What kind of potato chips would you create, and what would you name it, if you wanted to sell the product to pregnant women?
This was the task that marketing professors Kelly Herd and Ravi Mehta presented to more than 200 adults, in a study of how emotion impacts creativity. The participants were divided evenly into two groups. Group A were simply given the assignment without any extra instructions. Group B were told to take a few minutes, before beginning the task, to imagine how the customer would feel while eating the snack.
The amateur product designers came up with different potato chip ideas and descriptions, but the most creative were: Pickles-and-ice-cream chips, Sushi chips, and Margarita-for-Mom chips. The most creative ideas came from the group that had thought about how the consumer would feel before starting the task. “I think it is fascinating to see the result—the empathy(同理心) has great influence in maximizing creativity,” Herd says. “This is one of those areas of psychology that hasn’t been clarified yet for marketers: how does thinking of others’ feelings affect those who are creating new work?”
“We’ve shown that empathy can change the way in which you think,” Herd says. “We’ve looked at it in a somewhat narrow context of product design, but it appears that amazing things, such as imagining how someone else feels, can have a huge impact on creativity in general.”
Herd and Mehta conducted five separate experiments, including asking participants to design a child’s toy, select materials for a new kind of food for kids, and redesign a grocery cart for the elderly. And these experiments provided more evidence for their finding.
The researchers believe the initial focus on others’ feelings creates the ability to consider issues from diverse points of view. The ability to “shift avenues of thought” while perceiving and processing information is a benefit to creativity.
“An interesting trend in marketing now is that large companies are developing new ideas for products and services from their customers’ suggestions,” says Herd. This year alone, more than half of consumer goods manufacturers say they will get 75% of their innovation and research and development capabilities from crowd-sourcing (众包).
In an ultra-competitive marketplace, few companies will survive for long without innovation and new products, Herd says. In fact, a 2016 study published in Business News Daily found that 82% of company executives interviewed believe there is a strong connection between creativity and business results.
12. What should the participants in Group B do before the assignment?
A.Try the chips currently on sale. | B.Think from a customer’s angle. |
C.Meet with the producers of the chips. | D.Remember all materials of the chips. |
13. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A.The influence of empathy. | B.The importance of creativity. |
C.The benefit of the chips. | D.The feeling of others. |
14. What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.The effect of crowd-sourcing on business results. |
B.The fierce competition faced by large companies. |
C.The significance of innovation to business competition. |
D.The role of crowd-sourcing in the creation of new products. |
15. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A.The most effective way to inspire creativity |
B.A promising avenue for best-selling products |
C.The influence of creativity in product marketing |
D.The power of empathy in product development |