“We were college sweethearts,” the answer to so many
responses of the classic question, “How did you two meet?” Well, at least that
is what the perception is. Perception refers to consumer, or this case, human
awareness and interpretation of reality. (Babin, 2016, p. 51). Is it reality that most couples meet in
college? Probably not, but it still feels like a lot of people do.
When people in
this video were asked would you rather be single or in a
relationship, not one person said they would be single. “Well there is no one
here that fits me,” well that’s what your perception is. Is it reality? (Babin, 2016, p. 51). I don’t think
so. In the video, they learned that people are all looking for the same great
qualities but we think we’re the only ones who are. People listed qualities they wanted
in a partner such as companionship, honesty, friendliness. But when asked, “What
do you think it is that other people are looking for in a partner?” those same people
stated negative superficial perceptions of what others were looking for in a
relationship, listing answers such as "to have someone to have sex with" or "to
show off as arm candy." This is evidence that there is a quite a large perception
gap between the human awareness of what others are looking for and what they are looking
for in reality (Babin, 2016, p. 51).
When the participants
in the video were asked if they had someone in mind who had those qualities
they wanted in a partner, almost all of them said yes. They all had positive
things to say about the person they had in mind, but were scared to speak up because
they did not know how the other person felt. When asked to give the person a
call, they were nervous, but they did it, and shared all their thoughts
honestly.
How did they
feel after? They all felt great! Taking risks is necessary for growth. When you
take risks, you learn. Learning refers to a change in behavior resulting from
the interaction between a person and a stimulus (Babin, 2016, p. 51). They learned
that telling someone how you feel about them is something you will almost never
regret. So take risks, you’ll always learn from them!
Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 27-29). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Bernstein., M & Pittman, M. [SoulPancake]. (2014, February 13). Living the Single Life | The Science of Love. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lREZ6Bg_Y4E
Kitchener, C. (2013, November 27). Lots of College
Freshmen Are About to Dump Their High School Sweethearts. The Atlantic. Retrieved February 08, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/lots-of-college-freshmen-are-about-to-dump-their-high-school-sweethearts/281860/
Hey Huong,
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about taking risks is so true... too many times we are not only scared to take risk but because of subliminal processing we may be influenced by social media, and entertainment, of what our expectations of "finding love" is (Babin, 2016, p. 56). We need to see identify that there are external influences and from there we can then move our behavior and actions towards self improvement (Babin, 2016, p. 90). However, part of taking a risk feels like luck; finding the "right" person seems like winning the lottery. We take as many risks a we can but who knows if we will find the "one", I believe that this pursuit is capitalized by many ad agencies. They use evoke utilitarian motivations by designing a narrative with the product/service showing the consumer that this product will change improve your current state (Babin, 2016, p. 93). Thank you for sharing your story and inspiring your peers.
Sources:
(Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 1-96). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Hey Jason! Thanks for your thoughts. I definitely haven't thought about it in the ad agency perspective before you mentioned it, as well as the self improvement aspect. thanks for sharing!
DeleteI really enjoyed reading your first blog post! It definitely pointed out a lot of unspoken thoughts people have about the college dating life. I have also experienced the perception that the reality of dating is that most couples meet in college. My parents met on the first day of their freshman year at Syracuse, and plenty of my friends here have serious boyfriends from freshman year as well. However, although perception often seems like reality, it is actually just one’s awareness and interpretation of reality (Babin, 2016, p. 51). So, although this perception may be true for you and me, it may not be the case for everyone else. You also made solid points about how many people are scared to speak up when it comes to relationships. I understand being nervous to tell somebody how you feel (regardless if it is a friend or a romantic relationship). College students often hide their feelings which I agree is not always the best solution! However, expectations are beliefs about what will happen in a future situation. Many consumers use their expectations to make inferences about their current environments (Babin, 2016, p. 77). Thus, if one expects an emotional conversation may not go well, it is possible that they just keep it to themselves in order to avoid any sort of rejection. I also found the study you cited really interesting. It definitely helps to prove your point that taking risks often does lead to successful outcomes. Overall, I enjoyed this blog because I think it can relate to all aspects of life- not just dating. For future blog posts maybe it would be interesting to explore the social media dating apps of our generation. There are definitely a lot of perception issues there as well! Great job, again!
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). CB 7 (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Thanks for your thoughts! You're totally right about the perception issues in dating apps. I actually have never engaged in dating apps, so it would be interesting for me to look into it! Thanks for the heads up!
DeleteVery interesting read! I learned a lot of new things from your post, including the “turkey drop,” which I was not previously aware of. Your post reminded me of the “Dove: Real Beauty” commercial we watched in class (Lecture 1/30). That commercial illustrated the same concept of perception versus reality (Babin, 2016 , p. 51) that you discuss in your blog post. In both cases the perception was more negative than the reality. This is an interesting trend for both marketers as well as people interested in improving their perspective on life. I thought you did a great job of applying consumer behavior marketing ideas to dating and taking risks with relationships. In future posts it might be interesting to discuss further examples from your own experiences and your expectations for the future. Really great read, and I will definitely stop back in the future for the next entries!
ReplyDelete-Ben
References:
Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). CB 7 (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Thanks for the advice Ben. I definitely plan on sharing my own experiences in future blogs! People seem to always underestimate themselves so I definitely see the connection with the Dove commercial here. Thanks Ben!
Delete