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ADVERTISING
AND SELLING

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL
AND RESPONSE

HARRY L. HOLLINGWORTH

INSTBCCTOB IN PSYCHOLOGY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY; LECTURED IN
BUSINESS PSTCBOLOGT, SCHOOL OF COMIIEBCE, NEW TOBK UNIVERSITY.

PTTBLISHED FOR THE ADVERTISING
men's LEAGUE OF NEW YORK CITY, INC.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON

1920

COPTBIGHT, 1913, BT THE

ADVERTISING MEN'S LEAGUE OF NEW YORK CITY, INC

Printed, in the United States of America

Bof. Admin,
library

t HF

- 5821

Wild

^ PEEFACE

This book has resulted from the cooperative
^i attempt, on the part of a group of practical busi-
"^ ness men and one or two individuals whose in-
terests were chiefly scientific, (a) to, formulate
and systematize those facts and laws which re-
late to the processes of appeal and response in
Uj the selling and advertising of goods, and (b) to
^ . undertake investigations which might result in
rl the discovery of new facts and principles of both
practical and scientific interest. This attempt
has proceeded on the basis of four distinct aims,
which it is well to have clearly in mind. These
aims have been:

(1) To sort out, from the general body of
psychological doctrine, such principles as under-

^ lie the mental processes involved in creating, pre-
senting and reacting to appeals which are pre-
sented in the form of advertisements, arguments,
selling talks, etc.; to state these in systematic
form for convenient acquisition and reference by
the active and prospective business man.

(2) To examine such various methods, media
and devices as have proven clearly successful or

PREFACE

unsuccessful in known circumstances, places, and
with different commodities, and to deduce and
formulate any principles revealed by such com-
parative study.

(3) To carry on, in a cooperative way, new
experiments and investigations, by exact scien-
tific methods, and with the definite intention of
helping to rentier the technique of the laboratory
more and more serviceable in handling the prac-
tical problems of daily business life.

(4) To devise accurate and reliable methods of
testing beforehand the probable value of ^lppeals
which are intended for actual use in advertising
and selling, (a) by more exact study of the known
principles of appeal and response and their ap-
plications in business transactions, and (b) by a
comparison of laboratory tests with keyed results
produced by the appeals in business campaigns.

The results of this cooperative attempt are pre-
sented in the chapters which follow. The first
line of work will constitute the skeleton of the
book, and the results of the other inquiries will
be introduced by way of illustration and proof of
the principles presented.

The book is intended primarily for the general
reader and for the student with practical rather
than theoretical interests. It does not pretend
to present nor even to conform to any particular

PREFACE

Vll

''system" of academic psychology, but aspires to
render more concretely serviceable, within a par-
ticular field, the accepted facts, laws and methods
resulting from the experimental study of human
nature and human behavior. But it is hoped that
the professional student of human nature may
also find the motive and method of the book to
be at least suggestive, and in that «ense valuable.
In its original form the book consisted of a
series of lectures given, during several successive
years, under the auspices of the Advertising
Men's League of New York City. This fact de-
termined the practical bearing of the material
presented. It is quite impossible to give due
credit to all whose work has been of service to the
writer in this undertaking. From the practical
point of view the suggestions and criticisms of
the members and chairmen of the League Eound
Tables have been invaluable. On the scientific
side, an attempt is made in the bibliography to
indicate the chief sources which have been specifi-
cally utilized. But I must render particular
thanks to the many members of my college classes
whose zeal and labor have made many of the ex-
periments possible. I am under especial obliga-
tion to Dr. E. K. Strong, Jr., at one time assist-
ant in the Barnard laboratory, and since Ee-
search Fellow, in Columbia University, for the

viii PREFACE

Advertising Men's League and the National As-
sociation of Advertising Managers, for his con-
stant interest and assistance, and for a great
amount of data, more specifically referred to in
the text.

But, above all, the very existence of the book,
the opportunity of preparing it, and very much of
such concreteness and value as the book may con-
tain are due to the untiring activity and the stim-
ulating professional ideals of Mr. Wm. H. Inger-
soll, President of the Advertising Men's League.
It was under his leadership that the Bound Table
Study Course was conceived and eifectually or-
ganized, and through his suggestions and advice
that the course on Principles of Appeal and Re-
sponse was originally planned.

Harry L. Hollingworth.
Columbia University,
New York.

CONTENTS

CHAFTBB

PAGES

I. — Measuring the Strength op an Appeal 1-16

Machinery' Advertisements — Soap Adver-
tisements— Electric Light Advertisements.

II. — The Nervous Basis of Mental Processes 17-27
III. — The Analysis of Task and Media . . . 28-45
The Task — Analysis of Advertising
Types — Media.

/ IV. — The First Task : Catching the Attention 46-59

Causes of Attention — Results and Laws
of Attention.

V. — Mechanical Incentives 60-90

Intensity — Magnitude — Motion — Con-
trast— Isolation — Position.

VI. — Interest Incentives 91-126

Novelty — Color — Cuts and Illustrations —
Suggested Activity — The Comic — Feeling
Tone, Instinct and Habit.

VII. — An Experimental Test of the Relative
Attention and Memory Value of the
Mechanical and Interest Devices . . 127-131

/) VIII. — The Second Task : Holding the Attention 128-141
Mechanical Helps — ^Interest Devices.

IX. — Feeling Tone of Form 142-157

Lines — Closed Forms — Principles of De-
sign.

CONTENTS

CHAFTEB PAGES

X. — Feeling Tone op Content 158-188

Character of Colors — Color Combinations
— Color Balance — Feeling Tone and Im-
agination— Strain and Relaxation.

% XL — The Third Task: Fixing the Impression 189-215
Principles of Connection — Laws of Origi-
nal Connection — Principles of Revival —
Minor Devices — Memorability of Different
Kinds of Facts — Trade Marks — Vicarious
Sacrifices in Advertising.

U XII. — The Fourth Task: Provoking the Re-
sponse 216-236

Direct Appeals to Feeling — The Nature
and Laws of Suggestion — The Laws of
Suggestion.

Xin. — Instincts, Their Nature and Strength . 237-252

XIV. — The Relative Strength of the Chief

Instincts and Interests ...... 253-286

Summary.

XV. — Sex and Class Differences of Interest

to Business Men 287-305

Sex Differences — Age and Class Differ-
ences.
Books and Articles Referred to in the
Text or Recommended for Further
Reading o 306

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS AND
DIAGRAMS

PAGES

Machinery advertisements 6, 7

Soap advertisements 12, 13

A long circuit appeal 23

A short circuit appeal 25

A classified appeal 32

Publicity appeal 34

Display appeal 36

Display appeal 37

Forms of focal points of attentiqn 47

An experiment on attention 57

Graphite advertisements 68, 69, 70

White on black .77

Attention value of isolation 79

Absence of counter attraction. 80

Novelty as an effective attention device 93

The conventional 94

The novel 95

Curves showing visual acuity with lights of differ-
ent colors 97

Chromatic aberration in the human eye 104

Illustration as an attention and interest device .... 106

The use of illustration 107

A strictly relevant illustration 110

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS

PAQES

An irrelevant illustration Ill

A remotely relevant illustration Ill

Irrelevant illustration 112

Violating the law of the resting point 116

Illustrating the law of the resting point 117

The objective comic. The calamity 121

The objective comic. The naive 122

The subjective comic. Play on words. 123

The subjective comic. Play on words 124

Influence of repetition on the objective comic... 125
Influence of repetition on the subjective comic. . . .126

Figures appearing to change character 134

Cards from New York Subway 135

Securing unity through structure 136

An attempt to secure unity by mechanical means. .138
The fine black line, suggesting precision and hard-
ness 143

The broad black line, suggesting solidity and

weight 144

Appropriate use of horizontal lines 145

Inappropriate use of diagonal lines 146

Feeling tone from direction of lines 148

Rhythm in design 152, 153

Balance of mass against vista 155

Mechanical balance of mass against mass 155

The law of balance disregarded 156

Harmonious coordination of subject, type and

trade mark 167

Type faces suggesting refinement and delicacy of

the texture 167

Inappropriate feeling tone 174

Feeling tone of associations inappropriately used. .175

Strain 178

xii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS

FAOBS

Relaxation 179

Use of lower case letters and of favorable length
of line 180

Illegibility resulting from the exclusive use of capi-
tal letters 182

Illegibility and strain is produced by too great
variety of type faces, interrupted lines and in-
effective spacing 183

Illustrating the ease of reading and feeling of
relaxation produced by the use of lower case
letters and by the presence of appropriate
spacing 184

Forward reasoning — correct arrangement.- 194

Backward reasoning — incorrect arrangement 195

The curve of forgetting 203

Relative attention value of fifty geometrical forms. 213
General and specific appeals 240, 241, 242, 243

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND
RESPONSE

CHAPTER I

MEASURING THE STRENGTH OF AN APPEAL

One of the first tasks of any science is that of
devising methods of measurement. There could
be no science of physics without the possibility of
measuring forces, velocities, magnitudes, temper-
atures, etc. Experimental psychology arose only
when men began to succeed in measuring the in-
tensity, speed, uniformity and difference of men-
tal and motor processes. In so far as salesman-
ship is to be scientific it must also evolve methods
of measuring its materials.

