Klout is the rage. People comparing their score and wondering if they're influencing more folks than President Obama.
The stark reality is that how we perceive ourselves, and that of others, can prime the mind's pump resulting in either productive or detrimental outcomes-both with influence and productivity. Organizations generally tend to place great emphasis on things such as personality profiling and team structures while negating the very things that prime our minds to actions that yield sustainable and scalable results. And there is another thing priming of the mind can do. It can help you win a game of Trivial Pursuit.
In 1998, two psychologists, Ap Dijksterhuis and Ad van Knippenberg of the University of Nijmegan embarked on a series of experiments involving sixty pre-screened subjects that would be evaluated to see if priming their minds with stereotypes altered the outcomes of how well they did while playing Trivial Pursuit. Here is how the experiment worked.
In the first round, subjects were placed individually into cubicles that contained a computer. Each computer randomly assigned the operator the role of a professor, secretary, or nothing at all. For those assigned by the computer as professor or secretary, they were instructed to take five minutes to describe the behaviors, lifestyle, and appearance attributes of the typical professor or secretary. Participants wrote these thoughts on a blank piece of paper. Those not assigned a role merely waited until be instructed what to do next. After the time had elapsed, all three groups, the professors, the secretaries, and the control group were instructed to answer 42 questions contained in a booklet that was inside a sealed envelope adjacent to the computer, (all the questions were taken from Trivial Pursuit and contained three incorrect and once correct answer). The findings of this experiment were astounding.
Below is a table showing the outcome, (three trials were performed to strengthen the statistical analysis). It was clear that the group primed as professors scored higher. Twenty-percent higher then the control group, and twenty-eight percent higher then the group primed as secretaries.
Prime | Average Score | Score 1 | Score 2 | Score 3 |
No Prime | 49.9 | 51.3 | 46.1 | 52.3 |
Secretaries | 46.4 | 44.4 | 46.4 | 48.4 |
Professors | 59.5 | 60.0 | 62.1 | 56.4 |
Additionally, the group primed as secretaries answered the questions twenty percent faster then the group primed as professors (the control group and the professors had nearly identical speeds). Now have a means to outwit your friends and family the next time you play Trivial Pursuit.
Neuroscience has proven that our brain is wired with a mirror neuron system that allows us to adopt the point of view and intention of others. Behavioral science has proven that outcomes can be radically altered by how we perceive ourselves, and that of others. The question is, how are you priming the minds of those around you?
By building others up, you'll extend a level of influence that Klout cannot measure-and, you'll have a whole lot more fun in the process!