During the delayed 2020 European Football Championship, football player Cristiano Ronaldo made headlines for rejecting Coco-cola in favour of water (an act that reportedly took several billion USD from the drink company's share price)...
Although this large drop in value was not solely caused by the former Manchester United player's decision, the effect that sports teams, musicians, and other celebrities can have on the food and beverage choices people make is well documented...
"Food advertising to children affects their preferences, purchase behaviors, and consumption habits for different food and beverage categories, as well as for different product brands." (McGinnis et al., 2006)
While Coco-cola, beer, and low nutrient-dense foods have very little do with sports directly (they are hardly a 'good' choice for athletes), the reason why this type of marketing shows up so often is because it works...
By linking with their product the positive feelings an audience has for their favourite athlete or team or celebrity, a company has the potential to bring that same emotion onto their brand.
That's a big win, especially if you have a young audience.
It's called 'associative learning', and it is used to the advantage of companies around the world to shape people's eating, drinking, and purchase habits.
It's not just a problem, however.
As you'll see, it's simply a way we learn.
It's used to the advantage of people who know about it, that's true; but that also means it can be used to your advantage too.
In this blog I will show you how this type of learning works, how understanding it is used in advertising (with specific examples), and then I'll finish by giving you some ideas for what you can do (and what I’ve done) to use this way of learning as an answer to lasting lifestyle change.
LEARNING BY ASSOCIATION
First and foremost, it's important to recognise that learning happens in many, many ways. We are constantly growing, and that means we are constantly using our various learning capabilities for our (attempted) self-improvement; often automatically.
If you're not sure that's true, read my Learning Myths Busted download. It's free, and you don't need to enter your email address to access it.
The benefit of the two examples of learning mechanisms discussed in this blog (often referred to as classical and operative conditioning), are that they are types of learning that are easy to observe, understand, and use in day-to-day life. And believe me, they are used a lot.
Becoming aware of how this learning works gives you extra opportunities to switch off automatic-pilot-mode and reinforce new decisions about how you want to live your life.
That's the reward.
(NOTE: I will always try to be a clear as possible when writing about psychology. If you have a question or something you want to share with me, please post in the comment box at the bottom of this blog. I'm still learning too - Paul)
ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING #1: Classical Conditioning (involuntary behaviour)
If you've had any kind of introduction to psychology before, my guess is that you know about the experiments that brought this type of learning to light...
It’s the one with Ivan Pavlov and his dogs .
Pavlov's work was initially focused on measuring the digestive processes in dogs, but after noticing that the sight of their caretaker (i.e. the person with the food) was enough to get the digestive juices flowing, Pavlov wanted to see if sound had the same effect.
It did.
He noticed that if he made a sound right before giving his dogs meat powder, soon he could simply make the sound and the dogs would salivate with the expectation of food (even if there was none at all).
It’s a type of learning that happens when an automatic response (e.g. digestive liquids being produced to break-down food) is linked with a unrelated stimulus (e.g. a sound, or the sight of a caretaker).
In other words, a good old-fashioned switcher-roo takes place.
After the associative learning has taken place, the digestive liquids that are produced in response to the new sound are involuntary. The dog doesn’t have any choice whether it salivates or not; it does so because it’s brain has learned that a sound (or person) precedes food; and so saliva needs to be produced for digestive purposes.
Once that connection has been made (and ideally repeated several times to strengthen), the learning is complete and something that was completely unrelated becomes classically conditioned (linked/associated) to an automatic response.
That's how this way of learning is described in psychology, and I'll come back to it later to show you some clear examples of how it's used in to influence your day-to-day life.
ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING #2: Operant Conditioning (voluntary behaviour)
This type of learning was popularized by American psychologist B.F. Skinner, and it happens when a reward or punishment is given (or taken away) after a behaviour is performed. The aim of this is to either increase or decrease the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated.
Again, this way of learning is likely familiar to you - if you haven't read about it, you probably know it intuitively. So, let's take a moment to get really clear about something: this type of learning existed before it was observed and describe by scientists.
This is an important point to know about psychology in general; the subject as a whole is trying to describe, explain, and predict people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours: it's not inventing them.
Doing experiments and writing papers/books is useful so that people can understand something that previously might have happened completely non-consciously.
Before Pavlov and Skinner, many western people would not have known that these are ways in which learning happens; or at the very least, they would not have known how to use it with awareness.
Skinner created the 'Skinner Box' to show how this associative learning happened with rats, and his findings can certainly be seen with humans too...
- A teacher giving a well-behaved student a gold-star (the teacher’s aim is to get that child doing more of the desired behaviour i.e. sitting quietly/completing homework etc.)
- A 'Buy 1 Get 1 Half-Price' offer (one purchase is rewarded; you might do it again)
- A "free" toy that comes with cereal (not only are you getting cerial; you're getting a toy too!)
- A fine if you park in the wrong place (don't do it again! - this is called 'negative punishment')
- A promotion being put in front of an employee like a carrot on a stick (keep doing the work, there is a big reward coming....)
The point of making these associations is (in general) so that you learn how to live in the world.
It would be crazy if we all had to learn the outcome for every behaviour over and over again; so the brain makes short-cuts instead.
This behaviour leads to a positive outcome.
This behaviour leads to a negative outcome.
As your lifestyle changes, these associations are made so that it's easier for you to live your life while thinking about other things.
The question for you is whether you feel that the eating and drinking habits you've learned are ones you'd like to keep? As you decide upon your lifestyle goals, do you know what you need to add/subtract from your month-to-month lifestyle in order to live it?
Associative learning (classical and operant conditioning) will, unavoidably, play a big part in how your lifestyle change happens.
ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING WITH FOOD AND DRINK
Your friends, parents, entertainment personalities, the ads you see on TV and online - they've all influenced your food and drink choices through both forms of conditioning.
The food and drink available in stores, the sounds of jingles, logos, sponsorship deals of sports teams, the pleasure (or discomfort) you get from preparing your own food, the adverts you see on the bus; all this learning is so natural and automatic, and it's influenced by other people and the environment.
If you didn't know, I love the sport of football (playing it, practicing it, watching it...it's great).
So here's an example from the media of how an automatic response (e.g. the positive feeling that comes from watching a game of football), is associated to an unrealted stimlus (e.g. a pizza from a particular company).
It’s the weekend, and you’re in front of the TV...
The big game is about to start and emotions are running high. You simply can’t wait for the game to begin; you're sure you're gonna win!
There’s just one more series of adverts before kick-off.
The ads begin.
The first ad is for an online betting company (you’ve got it covered, bets are placed on your favourite app)
The second ad is for a brand of beer (cold ones are in the fridge and you’ve got one in your hand)
The third ad is for food (ah yes, food…”order now for half-time delivery”. On it.)
In your excitement for the football, each advert (after being repeated in other forms too) has attempted to link your positive feelings for a game, to their product.
You're excited for the game of football, right?
Pizza, beer, and Coke have absolutely nothing to do with the sport. Ronaldo even said he tells his son not to drink Coke.
If the goal is more energy, better health, and greater overall quality of life; these products simply don't meet the required criteria (the fiber from vegetables, beans, and other unprocessed plants are very undervalued)
But for millions of people, even just the thought of watching a football game triggers a behavioural link that has been conditioned over years of consistent messaging and intelligent advertising.
Messages like this are designed to use the emotional state you’re in (love, excitement, happiness, anticipation, desire) and associate it to a product in order to influence your behaviour. Essentially they are saying:
“You're enjoying this feeling from football, right? Then you should also go drink coke and eat pizza. Look!! They are so good! And you're definitely going to have an even better experience with them. Here we are together with this company who sells them. You should also enjoy what we like. Go to the shops/place an order now :)"
And millions of people follow suit.
It's why Coco-cola wanted Cristiano Ronaldo as part of their marketing campaigns in the first place; there is a lot of positive feeling associated to his incredible skills and athleticism, which when paired with something completely unrelated to his footballing achievements (a fizzy liquid the man doesn't even drink - i.e. the conditioned stimulus), the company's desired result is achieved: a stronger association in the mind of a football fan between athleticism, sport, and Coke (#childrenfirst)
THIS IS ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING AT WORK
And not only do messages about beer, Coco-cola, betting, and pizza condition you to link these things to the enjoyment of football, but the memory of the excitement of football is now linked to these products. This means your brain now “knows” how to get that excited feeling again even if there is no game on – just have some beer, place a bet, have a coke, or eat a pizza.
In the case of fast food, the reward that reinforces 'your' decision (i.e the operant conditioning bit) is a 'bliss point' of artificially created flavours; and maybe even the comfort and relief that comes from taking away a feeling of boredom or stress.
Do this from childhood and you have consumers (and occasional addicts) for life.
That's why beginning lifestyle change is often so challenging; you've got to find a something that matches the emotions you've learned come from behaviours you don't want any more.
While there is nothing majorly wrong with occasionally consuming the molecules that fast food and fizzy pop drinks are made from (although there are 100000% better molecules available out there!!); the problem is if you do it so much that it interferes with your other goals (including gut and gum health).
So, if you decide that your learned eating and drinking habits are not in line with how you want to live any more - what can you do?
What if, like millions of people around the world who have not been conditioned by associative learning in these ways, you decide that the lifestyle you like to live doesn't have these products in it?
HOW TO BREAK ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING AND CHANGE YOUR HABITS
We've covered a lot, so I'm going to keep going with the final part of this blog and share with you some effective ways you can change your associative learning, and use this automatic learning to your advantage.
Change your environment and input
When we are exposed to the same media, lifestyle role models, and products day-to-day, it's easy to believe that this is just “how people live”. The people around around us expect us to be this way too, and so it's easy to just go with the flow.
One of the best things you can do is to give yourself time away from the things that have conditioned you.
Turn off the radio.
Mute the ads.
Change supermarket.
Choose a different route to work.
Move to a new neighbourhood.
Change country completely.
Spending time in new environments is by far the most effective thing I’ve done to change my habits. Time away from the things that have influenced your behaviour will allow you an opportunity to notice them, and to choose a new response with rewards that are inline with what you have decided you want.
In other words, it gives you the opportunity to practice living a new lifestyle.
"Fried chicken and chips on the way home would be amazing!....wait, that shop isn't here, and I can have noodles instead. Also some vegetable spring rolls for the win!"
And then do it. Enjoy it. Or have something different. The point is that being in a new environment gives you an opportunity to learn about yourself and your behaviours, and to make the changes that are important to you...
After all, whatever new behaviours you choose MUST feel like they are equal or above the ones that came before it. In other words, you've GOT TO find a way to enjoy your new eating and drinking habits.
Who do you look up to that has the habits you want? What deliberate associative learning can you make?
And trust me, if you want to feel great with your food choices AND feel like eating is a reward; learn about seasoning when you eat plants.
"Between stimulus and response there is a space...in that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor Frankl
This blog could go on forever, but this is essentially what needs to happen: Create a gap for a new behaviour, and replace it with something else that you know is more in line with who you want to be.
And as what you feed your mind about food changes what you feed your body (Dixon et al., 2018); I want to leave you with a reliable source for plant-based science that you can watching and read a bunch from: https://nutritionfacts.org/
Thanks for reading. I hope you've taken something positive from it. If you learned something useful, please leave me a comment below or share this with a friend.