Now the first step in any business transaction
is the presentation of what we may call, for the
sake of convenience and simplicity, an appeal.
This appeal may take the form of an advertise-
ment, an informal selling talk, or a more direct
proposition such as a form or personal letter or
circular, or it may consist merely in the knowl-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

edge, on the part of the customer, that a given
commodity possesses certain desirable qualities,
will accomplish certain results, etc. It will be
seen at once that all salesmen are not equally
persuasive, all advertisements are not equally ef-
fective, nor are all qualities or res>ults equally
valuable. A question of prime importance, then,
is : * ' How is it possible to determine the strength,
the 'pulling power' of an appeal?" If such meas-
urement is possible, this will be the first step
in the application of scientific method to this
field.

It is, of course, obvious that the relative
strength of appeals may be measured by the de-
termination of the actual results: the number
of inquiries, the amount of sales, the cost per
sale, the demand for the articles, etc. Attempts
to make these measurements have always been
made. The sales of each salesman have been
checked up with those of others, advertisements
have been keyed, by means of different addresses,
street or box numbers, differently numbered cata-
logues, etc. The effects of changes in location,
new methods of display, etc., have been judged
by the subsequent changes in output. But two
difficulties in the use of these methods are appar-
ent at once.

MEASURING STRENGTH OF AN APPEAL

In the first place it is exceedingly difficult to
trace, with any precision, the actual effect of an
appeal already presented. Innumerable disturb-
ing factors complicate the calculation: the sea-
son, the medium, the activities of competitors and
imitators, the method of sale (whether retail,
wholesale, mail order, etc.), the effects of other
means of publicity which may be operating at the
same time, changes in styles, wants, and general
prosperity on the part of consumers. Conditions
are not under control and even inferior methods
may occasionally be more remunerative, for the
time being, than a more cautious attempt to se-
cure the uniform conditions of trade, circulation,
competition, etc., which would be required for a
careful experimental measurement.

The second difficulty is that such methods are
costly. All the measurements take place after
the appeal has been presented, and expenses must
be met regardless of the success or failure of the
appeal. Cooperation might afford relief at this
point were it not for two facts. The results of
one campaign involving one commodity, one clien-
tele, one set of executive and distributive opera-
tions, cannot be carried over bodily to another
business venture in which all or several of these
factors are changed. Further, business is com-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

petitive, and successful methods are not pro-
claimed and communicated to all comers.

We must devise, then, not only a method of
measurement, but a method which will permit of
measurement beforehand, and which will be so
flexible as to permit adaptation to widely variant
circumstances. And since we are dealing with
such subjective things as interest, feelings, per-
suasions, attention, choice, motive, action, belief,
we cannot employ any objective scale such as the
yard stick, the balance, the clock work, or ther-
mometer. But we need not despair. In the psy-
chological laboratory we find students measuring
the intensity of sensations, the degree of atten-
tion, the strength of belief, the legibility of hand-
writing, the agreeableness of color combinations,
the excellence of literary compositions, the emi-
nence of scientific men, the humor of comic situ-
ations, and many other things which are no less
subjective than the persuasiveness of a selling
talk or the pulling power of an advertisement.
It was in such a laboratory that the first success-
ful attempt was made to measure beforehand the
relative strength of such appeals as are com-
monly employed in business. In the following
portions of this chapter descriptions will be given
of some of these measurements, which were made

MEASURING STRENGTH OF AN APPEAL

in my own laboratory, either by myself or by my
students and fellow workers. In later chapters
the various methods employed will be presented,
and I shall further show how the application of
such laboratory methods enables us not only to
measure the strength of the appeal as a whole,
but also to analyze it into its various elements.
By means of such analysis we can determine the
nature of these elements, the ways in which peo-
ple of various ages and classes react to them, the
deeper-lying reasons for these reactions, and can
present in concrete detail the processes going on
in the mind of the customer engaged in a busi-
ness transaction.

In the following accounts the general plan will
be:

1. To secure measurements, by laboratory
methods, of the probable relative values of vari-
ous appeals. In doing this we must arrange for
controlled conditions by restricting the appeals
to the same commodity or type of article, and
by keeping uniform, for the time being, such
items as size, legibility, familiarity, etc. These
factors will later be discussed, each in its proper
place.

2. Having measured the appeals in the labo-
ratory, we shall secure the actual returns or re-

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PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

suits which the appeals produced. Partly for this
reason printed advertisements are chosen as ma-
terial rather than letters, personal interviews, or
the commodities themselves. The results will,
however, ajjply as well to the various sorts of
appeal already enumerated in so far as they have
elements in common with the advertisement.

3. We shall then compare the laboratory meas-
urements with the actual returns provided by the
business concerns using the advertisements, in
order to see in how far the acttial results after
circulation agree with the laboratory results
which could have been determined beforehand.
In no case were the actual results revealed until
the laboratory measurements hiid been already
made and announced.

MACHINERY ADVERTISEilENTS

The first series studied was a ket of machinery
advertisements shown in the illustrations on pp.
6 and 7. There are five appeals, of uniform size,
each constituting an attempt to influence buyers
or inquirers in favor of the same commodity. The
following table shows the results of the labora-
tory test, the ten persons experitnented on being
seniors in an engineering school, thus represent-

MEASURING STRENGTH OF AN APPEAL

ing the general class of people to whom such ap-
peals would be directed in the natural course of
business. If a given appeal was found to be the
strongest for a given individual, it was marked 1
for him. If it was found to be the least persua-
sive, it was marked 5, and the intermediate posi-
tions indicate corresponding places in the order
of strength. In the final column of the table is
given the actual order of merit of these five ad-
vertisements, determined by the number of in-
quiries which followed upon each when run in the
same medium. It is not necessary at this point
to discuss two factors which will at once occur
to the mind of every business man: the ''cumu-
lative effect" of successive appeals, and the ''law
of diminishing returns" which may operate when
a series of appeals is presented to the same body
of readers. These factors will be treated in their

TABLE I

Appeal

A
B
C
D
E

Ten different persons
tested

4 3

5 5

1 1

2 4

3 2

4 5

1 4

5 3

2 1

4 1

1 2
3 4

5 5

2 3

Order of

Average

Superiority

by test

3.0

2.6

2.3

4.4

2.7

Order of

Superiority

by actual

returns

4
2
1
5
3

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

proper places. They do not influence the signifi-
cance of the returns in the case now under con-
sideration.

If now the relative values of these appeals, as
judged by actual inquiries produced, be compared
with the order as determined by laboratory tests,
it will be seen that the two orders agree perfectly.
The tests showed C to be the strongest and D to
be the weakest, and, as a matter of fact, C pulled
forty times as many inquiries as did D, in spite
of the fact that the cost of running and preparing
D was six times as great as for C. The other
appeals range between these two extremes. The
testing of this series in the laboratory before
their appearance would have resulted in the elim-
ination of the weaker appeals, and consequently
in increase of returns and diminution in the
cost of publicity. The reasons for the striking
differences in the strength of these five appeals
will be made clear in subsequent chapters. Analy-
sis leads to the discovery of differences and of
principles which are true not only for the appeals
in this series but for appeals in general. The
point to be made now is that the laboratory test
is a genuine and reliable measure of the pulling
power of the different advertisements.

MEASURING STRENGTH OF AN APPEAL

SOAP ADVERTISEMENTS

A second case of close agreement is shown in
Table II. The series of appeals consisted of
eight advertisements. Two laboratory tests were
made, one on 25 people, and the other on a differ-
ent group of 100 people. The advertisements are
shown on pp. 12 and 13. The first column in the
table gives the letters used to identify the adver-
tisements. The second column shows the relative
persuasiveness of the appeals as determined by
the first experiment, the third column as deter-
mined by the second experiment. These two tests

TABLE II

Result of

As judged

Appeal

First

Second

Experiment

Pack'rMf.Co.

