How casinos manipulate our senses to encourage more gambling
“We live on the leash of our senses.”
Our behaviour can be subtly influenced by appealing to our senses.
Dr. Alan Hirsch describes himself as the ‘Jacques Cousteau of noses’ and has built a fine reputation from his ability to use smell to change people’s minds.
As you know, smell makes up our five senses, along with sight, sound, taste, and touch.
We use them constantly to navigate the world around us.
However, we are often blissfully unaware that they are being exploited to influence our behaviour.
This is known as ‘sensory priming’.
In 1992, Dr. Hirsch conducted a famous experiment in a Las Vegas casino over a weekend.
He discovered that gamblers would put as much as 45% more cash into a slot machine when the room was doused in a pleasant scent instead of a less pleasant smell or no smell at all.
Moreover, the effects were most significant on Saturday morning when the scents were strongest.
The stronger the smell, the greater the gambling.
Hirsch believes that the pleasant smell was linked to memories, inducing ‘nostalgic recall’ and creating positive emotions and a stronger ‘gambling mood’.
The ‘Doctor of Smell’ has carried out many other studies into the power of smell.
Two years before the Vegas experiment, he asked 31 shoppers to inspect Nike shoes in two identical-looking rooms.
One room was filled with purified air, the other with a floral scent.
When asked, 84% of the subjects said they were more inclined to buy the shoes in the scented room.
The reason why smells can be such a powerful influence on our behaviour is because smell is the only human sense that bypasses the thalamus and connects directly to the pre-frontal cortex.
A hotline to the brain if you will.
So, when you next find yourself in a retail environment, take a moment to notice the smells around you.
They could be subtly influencing you to part with more of your cash.
