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In most cases, there’s a very big difference between what people say they need and what they actually need. This difference can be described in terms of attitude and behavior.
New Terms:
- Attitude: Attitude is how people think they behave. It signals what people want.
- Behavior: Behavior is how people actually behave. It signals what people need.
Further Reading:
- "Professed attitudes and actual behavior" - Stephen Corey
- "Why are the British so bad at washing their hands?" - Ron Cutler
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The difference can be described in
terms of attitude and behavior, too.
0:00
Attitude is how people think they behave,
0:05
while behavior is how
people actually behave.
0:08
Attitude signals what people want,
while behavior signals what they need.
0:11
This difference has been studied by social
psychologists since the beginning of
0:16
the 20th century.
0:20
Results were so unbelievable that
researchers have been repeating
0:22
these studies over and over,
only to get the same exact outcome.
0:27
Here are two examples.
0:32
In a study conducted in
1937 by Stephen Corey,
0:33
students were asked about their
attitude towards cheating.
0:36
In other words, Corey wanted to know
what students said about their behavior.
0:41
A few weeks later, the same students
were given the opportunity to cheat.
0:46
Following a certain exam, they were
asked to grade their own performance.
0:50
There was close to zero correlation
between their attitude towards cheating
0:55
and actual cheating.
0:59
What they said about their behavior was
very different than their actual behavior.
1:00
Now you might think that research
from 1937 is not valued nowadays.
1:06
You might think that human
behavior changes over time.
1:11
The funny thing about human behavior
is that it doesn't change much.
1:16
In a study reported by the BBC News,
1:20
a UK-wide study was led
by Ron Cutler in 2012.
1:23
The researchers asked people coming out of
public bathrooms located in gas stations
1:28
whether or not they had washed their
hands after finishing their business.
1:33
99% of the interviewees said that
they did indeed wash their hands.
1:38
However, according to
electronic recording devices,
1:42
only 32% of men and 64% of women
actually did wash their hands.
1:46
While there are many possible
explanations for this difference,
1:51
the fact of the matter is that it was
proven again that there is a very big
1:56
inconsistency between what people say
they do and what they actually do.
2:00
This important difference
between what people want and
2:05
what they need is key to understand when
you work on developing a new product.
2:08
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