Advt. Agency

agreed perfectly except that advertisement A,
which stood first in pulling power in the first test,
stood second in the second test. The fourth col-
umn gives the relative order of merit of the ap-

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PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

peals, as judged by the manufacturing company
concerned, on the basis of twenty years' experi-
ence. The final column gives the order as judged
by three experts of the advertising agency which
had charge of this firm's publicity campaigns.
Each of these various orders was determined in-
dependently, and without knowledge of the results
of the other orders. The agreement is almost as
striking as it was in the case of the machinery
appeals. A change in the grading of just one
advertisement in each of the last three columns
will make all four columns agree. It is apparent
that a preliminary laboratory measurement af-
fords real knowledge of the strength of such ap-
peals.

ELECTRIC LIGHT ADVERTISEMENTS

A third example must suflSce by way of merely
illustrating the reliability of the laboratory meas-
urement. Table III shows five electric light ad-
vertisements as measured first by laboratory test
and second by the cost per inquiry produced. Ap-
peals A and B are the best two by both measure-
ments. On appeals C and D the two measure-
ments agree within one place in the series. Only
on E is there any considerable discrepancy.

MEASURING STRENGTH OF AN APPEAL

TABLE III

Appeal

Order as measured

cost per inquiry

Order as measured

laboratory test

1
2
3
, 4
5

Many significant things are revealed in these
experiments which enable us to formulate general
laws as well as to test the value of the specific
appeals. By way of illustration, it must suffice
for the present to call attention to appeal B in
the first experiment, that with the machinery ad-
vertisements. Notice that in Table I, where the
measurements of each of the ten people are re-
corded, B stands either at the top or at the bot-
tom of the series of five appeals — never in the
middle. Except for two people this appeal stands
either first or last, and these two exceptions are
not real differences, for even here the positions
are 2 and 4. This means that there are two types
of people in the group studied. For one type ap-
peal B is very effective, and these are, be it noted,
the very people for whom appeal D is very weak.
For the other group, for whom appeal B is weak,
D is fairly strong. Each of these appeals B and

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

D, then, influences only one-half of the group of
people. To secure a more universal appeal it
would be necessary either to run both advertise-
ments, thus doubling the cost of returns, or to
construct a third type of appeal which should
combine the virtues of B and D. Appeal C is as
close an approximation to this ideal appeal as
the series affords. Note that it stands fairly high
for both types of people. Only in two cases does
it stand below the middle of the series. These
differences are not accidental nor peculiar to this
series of appeals. They are found in many series
and with every group of people I have had occa-
sion to study. Explanation of these facts will be
given in due time.

CHAPTER II

THE NERVOUS BASIS OF MENTAL PROCESSES

Every mental process, even that of being im-
pressed or repelled by an advertisement or a
salesman, has a nervous basis. We have many
proofs of this dependence of consciousness upon
the nervous system. Thus injuries to the ner-
vous system affect our consciousness, as do drugs
which act temporarily upon the nerve tissue.
Many forms of mental disease are caused by de-
structive processes in the nervous system. Ex-
perimental physiology finds that certain areas
in the brain are control centers for certain sets
of movements and of higher sensory and mental
processes such as seeing, hearing, understanding
the meaning of words, associating ideas, etc. All
of our knowledge depends on the possession of
sense organs — eye, ear, etc., and these sense or-
gans are only special modifications of parts of
the nervous system. Finally, comparative anat-
omy shows us that in the animal series, from low-
est to highest forms, increase in the complexity

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

of consciousness is always accompanied by in-
creased complexity of the nervous system.

Consequently, any study of mental processes
should take account, also, of the underlying nfer-
vous processes. Such an account not only aids
greatly in the explanation of the mental proces-
ses, but also serves as a scheme or diagram which
is useful in systematizing and remembering the
mental processes themselves, their laws, and their
relations to each other.

Considered from this point of view a man is
simply a nervous mechanism, which is capable,
on the one hand, of being sensitive to objects and
events in the outside world, and, on the other
hand, of responding to these impressions by the
various sorts of movements which make up his
reactions, his behavior. Sensation on the one
hand and movement on the other, sum up his life.
When the sense impression is very simple — a
sound, or a flash of light — we call it a stimulus;
when it is more complex — an invitation, a prob-
lem, a strange object, an argument or an adver-
tisement— we call it an appeal. When the reac-
tion is very simple we call it a movement; when
it is more complicated, and perhaps involves many
movements, we call it a response.

All mental life, then, can be analyzed into the

NERVOUS BASIS OF MENTAL PROCESSES

two simple elements of appeal and response. A
motorman suddenly sees a danger signal and
stops his car. The red light is the appeal, and
his movement in applying the brakes is the re-
sponse. We try to teach a child to talk. The ob-
ject we point to is the appeal, his speech move-
ments are his response. Even the little polite-
nesses and civilities of social life, the conven-
tionalities of the street, the seashore, the banquet
table, are solely a matter of this or that response
to this or that situation. What distinguishes the
insane man from the rest of us is the fact that
he responds wrongly or irregularly to the stimuli
and appeals of the world in which he is placed.
In salesmanship the situation is quite the same.
Given a certain salesman, a certain article, a cer-
tain set of advantages or arguments, this consti-
tutes the appeal. The important factor remain-
ing is the way in which the customer will respond
to the given appeal. The operation of an adver-
tisement, be it good or bad, is precisely the same
process. The appeal here usually comes through
the sense of sight; it consists, let us suppose, of
a poster of definite size, position, color and com-
position, and it advances certain selling points
for the article it desires to announce. Here is the
sensory side, the stimulus. Now how does the

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

passerby react to the appeal? It may ''catch his
eye," he may read it through, and, either now or
on a later occasion, buy the article. Or he may
behave quite differently. The appeal may never
come into his consciousness, in which case the
poster is passed unnoticed. Or he may observe
it, remark, "What a glaring, unsightly blotch of
color!" and pass by on the other side. No mat-
ter which of these tilings he does, it constitutes
his response — a response made up of movement
and general behavior.

A pertinent question now is : What is the ner-
vous mechanism of such a process; w^hat hap-
pens in the nervous system when a man responds
to a stimulus? Here^ then, we must get some
knowledge of the nervous elements, and some in-
sight into the way in which these elements com-
bine to form the complex nervous system.

The simplest nervous mechanism that can un-
derlie a process of appeal and response is a com-
bination of two nerve cells. These cells are mi-
nute structures with a main body and two sets
of branches. The cells are situated for the most
part in the brain and in or alongside the spinal
cord. There are, in the main, two kinds of nerve
cells, sensory cells and motor cells. The sensory
cell sends one long branch out to the surface of

NERVOUS BASIS OF MENTAL PROCESSES

the body to some sense organ, as the eye, ear,
finger tips, etc. The other branches of this cell
are short, and run chiefly toward motor cells
which lie at a greater or less distance from it in
the brain or cord. These short branches are met
by the short processes coming from the motor
cell, which in turn sends its long fiber out to a
muscle, in some more or less remote part of the
body.

This arrangement constitutes what is known as
a "reflex arc," because nervous impulses pass
along it much as do electrical currents along a
circuit. Nervous energy set up by the outside
stimulus passes along the sensory fiber to the cen-
ter, where it is transmitted to the motor cell and
passed on out to the muscle, reinforced, perhaps,
by energy from other cells that are acting at the
same time. The result is a movement of the mus-
cle. The response is caused directly, we may even
say mechanically, by the energy generated by the
stimulus. So the nervous element falls into two
sections, a sensory efid which is the basis of ap-
peal, and a motor end which is the basis of re-
sponse.

These pure reflexes are not usually accom-
panied by consciousness. The impulse simply
passes into the spinal cord and out. Examples

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

of such reflexes are blinking the eye Avhen struck
at, sneezing, coughing, the heart beat, etc.

But this simple arc represents the lowest level
of nervous activity, that controlled by spinal cen-
ters. In the human being we may point out two
higher and more complicated levels, which involve
in the one case the higher brain, or cerebrum, and
in the other the lower brain area, the cerebellum,
medulla, etc.

