Dr Tali Sharot (Experimental Psychology) recently appeared as a guest on the BBC's The One Show on 4 February 2016 to explain the results of a survey from the Office of National Statistics about when we are most happy in our lives. Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos (Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology) explains on the BBC show What to Buy and Why on 5 February 2016, the subliminal tricks used in shops to make us part with more of our money.
On the One Show, the results from the survey about when we are most happy in our lives showed that children tend to be the most happy, but that our happiness levels decline as we move towards middle age. Interestingly happiness levels increase again after middle age. Tali says that the decline in happiness as we become middle aged, could be due to increased stress in our lives, which not only makes us have negative feelings but also changes the way we process information.
On What to Buy and Why, Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos talks us though the various sensory marketing techniques used by shops to influence our subconscious and make us part with our cash, such as the use of different types of music, visual signs that tap into the fear of missing out, and scents to relax us.
- Watch the BBC's The One Show to hear the full story about our happiness levels (from 7 mins 15 sec)
- Watch the BBC's What to Buy and Why show to hear all about all the subliminal methods used in shops to entice us to buy more (from 11 mins 40 sec)
Images: BBC - clips from BBC shows. Top: The One Show (4 February 2016). Bottom: What to Buy and Why (5 February 2016).