How the act of labelling or branding changes the elements we notice

Psychologist Franz Epting explained: “We use diagnostic labels to organise and simplify.” But any classification that you come up with,” cautioned Epting, “has got to work by ignoring a lot of other things – with the hope that the things you are ignoring don’t make a difference. And that’s where the rub is. Once you get a label in mind, you don’t notice things that don’t fit within the categories that do make a difference.”

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

Processing fluency

Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.

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Salience

What stands out captures attention and shapes choice.

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Curse of knowledge

Once we know something, it becomes hard to imagine what it feels like not to know it.

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How the act of labelling or branding changes the elements we notice

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

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