Thus some appeals do not lead to an immediate
and reflex response, but require deliberation, com-
parison and choice. These higher thought proc-
esses, processes of reasoning, argument, and de-
cision, depend on the activity of nervous centers
in the cerebrum. The sensory impulse, instead of
issuing from the cord at once, in the form of a
motor impulse, passes over a more devious path.
It runs up along the cord to the higher brain cen-
ters and sets up activity through processes which,
on the side of consciousness, appear as memories,
associations, trains of thought, judgments. Only
after these processes have been brought to bear
on the appeal, when the past experience, conscious
knowledge, interests, purposes, and ideals have
determined what sort of response should most
profitably follow — only then does the reaction
come. What the response will be, or when it will

NERVOUS BASIS OF MENTAL PROCESSES

come, can not be predicted from the outside, as
was the case with the simple reflexes. The re-
sponse may be delayed, its character is uncertain,
and it may be quite out of proportion to the phys-
ical strength of the stimulus.

Beforeyou build, learn tin: iiu'Cftnu'iU ;id\'ai-ilaffcs

NATCO HOLLOW^TILE

FlRI,PKOOF-n

NATIONAL FIRE • PRCBDFING COMPANY

A Long Circuit Appeal

Such a process of appeal and response operates,
we may say, by means of the higher level. It in-
volves what we may call in the psychology of ad-
vertising and salesmanship the long circuit. It

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

is apparent at once that it corresponds to a well-
known type of selling talk, the reason why copy
which invites and presents careful comparisons
and weighing of advantages and disadvantages,
copy which consists of the candid exposition of
selling points.

But there are objects in our experience which,
although they do not provoke an immediate re-
flex response, are, nevertheless, reacted to much
more quickly, uniformly, and strongly than those
which operate over the long Circuit. Thus, in
looking over a book catalogue there are certain
titles which immediately catch tuy attention and
lead me to examine them closely. Other titles I
may seem not to see. If I am out walking on a
fine afternoon and see a baseball game in pro-
gress in a nearby field, I find niyself stopping to
watch it, quite as a matter of cdurse and with no
preliminary deliberation. If I arii passing through
a lonesome part of the city on a dark night and
see a stealthy form slink behind a tree ahead of
me, I instinctively reach toward my hip pocket or
tighten my grip on my walking stick. So when
the mother sees an advertisement that offers an
article guaranteed to promote baby's comfort, or
when an ambitious man sees a device described
that will certainly economize his time or other-

NERVOUS BASIS OF MENTAL PROCESSES

wise increase his efficiency, he finds that, quite
in an unpremeditated way, he has left off doing
other things and is reading through the announce-
ment or description. All of these responses,
while perhaps not immediate, are, nevertheless,
quick; they are strong, and we can be reasonably

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A Short Circuit Appf.at.

certain in advance what their character will be.
We will find that in such cases the object has ap-
pealed to some universal instinct, interest or de-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

sire, or has awakened some strong feeling. Such
appeals call into action centers which are prompt,
powerful and definite in their response. Such a
process, then, involves what we may call the sJiort
circuit. Such an appeal obviously, in turn, cor-
responds to a distinct kind of argument, the dis-
play advertisement or the emotional selling talk
which does not argue but simply attempts to work
on strong feeling, instinct or ideal. The range
of such special appeals is exceedingly wide, for
there are many objects in our experience toward
which we all react by this feeling circuit, without
stopping to ask why we so respond. Our reaction
is determined beforehand, for the most part by
the history of the race in dealing with these ob-
jects.

Generally speaking, it is true that the long cir-
cuit is determined chiefly by the past experience
of the individual, the short circuit by the history
of the race. All of us behave in both ways. The
particular way in which we respond on a given
occasion will depend on the character of the ap-
peal, the commodity concerned, the type of the
person, his age, sex, present activity, and a great
number of other individual differences which it is
the business of psychology to study, classify and
explain.

NERVOUS BASIS OF MENTAL PROCESSES

The practical value of a study of human nature
comes to depend on the fact that there are some
'universals, some ways in which all people are
alike. When no such universal traits are found,
there will be either types or classes, the members
of which resemble each other, or the members of
the race will be distributed according to a more
or less bilaterally symmetrical curve, with the
greatest number of individuals arranged about
the average or central type, while others depart
from this type both above and below, the num-
ber of people for a given character becoming less
the further that character is from the type.

Here, then, is a concrete problem in salesman-
ship and advertising. For what sort of com-
modities and with what sort of people is the direct
short circuit appeal effective; what objects and
classes of objects can be effectively advertised
and sold by an appeal to special feelings or in-
stincts? And for what objects will the long cir-
cuit be employed, the reason why argument, most
effectively? Some answer to these questions we
may hope to get as we continue, answers based
partly on our general psychological knowledge,
partly on the concrete experience of practical men
and partly on definite experiments now being per-
formed in the laboratories.

CHAPTER III

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA
THE TASK

We may analyze the task of an argument or
an advertisement in terms of the reflex arc, for
their operation is the same as the operation of
any other stimulus. The process is always :

1. Stimulus catches attention, comes to no-
tice, separates itself from other impres-
sions.

2. The impression either (a) at once drops
out of consciousness, or (b) holds the at-
tention, i.e., becomes dominant in con-
sciousness and causes adjustment of the
perceiving organ for closer . examination.

3. In so doing it arouses central associations,
memories, interests, feelings, and becomes
firmly attached to these ; the impression is
fixed, and remains as idea or image.

4. It leads to motor response. This response

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

is an essential factor in determining the
final meaning of the appeal. Psycho-
logically as well as commercially, the re-
sponse is one of the most important ele-
ments in the whole process.

Always bear in mind that a sensory impression
or revived image has its inevitable motor issue.
This will be an important principle later on. We
shall only mention it now. And remember that
this response does much to determine the charac-
ter of the perception. Observe this process when
a fly lights on the baby's cheek, or when we run a
sliver in our finger:

1. We say: ''Oh! what's that? Oh! it's a
sliver. ' '

2. We carefully observe the sliver, locate it,
observe its length, depth, etc.

3. By the short circuit we respond at once by
instinctive movements, sucking, grimacing,
pressing, etc.

4. By the long circuit we compare, remember,
reflect, and either secure a jackknife or go
to a doctor.

5. We remember the event and act more
quickly next time by virtue of this mem-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPOxXSE

ory and response. The object is charac-
terized by the response.

An advertisement must go through the same
process :

1. I see Ingersoll's watch advertisement with
the many hands. I say: ''Hello, what's
that?"

2. I examine it, read it through with care,

3. But now comes the apparent difference be-
tween the advertisement and the ordinary
stimulus. With the ordinary stimulus the
response, we may think, is immediate. But
it is not always. With lower forms of life
this is true. But the chief difference be-
tween man and lower forms is in the re-
tarded reaction. Even the response to a
pin prick may be delayed and complicated.
Such delay usually characterizes the re-
sponse to an advertisement, and this con-
stitutes one of the two chief psychological
differences between advertising and sales-
manship. Hence the impression must be
fixated for delayed response, must be re-
membered, and given, in memory, prefer-
ence over other advertisements for simi-
lar commodities.

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

4. Finally the appeal must lead to specific
response, to favorable action toward the
particular article or brand announced.

This analysis gives us the psychological tasks
of an appeal. It will be advantageous to preface
our study of these four tasks with a brief exami-
nation of the p^ure psychology involved in these
four aspects of the reflex arc :

1. In the first section we have to do with the
psychology of attention and perception.

2. In the second with the psychology of at-
tention, interest, and feeling, etc.

3. In the third with the psychology of
memory, association, emotion, mental
imagery, etc.

4. Lastly with volition, habit, instinct, effec-
tive conception, imitation, suggestion, etc.

Before taking up the investigation of these four
fundamental sections, we may with profit get a
general view of advertisements in their different
forms, see what the general psychological char-
acter of each type is, and inquire in which forms
the psj'chological subtleties play a role, and in
which they do not. Let us first examine the ap-
peal with respect to its own purpose and charac-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ter, and then with respect to the mediuni in which
it is found, for media as well as individual adver-
tisements have their psychology.

ANALYSIS OF ADVEETISING TYPES

With respect to their quality and purpose, we
may distinguish three chief types of advertise-
ments.

L The Classified Advertisement. — Here the
psychological subtleties play their feeblest role.

A Splendid
Opening for a

Special
Representative

CTScre arc Kveral Mctioni ot
tbe ccnintiy where repre-
sentation if wanted. A leadinf
publication in its field. A liberal
cHa to tbe rigbt men. If you
want to add another paper to

Box T. P. M.,

A Classified Appeal

The classified advertisement contains a simple an-
nouncement or invitation, intended only for those
who are a priori interested in it. It will be sought

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

for by the proper person. In fact, you would
rather the other person did not see it. His cor-
respondence would only annoy you. You already
have attention and interest. You need not seek
for mnemonic qualities, for the right person will
surely make a memorandum of the matter. You
will have no difficulty in provoking response. The
right person will respond without further incen-
tive. The only psychology involved here is the
psychology of intelligibility. We must observe :

1. The psychology of expression — of clear,
accurate and succinct statement — and this
chiefly as a means of eliminating the

' wrong correspondent.

