I’m talking about the fight/fuck/dominate hormones. Testosterone, estrogen. The reason why putting a pretty girl in an advertisement works so well. And it might explain a lot of aggression too.

Take them out of the equation and that’s 99% of politics, advertising and popular music gone.

So what would that look like for society?

Would it be Star Trek? Would it be a dystopia?

What about the individual??

Flat effect no ambition misery? Or creative powerhouse and visionary?

Give me your speculations.

  • sincle354@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Intro thoughts, feel free to skip to next paragraph: What you’re basically suggesting (based off edit) is the massive and unrelenting attack on our more base urges. My boyfriend says this is “peripheral route persuasion”, and it includes sex appeal and also things like happy people drinking Coke. Indeed advertising almost exclusively uses these tactics to get you to buy something (or at least remember) within 30 seconds or less.

    But I think you’re getting at the main core of human interaction, where the natural order of people is to act based off of emotion and not really think about it. Alternately, you can put your mind into big-brain thinking mode and make a salient choice to not drink brown spiced lemon fizzy sugar water.

    The Elaboration Likelihood Model essentially assumes that “As motivation and/or ability to process arguments is decreased, peripheral cues become relatively more important determinants of persuasion. Conversely, as argument scrutiny is increased, peripheral cues become relatively less important determinants of persuasion.” These peripheral cues can be hormone based, for example. Therefore, it suggests a central route of information processing (think hard about it), and a peripheral route of information processing (gut feeling).

    This is any information, not just persuasion. You see hot girl on street, you consider your car looks cool, you try to pick her up by using your*(edit) car as evidence to hop in.

    Btw, in the Wikipedia article they literally spell out the consequences of this theory in Politics, Advertising and Media (all of it).

    • cameron_vale@lemm.eeOP
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      10 months ago

      Imagine a society made up of eight-year-olds. Gentle, un-aggressive. Couldn’t care less about titties. Incredible clarity of mind.

      There would still be art and science. Soccer and carpentry would still be fun.

      We just wouldn’t have that little pseudococaine gland squirting into our bloodstream 24-7.