Emotions Enter, Intelligence Leaves.

This is an old phrase I have heard a lot over the years. The idea behind it is simple, if you are getting emotional, you are getting less intelligent.

This has been an idea for year. The best example of this is the Incredible Hulk. Bruce Banner goes from a world-class nuclear physicist to a brute who is unable to say any two syllable words. His doctorate disappears and the most articulate thing he says is simply “Hulk Smash.”

Hardly a Phd recipient with a specialty in harmful Gamma radiation.

However people do not become stupider when they become emotional. They are just simply having their logical parts of their brain over-ridden.

The Limbic system, of the brain contains the amygdala. The amygdala is a major part of what can be known as the reptilian brain. The best way to think about it is as the robot from Lost in Space. It seems to always be screaming “Danger Will Robinson” even if it is not always true. The Amygdala is there to keep you out of danger, and it sets off these chemical alarm bells whenever it thinks your are threatened.

The pre-frontal cortex, however is not an alarm bell. It is more like an accountant. It is there to tally up the hard data you have and give you the logic you need in order to help you make a decision.

The problem is both of them are trying to get the brain stem to take some action. This can be a fight/flight/freeze response or it can simply be a series of words that are supposed to spill out of your mouth. The thing is that G.U.N.T.E.R is in line in front of Leo Bloom. (I know, I make the deepest of cuts.)

This is not a problem when there is actual danger. The priority is to keep you safe after all. However G.U.N.T.E.R. starts flashing his high beams and air raid sirens so much that you cannot hear anything our faithful accountant turned producer needs to say.

You see it is not that you become stupid when you get sad, angry or upset. It is that your logical brain cannot be heard over the immense racket that the annoying tin-can is making. It is not that you are any dumber. It is that your brain is priotizing your safety in times of emotional distress.

So how do you use this information to get more sales. Well you cannot expect your customer to make logical decisions if you upset them. By using high pressure sales, Blinky is going to start going haywire. When that happens your customer literally cannot even think about what you are telling them. This means even more when you try to talk to Leo Bloom about facts, features, and statistics. The robot in their head is drowning you out the whole time.

If you have a product that you sell that is about saving money or increasing yield, you need to be extra careful not to trigger the Hulk response. Otherwise you won’t be given the chance to have a conversation with the friendly physicist.