2. The ordinary psychology of typography —
the laws of reading, spacing, position,
cataloging, color, legibility of type, etc.

3. The knowledge of media, which is not so
much a matter of a priori psychology as a
matter of advertising technology and sta-
tistics. This is a separate field in the sci-
ence of business in which there is yet much
to be done.

II. The Publicity Advertisement. — This type
is not, strictly speaking, an advertisement at all,
i.e., it does not pretend to operate successively on

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

NATIONAL

BISCUIT COMPANY

GRAHAM CRACKERS

^JOf —

A PACKAGE

Publicity Appeal

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

the complete arc. It is a public reminder, in-
tended to reinforce informative appeals already
issued or about to come. It usually seeks merely
to familiarize a name or trade mark already
known, or excite curiosity concerning a com-
modity about to be announced.

(1) Its psychology is usually mechanical —
utilizing the principles of size and con-
trast.

(2) Its mnemonic psychology is also me-
chanical, utilizing chiefly the principle of
repetition.

(3) But it also involves the psychology of
names, that of trade marks and that of
the memorability of different kinds of
facts.

III. Display Advertisements. — In display ad-
vertisements the role of psychological factors is
most prominent. The display advertisement ex-
plicitly takes the place of the salesman; it is a
direct appeal, and is calculated to provoke a more
or less direct, and more or less immediate re-
sponse. According to its kind, it may work
through the rational circuit or the feeling circuit.
All parts of the arc are thus involved. It is con-
sequently on this type of advertisement that we

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

will base most of our analysis, chiefly because of
its ideal character. But all that is said of this

Display Appeal

type will be seen to apply in greater or less
degree to the two other types, and to all forms of
business appeal which have elements in common
with advertisements.

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

Papers Botn of Necessity

EVERY "Eagle A** Water-marked Bond Paper is a paper "with a
reason — ea<^ was bom cf necessity — the necessity of hayii^ a paper
which in quality, color and finish would best adapt itself to Uie needs
of each individual user.

There Is an "Eagle A** Bond Paper for the man who
wants one million circulars and who figure* the cost
first; as well as a paper of distinctive character and ex-
clusiveness, for the man who orders one thousand letter
heads and who considers quality first and cost last.

" Eagle A"* Bond Papers are not of one grade. They're
of thirty>four grades. They are not for one use. They
are for every use. But they are all of 100% value,
whether it be a paper on which to address a bank presi-
dent, or to write a memorandum to the office-boy.

Td malce each one of the 34 Bond Papers a Quality-plus
Paper--to give to each a distinctive character and qual-
ity, color and finish— lo Trade-mark the whole with the
Water-mark of the "Eagle A" — and to place them'
within the reach of every paper-user, is a condition
made possible only by twenty-nine mills, each making
paf^rs of necessity, but all united for the economic
production and marketing of each particular grade.

Look hr tkt "EafU A" WattT-mark It's a good habit

Tmt Priatw w Utb^grepW hudki "EmU A" BmJ ?•-
^\Sy/% ftn. k*k Km U ikav y«« uafUt. May wa Mff**' ••
I /ffy*^^ I "EmI*>" f»*** *lut wmU U W«I md*flt4 U r«w m»U$l

M^'Sf^.

f'^zii::'.

is^'"*o':„

U'^ffii ta

AMERICAN WRITING PAPEft COMPANY
i Main Street u> Mm.) Holyoke, M

Display Appeal

MEDIA

With respect to media, we may briefly sum-
marize the chief psychological characteristics, if
only for the sake of having them stated. Every
business man knows the points in a more or less
defined way, and, indeed, with much more cer-
tainty than I do. But you will always find
knowledge clarified by an attempt at expres-

45220

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

sion. Expression discloses fallacies, shows up
vague spots, and crystallizes truth.

We may roughly distinguish eight classes of
media. The list is not complete in this day of
multitudinous publicity devices, but the classes
may roughly cover the field. Briefly, these classes
are as follows, classified according to psychologi-
cal character and situation:

L Newspapers, Magazines, Periodicals, Trade
Journals. — Here the appeal is more or less inci-
dental to other matter contained in the medium.
Everybody reads, and while reading may happen
upon the advertisement. But the essential part
of the medium is the other content. Generally
speaking, if the appeal is to compete with this
matter, it must vie with it in attractiveness and
interest.

1. Studies (see Scott) of 2,000 newspaper
readers show this to be especially true
here. One-half of these Chicago men,
from all ranks, read two papers daily, one-
fourth of them read three, while 10% read
as many as four. The average time spent
on these papers daily is 10-15 minutes,
though many people spend as much as two
38

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

hours. Only 4%, indeed, spent less than
15 minutes, while 25% spent more.

That news is the chief item of interest in papers
is also indicated by Scott's table in which about
70% of interest goes to news, and only one-half of
1% explicitly to advertisements.

Obviously the successful newspaper advertise-
ment must in some way compete with news inter-
est. The classified advertisement does this suc-
cessfully, for it is in itself an item of news to
those for whom it is intended. This type of ap-
peal, then, is psychologically adapted for newspa-
per insertion.

2. The display advertisement can, then, in-
crease its power by becoming newsy. This
point has already been emphasized by
Kennedy in his chapter on "Advertising
is News." This idea, again, is of course
the basis of the well-known success of the
"Wanamaker news sheet in the dailies. The
more the advertisement resembles news
in its tone, the better it will compete in
interest with other news items. The suc-
cess of this competition is well illustrated
by an incident which I quote on the au-
thority of Edwin Balmer, who says in
39

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

'^ Science of Advertising": "One of the
Philadelphia newspapers, which had pub-
lished Wanamaker's advertisements *for
years, lost 20,000 circulation when the ad-
vertisement was withdrawn, and regained
it again when the department store's pat-
ronage returned" (p. 20). It does not
necessarily follow from what I have just
said that newspaper advertising should
imitate the form and style of news para-
graphs. This would be too much like the old
trick advertisements that began with some
startling declaration which read like a
news item but wound up by extolling
Somebody's Bitters or Corn Salve. Ad-
vertising that attracts by deception is psy-
chologically vicious. The point here is
simply that newspaper advertisements
should be informative in character, that
they should really convey interesting news
of stock, prices, styles, location, changes,
sales, etc. The newspaper is thus specially
adapted for local advertising.
3. The value of magazines as a medium is
high, but of course depends both on the
character of the magazine and on that of
the subscription list. Scott observed 600
40

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

men in the Chicago public library, noticing
what part of the periodical they were
reading at the moment observed. He found
10y2% of these men reading advertise-
ments, and remarks that probably few did
not look at the advertising pages before
leaving. A prominent advertising expert,
knowing the Chicago library, remarks that
these results are not typical of general cir-
culation, that libraries are always full of
loafers who never buy and seldom read,
but who come in to pass away the time by
looking at the pictures. Concerning trade
journals, little need be said. Appeals here
much resemble classified advertisements.
They reach a selected class of readers,
those for whom they are intended, and are
often, by this very fact, full of news in-
terest of a business kind.

II. Circulars, Hand Bills, Posters, Bulletin
Boards, Electric Signs, Placards and Signs in
Street Cars. — The news interest is largely absent
here, and for two reasons:

1. There is no news interest to be contended
with.

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

2. Their size or duration forbids the news in-
terest type for lack of space or time.

For such media the publicity appeal is hence
psychologically adapted with its simple purpose
and mechanical method. Perhaps the chief excep-
tion is to be found in the case of car advertise-
ments. In the average city, each inhabitant, it is
said, averages 10 minutes daily in street cars. As
to number of people — in 1902, live thousand mil-
lion cash fares were collected from passengers on
street cars in the United States, besides passes
and transfers. For the past year the New York
subway averaged over 1,000,000 passengers daily.

Appeals here have longer time to impress them-
selves than in papers and magazines, and the aver-
age passenger is unoccupied. Hence, there is not
so much need of devices for catching attention,
and more room for use of logic, persuasion, affir-
mation, beauty, etc., than in other places. But
there is more need of devices for holding atten-
tion because of competing cards. The effect of a
suggestion is determined not only by its force
but by its duration as well.

