Introduction
Let me start by saying it’s not your fault – evolution is to blame for why sustainability professionals struggle to get the masses to behave more sustainably.
In this post I will dig into the science of our brains to explain why we need to reassess how we communicate, design and implement sustainability solutions if we really want to drive change.
Humans are rational decision makers, right?
Do you think that you make decisions based on rational analysis and logic?
Let me give you a scenario. Imagine you want to buy a chicken sandwich for lunch. You walk from the office to the nearby food hall, there are lots of other people out to get their lunch and you navigate your way through the crowd, there is lots of noise and smells and activity, and you eventually arrive at the sandwich shop area of the food hall. When you arrive you find that there are two shops that sell chicken sandwiches. They both look the same, have a similar menu, they have exactly the same prices and as far as you know they sell exactly the same tasty style of chicken sandwiches of the same quality. The shop on your left has a queue of 10 people waiting to place their order and the shop on your right is completely deserted – not a single customer. Which shop do you order from?
If you are like most people you will join the queue on the left, the one with ten people already waiting to place their order. Why? It was just a gut feeling you had, right?
Our caveman brains
In the 1960’s Paul MacLean, a neuroscientist, introduced the triune brain model. It explained the theory of how our brains were split into three areas. The reptilian brain takes care of our basic autopilot needs. The mammal brain deals with emotions. And the human brain deals with higher levels of thought, like language and imagination.
For simplicity, think of your brain as having an executive thinking brain (human brain) and a feeling emotional brain (reptile + mammal brain). The executive brain processes complex information and language but is relatively new in evolutionary terms and only plays a minor part in decision making.
Our emotional brain is where decision making really occurs and it has evolved to make decisions very quickly as a survival mechanism.
10,000 years ago, if there was a physical threat you had to react quickly and run away otherwise you would likely get eaten by something with big teeth. Only the quickest people survived, to then reproduce and have children.
Repeat this over and over again for thousands of years and you have us today.
The ancient parts of our brain also learnt the importance of being in a tribe. 10 human beings with pointy sticks are a force to be reckoned with, but a lone human being is food for something with big teeth.
Living in tribes also taught our brains the importance of status. The higher your status within the tribe the more resources you were able to get and the more likely your genetic traits would be passed onto the next generation. This drive for status still exists in society today.
It was your emotional brain telling you to purchase a sandwich from the shop on the left because it is safer to be with the tribe because “they must know something I don’t”.
Our emotional brain is always on and you cannot switch it off, which is why you jump during a scary scene in a horror movie (even though you know it is not real) or why you feel like you should join the longer line to buy that chicken sandwich.
Our brain developed over thousands of years, as we evolved from basic animals into smarter thinking human beings. But the most fascinating thing is that we are still controlled by our most basic ‘lizard’ brain.
How to harness your inner Neanderthal
The trick for sustainability professionals is to stop trying to appeal to people’s executive brains by trying to convince them with logic and rational arguments that they should make more sustainable choices by ‘educating’ people on the why and how of sustainability. We need to think like a caveman or cavewoman and communicate with peoples’ ancient brains to link sustainable choices to enhanced status and drive consumer aspirations for sustainable products and services.
Failing to persuade people to buy into our ideas means that we cannot achieve the positive social and environmental impacts we know to be so important, it can have negative consequences on our careers and businesses, and we know the future that awaits our kids if we fail to achieve the mission.
If we fail to communicate our sustainability ideas and persuade people to buy into them then evolution has a brutal way of dealing with the consequences.
Free resource to tap into your inner neanderthal – Got a sustainability idea you are trying to sell right now? Download our free fill-in-the-box template to help you craft the ultimate sustainability sales pitch in 9 steps or your money back 😉
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In this workshop you will learn practical techniques drawn from the realms of behavioural science, sales, and communication to improve your ability to influence and motivate others to implement sustainability initiatives. You will learn skills that shape decision making and how to apply these skills to help you achieve your goals whether this is encouraging a client to buy your product or service, or to help influence someone to adopt more sustainable practices.
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