolate bar brand follow a CSI dig? Can a spot for lifestyle brands follow the vitriol in court TV? Can a spot for Sears follow the disfunctional behavior in wife swap? The ratings simply are not contextual. Do not chase the numbers, especially the demographic ones--you may be doing more harm than good. A viewer watching wife swap is invariably releasing the wrong chemicals for your mainstream brand. Hold the networks/stations accountable--try to get those shows or episodes removed from your media buys by agreement. Lest your brand be inadvertently connected to negative mental models. It will cost to undo.

For some reason too many have run half-cocked claiming that the sub-conscious is the irrational edge. The brain's system is elephantine, able to recall many memories at once. In fact, some of these memories are so sub-conscious that you are not aware of their functioning--things like walking, chewing, writing...

If anything, the sub-conscious allows the conscious mind to make informed decisions. Neuro-scientists are still loathe to explain the conscious mind. After all, how do you explain the awareness of awareness? Some suspect it is metaphysical. Others like Dr. Antonio Damasio, the most reknown neuro-scientist on matters of consciousness, theorize until this day.

So! while some of you marketers believe you are dealing with irrational customers, put on a straight-jacket until you find more stable ground.

This is also why I do not refer to rational vs irrational at Mindmatching and stick to mind/brain matters.

That's not us you say?

If you interviewed customers individually, without priming them (that means no direction in your questions) about how they feel about your brand, your product (if unbranded) or its context, you would likely not find that your creative expressions match. It is dangerous to play roulette with creative concepts--you can sometimes take the house. But the odds are against you. The scientific approach is the safest. The science of the human mind can simply not be circumvented by simple marketing constructs. There is no way around this.

I am really looking forward to this Tuesday (Feb. 27) in Toronto, another day delivering Mindmatching to marketing leaders looking for answers and direction.