III. Size, Form, Decoration, Color, and Illumi-
nation of Store, Comfortable Service, Waiting
Chairs, Courteous Attendance, etc. — This is a

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

more or less indirect form of solicitation, but a
very successful one, other things being approxi-
mately equal. It is an indirect appeal to the feel-
ings exclusively, hence is a distinct psychological
type of advertising.

IV. Printed and Stamped Novelties, as Lead
Pencils, Paper Weights, Note Books, Calendars,
Knives, Rulers, Tapes, Toys, Puzzles, etc. — The
value of these depends on their utility, which en-
sures their constant observation; their appropri-
ateness, which should reinforce the mere name;
and their distribution to the right parties, those
who do the buying. I have heard of a leather
wallet handed out by one John Bauer, grocer,
which amply fulfilled its purpose, and led its
owner time after time to John Bauer 's counter. I
recall, also, quantities of cheap memorandum
books advertising Hostetter's Bitters which al-
ways found their resting place in the street or
stove. It is probable that this medium, if care-
fully handled, is capable of good results and in
the adequate form is not sufficiently utilized.

One of the strongest points in it is the element
of good will created by a gift. We instinctively
feel approval of the man who gives us something,
and the psychology of good will in the novelty
could be developed at great length. This is the

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

basis of the old idea of salesmanship a la carte,
and though the idea is being abandoned by sales-
men, this is not because it was not good in its day.
It needs a rest, and soon will be as effective as
ever. A good discussion of the principles under-
lying this type of appeal may be found in Bunt-
ing's ** Specialty Advertising."

V. Registers, Directories, Theater Programs,
etc., Resembling Class II. — Advertisements here
do not hope to compete in interest with other con-
tents of the medium. They utilize moments of mo-
notony or other incidental moments. The adver-
tisements, for instance, in the directory cannot
hope to compete with the reason for opening the
book. They are read while waiting for ' ' central, ' *
while waiting for the curtain to rise, or for the
porter to bring in the baggage. Hence publicity
or reminder will be their chief aim, except in so
far as they are classified advertisements : hotels,
restaurants, garages, liveries, etc.

VT. Delivery Wagons, Street Banners, Floats,
etc. — These are commonly used for emphasizing
places of business, for invitation, or for mere pub-
licity, but also can be utilized for atmospheric ef-
fect, hence resemble Class III.'

VII. Samples, Catalogues, Agents, Traveling
Men. — The firm here comes directly to the buyer.

ANALYSIS OF TASK AND MEDIA

There is little or no question of attention. The
personal element of the appeal usually guaran-
tees initial attention and also has much to do in
determining the further course of the response.

VIII. In a separate class we may include the
personal communication, the form letter, the ''fol-
low-up" literature of booklet and pamphlet. This
form of solicitation seems to constitute a connect-
ing link between public advertising and the direct
work of agents and salesmen. There seems at
present to be some uncertainty among advertising
men as to whether such appeals should so far as
possible simulate personal correspondence, or
whether, for instance, the form letter should be
frankly impersonal. This is not a point on which
a priori opinions have much weight. Experi-
mental tests are needed before any safe conclu-
sions can be drawn. An "armchair psychology"
could easily specify and generalize and dogmatize
here, but an experimental science must wait for
more data.

Having taken this general view of the situation,
let us now consider the four tasks, and study the
psychological factors involv^ed in each.

CHAPTER IV

THE FIKST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

Attention may be defined in two ways: (1) As
an act of adjustment — or we may speak first of
the act of attention. This is what happens when
we take notice of a stimulus. It is almost synony-
mous with perceiving, and means that the given
stimulus has become clear, and that there has
been an act of accommodation in the sense organ
employed — eye, ear, finger tips — which tends to
bring about still clearer perception.

(2) This is the point at which we plainly dis-
tinguish attention according to its second defi-
nition— as a state of consciousness, or the state of
attention. This attentive state is characterized by
the dominance of one idea, image, impression, or
a set of these and the subordination of all others.
Consciousness always has a focal point, and this
focal point is always occupied by the thing to
w^hich we are attending at the time. We may
represent this state by some such figure as a
wave, the crest corresponding to the focal point

FIRST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

and the slope corresponding to the margin of the
field; or we may liken it to the field of vision
which always has a fixation point which is clear
and a margin which is obscure. The following
figures will serve as examples :

Forms of Focal Points op Attention

The matter of attention is not wholly an arbi-
trary one. The individual consciousness does not
deliberately decide what shall be attended to and
what not by an act of will. If it did the field of

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

advertising and selling would find itself astonish-
ingly limited in its field of effective appeal.

But the act of attention is largely controlled by
heredity, past experience, mood, interest, and
character of the individual. Far down in the
scale of animal life we can detect the rudimentary
basis of what we call attention. There we call it
''prepotency of stimuli." We find these lower
forms indifferent and unresponsive to many
forms of stimulation, but reacting vigorously and
quickly to others. These ' ' prepotent stimuli, ' ' we
find, are highly important in the life of the ani-
mal concerned, although, so far as we know, he is
utterly unaware of their significance. Thus, the ^^^v^*
cock-roach always retreats from the light toward
the shadow, while the moth leaves darkness for
light, even singeing its wings through the irre-
sistible attraction of the flame. The young chick
pecks instinctively at certain kinds of objects, the
new-born kitten is attracted by certain impres-
sions of touch and smell and reacts to them. Even
among the microscopic animals tropisms are
found — certain strong and apparently mechanical
reactions of approach and appropriation directed
toward certain colors, objects, temperatures, etc.

So in human consciousness, not all stimuli be-
come effective. The phenomenon of adaptation

FIRST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

clearly shows this. We soon become adapted to
the presence of the hat on our head, the clothes
on our back, even to the pebble in our shoe or the
temperature of the stoking room. We are con-
stantly passing things without seeing or hearing
them. We come in from the night and do not
know whether or not the stars are out, whether or
not the evening train just came in, w^hether or not
w^e locked the door behind us. There are two rea-
sons for this apparent obtuseness:

1. The range of attention, which we shall later
see to be extremely limited, so that at any
given moment we can attend to a very few
things only, being oblivious to or only
vaguely conscious of all else that is hap-
pening.

2. Attention follows interest. — Generally
speaking, we attend to things because they
interest us or have some vital import in
our lives. We cannot attend to things that
do not have, from one point of view or an-
other, interest for us, for all that we mean
by the interest which a thing has is its
power to attract us, to lead us about and
to direct our action toward it.

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

There are two kinds of interesting things :

A. The first kind includes things which are in-
teresting only because of their consequences —
their immediate or remote results — such stimuli
as the creaking of an axle, a sudden flash of light,
the report made by a bursting tire, palpitation of
the heart. These things have no intrinsic inter-
est; we do not care to sit and contemplate them
for their own sake. But they may mean some
danger, they may require some act of adjustment
on our part, etc. These incentives to attention
we may describe by the word mechanical. To such
stimuli we attend only until we have learned their
significance, have discovered whether or not their
consequences are to be important. Then we turn
at once to things which may be in themselves in-
teresting. Only children and savages are inter-
ested in these mechanical incentives for their own
sake. We shall see later that this type of incen-
tive is well represented in current devices for ad-
vertising and selling goods.

B. In contrast with this group of mechanical
incentives stands another type of appeal which is
in and for itself interesting — a baseball game, a
battleship, an advertising speech by the Mayor,
a Hecker's food advertisement, the rainbow, a
gorgeous sunset, may serve as examples. Ap-

FIRST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

peals of this sort we may designate interest in-
centives. Irrespective of any consequences, either
immediate or remote, we find these things inter-
esting, intrinsically interesting. "We not only at-
tend to them initially, but our attention is held
by them through many consecutive moments or
hours. And this type of appeal we shall also find
represented in current appeals employed in the
business of distributing goods.

CAUSES OF ATTENTION

There are four principal ways in which atten-
tion may be brought about :

(a) By increased relative intensity of the
stimulus.

(b) By the intrinsic interest of the stimulus.

(d) By preperception — anticipatory prepa-
ration, from within, of the ideational cen-
ters to be employed when the stimulus
arrives.

Attention is often classified as voluntary, in-
voluntary, and spontaneous. These forms are

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

clearly seen to represent only different combina-
tions of the four methods just enumerated. Thus
voluntary attention is brought about by methods
(c) and (d). Involuntary attention is that pro-
duced by method (a), and spontaneous attention
that effected by methods (a) and (b). It is ap-
parent that advertising can employ only two of
the four possible methods of attracting attention,
namely those two methods by which spontaneous
attention is brought about. It follows, then, that
these two methods must be used as effectively as
possible. It is, of course, further true that when
we come to the second task, that of holding atten-
tion, we shall see that voluntary attention may
also come to play an important part.

RESULTS AXD LAWS OF ATTENTION

Before further analyzing these methods of in-
tensity and interest, let us learn what the result
of attention will be when we have once secured
it. The results of attention will determine to a
great degree the nature of our next inquiry:
*'How can an appeal attract attention?" Before
we turn to advertisements in particular, what are
the results or laws of attention, in general?

I. The process attended to becomes clearer and
more distinct than others. This is well illustrated

FIRST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

by attention to the hidden figure in a puzzle-pic-
ture. Attend to the figure, it looms up clearly,
while the rest of the picture fades into the obscure
margin of consciousness. Attend to the back-
ground, on the other hand, and this in turn be-
comes sharply defined, while the hidden figure is
blurred.

II. The process attended to becomes more in-
tense, especially if it w^as originally very faint.
Attend to a very faint light or a sound — a star or
the tick of a watch — or attend to a particular in-
strument in an orchestra. The stimulus attended
to becomes not only clearer but it seems to be
louder as well.

III. The process attended to becomes increased
in duration, especially when it is otherwise very
short. Moments of time, if attended to, pass
slowly. The long drawn out diminuendo of a vio-
lin may seem continued after the actual vibration
has ceased, especially if the suggestion is rein-
forced by continued movement of the bow. The
headlines which compel strong attention or the
cuts that attract the eye persist in consciousness
according to the degree of attention bestowed
upon them. Because they persist longer they have
greater opportunity for association with other ex-
periences, and hence are. more likely to be recalled

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

than some other processes attended to less in-
tently. This result is closely related to the next
law.

IV. The process attended to rises more quickly
into consciousness than do other processes enter-
ing simultaneously. We can illustrate this by the
''complication experiment" of the laboratory. If
in this experiment a sound and flash of light are
so arranged as to occur at the same moment, they
will seem not synchronous but successive, the one
attended to appearing to precede the other. Un-
der this law we may also put the general fact that
at a subsequent time, if there is occasion to recall
the process, the one attended to most strongly
tends to recur more quickly and easily than
others.

The foregoing related laws are both theoretic-
ally and practically important. From them it fol-
lows not only that an appeal should be able to
attract attention, but that, other things being
equal, it should attract as much attention as pos-
sible. For the appeal compelling the strongest
degree of attention will be clearer, more intense,
and more active than that less strongly attended
to. As we shall see later, the power of a sugges-
tion depends not only on the fact of attention but
also on the degree of attention.

FIRST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

V. Attention is the basis of every will-act, and
the only basis. Every idea or impression has its
inevitable motor issue. Nervous energy, once
generated, must be liberated, discharged, over an
outgoing pathway. Just what pathway is taken
is immaterial so far as the nervous system is con-
cerned. It follows, then, that the response to the
stimulus which is strongly attended to drains off
the energy generated by marginal stimuli, with the
result that this response is strengthened. This
is the basis of an act of will or choice. It is the
fundamental principle of response. When two
processes divide the field of attention between
them, each tends to set off its appropriate re-
sponse. . The result is two weak responses, or, if
the two stimuli are antagonistic, no response at
all. If my attention now shifts from one to the
other, I vacillate, am weak-willed, undecided. But
the moment that I attend exclusively to either
idea, its motor consequences ensue at once, and I
have responded to the suggestion. I have willed.
This is the fundamental law of suggestion and
response. Every idea, if attended to exclusively,
tends to realize itself in action. We will have this
principle before us again when we come to the
third task of the appeal.

Do not be impatient with this prolonged analy-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

sis of the attentive state. We are trying to get
at the very bottom of the principles of appeal and
response, and this rather abstract examination is
essential to the more concrete things that are soon
to follow. To discuss many other extremely in-
teresting results would be to go too far afield for
the purposes of this book. But there are two
more principles that must not be omitted. From
the practical point of view they are the most im-
portant of the seven. They cover not so much
the results of attention as they do the behavior
of attention itself.

VI. This law is that attention fluctuates, comes
in beats or pulses ; the state of attention is of short
duration. Our consciousness cannot remain in-
tent on one object or idea. It must roam about,
much like a bird flying from bough to bough. It
cannot remain on the same bough constantly. It
must, after a given time, leap over to another
bough and then return, or else it must shift its
position on the same bough every so often, chang-
ing from one foot to another or facing about or
lighting on various parts of the same perch.

The length of these waves or pulses of atten-
tion is usually about four seconds in our experi-
mental researches, two seconds coming to the crest
and two seconds dying away. Much work is be-

FIRST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

iiig done by modern experimentalists to discover
the neurological reason for this rhythm of atten-
tion. It constitutes a fascinating field of modern
investigation. But, here again, to go farther
would be to digress.

I show you here the record of such a laboratory
experiment, taken by one of my students.

An Experimext on Attention. The wavy line marks off fifths
of seconds. When the straight line is on the low level, a faint
visual stimulus was in the field of attention. The high level
indicates the disappearance of the stimulus from attention.

This law of attention will be our chief concern
when we come to the second talk, that of Holding
Attention.

VII. Finally, in this abstract analysis, we must
include the general law that the range of atten-
tion is limited. AYe may distinguish here between

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

the focus of attention, and the margin of atten-
tion. You will all remember in this connection
that five acts have long been recognized as the
artistic limit for a drama, five feet for a line, and
preferably five lines for a stanza, five chief char-
acters in a dialogue. And these are all cases
where one has the sjniipathy of the reader from
the beginning. In framing the artistic solicita-
tion for his eye, it is better to be on the safe side
and allow, say, one fact to the focus, one to the
field, and one to the margin. But it may be said
here that it is five units that can be compassed in
a single act of attention. If I expose five or six
small dots for a fraction of a second you can
report their number correctly, but more than that
many you cannot perceive accurately. You can,
however, see five letters, each composed of dots,
just as easily, and even five words, if the words
are familiar enough to be perceived as units.

These facts have a very practical bearing. They
mean that the ideal headline should not contain
over five units. Usually these units will be single
words. But as a matter of fact a sentence can
be grasped as a whole providing it can be broken
into, say, four phrase units of perhaps four words
each, or, preferably, three. If I say, ''The proper
length for a comfortable sentence is felt to be

FIRST TASK: CATCHING THE ATTENTION

about sixteen words," my sentence is seen to be
thus constructed. It has four phrase elements of
three or four words each, and the sentence is
easily grasped as a whole. But if I say, ''By a
careful experimentally conducted investigation of
the laws of attention, psychologists have been led
to conclude that the most favorable sentence
length for the average reader is, under ordinary
conditions, approximately sixteen single words,"
you are dismayed by the length and structure of
the sentence. It falls to pieces, requiring more
than. one effort of attention. We may say, then,
that nine to sixteen words make a clear and easily
read sentence. That is, of course, only an ap-
proximation. The actual number in any given
case will depend on the ease with which the single
words group themselves into phrase units. But
good headlines will seldom be found with more
than nine and usually not more than five words.
We shall have a great deal to say about this law
of attention when we come to consider the second
task.

CHAPTER V

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

So much for the state of attention itself. Let
us now turn to the concrete ways of bringing it
about. You will recall that the advertisement can
only work through spontaneous attention, and
that this state can be brought about by two means :
(1) By the relative intensification of the stimuli.
Under this head comes the group of methods which
we have designated mechanical devices. (2) By
the intrinsic interest of the stimulus. This group
we classify as interest incentives. Naturally and
inevitably, through the very structure of our ner-
vous systems, we attend to stimuli of these two
kinds. The basis for their power over us lies
either in the physiology of all nerve tissue, in the
inherited results of remote ancestral experience,
or in our own peculiar past history and desires
for the future.

Of the two groups, the mechanical devices, al-
though the chief means employed by past and even
by most contemporary advertising, are the least

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

potent and in many cases are futile, so far as real
returns are concerned. I have often been asked
to state what in my opinion would be the next
advance step in advertising. I should say that
the most effective change for the better that could
be made is the change from mechanical devices
to interest incentives. But the mechanical devices
are much used at present, and will probably al-
ways be employed to a greater or less degree ; and
for certain types of advertising mechanical de-
vices are effective. The mechanical devices fall
into six chief classes according as the method used
is a variation of intensity, magnitude, motion, con-
trast, surrounding or position.

1. INTENSITY

other things being equal, we will, of course,
attend to the strongest stimulus. We listen to
the shrillest newsboy, the loudest barker at the
side show, just as. we let the thunder distract
us from the chirping of crickets. But this is
not due to genuine interest in the strong stimu-
lus. A strong stimulus causes nervous shock and
is likely to constitute or indicate a source of dan-
ger to the organism. Those of our ancestors who
failed to notice intense stimuli perished in ava-
lanches, tornadoes, etc. Only those survived

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

whose nervous systems were sensitive to abrupt
changes, and they passed their constitution on
down to us. Besides, a strong stimulus means
much physical energy impinging on our sense or-
gans, and this sets up strong nervous currents
which force their way inward in spite of our
wishes. Fortunately, however, advertising has
but little use for this device. Advertising is
chiefly a visual matter, still more chiefly a matter
of printing, and the range of possible intensities
in printing is very slight. The intense lights of
an electric sign, the brilliant colors of a billboard
placard may force us to look in their direction.
But they may force us just as quickly to look aw^ay
again. They may attract attention, but they lack
the power to hold it. All advertising that de-
pends for its success on the mere noise it makes,
on the sheer intensity of its horn, is likely to find
the two to be in inverse ratio. Only savages
and children, as we have said, delight in in-
tensity of stimulus for its own sake. Savages
beat their tom-toms and children pound and kick
from delight in the activity of a sense organ, and
perhaps also because their undeveloped senses do
not get the same degree of sensation from the
intense stimulation that we do.

The rumble of the elevated train never attracts

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

my attention unless it interferes with my pres-
ent activity, and even then it does not attract but
repels me. But the plaintive squeal of some old
woman's hand organ, the whistle of a fraternity
brother, some curious brogue in the speech of a
passerby, some comic incident of the street, at-
tracts me at once in spite of its mildness. A man
slipped on the icy walk the other day. He made
no noise, but slipped down softly and flatly. The
negro garbage collector who happened to be pass-
ing saw him just as he was clambering to his feet
again. ''Do it again," shouted the driver of the
garbage wagon, ''I didn't see you that time."
This trivial incident had greater attention value
with the driver than did the roar of the traffic
around him.

The noisy honk of the automobile does not at-
tract you but gets you out of the way. The in-
tense stimulus means danger. The soft siren call
on the automobile had to be abandoned, not be-
cause people would not attend to it, but because
they did not run away from it. If you want to
appeal to children and to savages, then, you may
use the intensity device with some degree of ef-
fectiveness. For civilized people and grown-ups
the blaring seldom attracts attention beyond it-
self.

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

2. MAGNITUDE

Much has been written concerning the rela-
tive attention value of small and large spaces,
cards, signs, cuts, type, etc., in advertising, and
several suggestive attempts have been made to
study the matter experimentally. The opinion
of advertising men seems to point to propor-
tionate increase in values with the amount of
space used. The use of full-page advertisements
has increased, as Scott has shown. Thus in 1892
the Century Magazine contained only 18 per
cent, full-page advertisements as compared with
43 per cent, in 1908. There is also a tendency to
use two page ''spreads" more and more.

Scott tested over 500 people, giving each the
same magazine {Century), asking them to ''look
it over" in a general way, but not to read
long articles or poetry. After having examined
the magazine for 10 minutes, each was asked to
write out all he remembered of all the advertise-
ments he had seen. The same investigator also
made up a magazine by choosing 100 pages of
varied advertising page^ from a large number of
magazines, so as to get variety of material, size,
form, type, etc. These pages were then bound
together along with reading matter and 60 adults

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

were asked to "look through" the magazine, for
an average time of 10 minutes. Each then men-
tioned each advertisement remembered, gave its
contents, and was then again given the magazine
and asked to indicate all the pages now recognized
as having been seen before.

The results of these experiments were as fol-
lows: In the number of times the advertisement
was mentioned from memory, in the number of
times it was later recognized, and in the number
of times it conveyed definite information as to the
general class of goods advertised, the specific
name or brand of the goods, name and address
of the firm, price, etc., the rule was general that
the full page was more than twice as effective as
the one-half page. The half-page was also more
than twice as effective as the quarter-page, and
this in turn more than twice as effective as the
eighth-page. Scott's general conclusion is: "The
attention and memory value of an advertisement
increases as the size of the advertisement in-
creases, and the increase of value is greater than
the increase in the amount of space used."

But Scott points out the fact that the quality
of the advertisement, that is its content, is even
more important than its size. Indeed, it is quite
probable that the increase in value with increase

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

in space, in these experiments, was chiefly due to
difference in the contents of the space. A large
advertisement is likely to be different from a
small one in things other than mere magnitude.
The large space permits the use of pictures, of
suggested action, removes competition by monopo-
lizing space, and also makes possible greater con-
trast and clearness. It is probable, then, that the
increased value of a large space in these experi-
ments came not from the mere fact of magnitude,
but from the presence of interest incentives which
the magnitude makes possible, but of course does
not necessarily involve.

When the content of the space is kept constant
in character and interest there is no evidence that
the increase in returns is nearly so great as the
increase in space and cost. Of course, the larger
advertisement will be more likely to be seen, but
it must be seen and read twice as much or more
than this to justify the increase in cost, if a whole
page is compared with a half page. Time after
time the results of mail order advertising are said
to have shown only an increased cost per reply
when greater space was employed. The writer
has on hand sets of advertisements in which the
character of the content, the medium, and the com-
modity advertised have all been kept constant and

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

the returns measured by the number of inquiries
for booklets, etc. The results from these sets sug-
gest a more or less definite law of increase under
such circumstances, namely: the number of in-
quiries tends to increase as the square root of the
amount of space used. That is to say, use four
times the space and you double the returns; use
nine times the space and you treble the returns,
while to quadruple the number of replies would
require sixteen' times the amount of space, other
factors remaining constant. Some such law of
increase may, in fact, be supposed to operate in
the case of all the mechanical incentives.

This is an interesting point, psychologically, for
it falls in line with what is known in the labora-
tory as the psycho-physical law, according to
which the sensation produced by a stimulus does
not increase in the same ratio as does the in-
crease in the objective intensity of the stimulus,
but much more slowly, approximately as the
square root of this intensity. We know that, in
many other fields beyond a certain point this law
of "diminishing returns" holds — to double the
amount of coal consumed does not double the
speed of a boat ; nor can twelve laborers produce,
from a given limited area of land or a given fac-
tory equipment and floor space, twice the produc-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

tion of six laborers working under the same con-
ditions.

The following series of Graphite advertise-
ments indicates a similar law. These appeals ap-

4.vi.!-.4„(.<fj.f

Ad. No. 1 — 32 Eeplies. % Page

peared under the same conditions of commodity
and medium, and all three rely on the same gen-
eral type of attention device. No. 1, an adver-
tisement occupying one-eighth of a page, brought

New Edition Is Out

M^ Graphite Mk

''''* as a Lubricant ''''*

for 1910

THIS edition 13 jusi off
ihe press — 64 pages of

the science and practice of
graphite lubrication Plain,
sensible information that
you can apply in your
everyday work. Big. read-
able type, liberal margins. ^^^
Be among the first to ^ ^

ph Dixon Crucible Co. I

Jersey City. N J I

Ad. No. 2—32 Eeplies. Vi Page

"32 replies. Several others of the same size and
i;ype brought from 21 to 42 replies. No. 2 pre-
sents the same appeal, with perhaps a somewhat

,68

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

better layout, so far as initial attention value is
concerned, and it occupied one-quarter page, twice
the amount of space occupied by No. 1. But it

Write For The Newest Edition

"Graphite^ aS; a Lubricant"

. . For. 19l<r ■- V ^

juaf oil the p(«>s v^"rt!i ■»(!.'■(}»€ lat**;
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H deal* almost jCiciuwvtjy wtllj -poww:!^!? Woolema

Ipvc* the M3«lttr"ol «prtiio(fiU..'.of th* JtOMt \
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it reporti piattical «ip«iicft*:e* wjth ihfr os*

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mon ^tere&ted
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inforimtioa ui this new
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GRAPyiTE
LUBRICANT

' \i you Ksvc had any oi the
p(fVtau» ctfiliofls oi this standifj
Duoft wotk. or if you arc « ut<M of
giapi^ile iaany fomi, you will no
tjou^l send (or this Qcyff^ issue. But
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iietti"' turile right aviay for
Free -Copy 94-B.

jt Joseph Dixon Crucible
11 Compan)^

Jersey City, N. J.

Ad. No. 3 — 75 Replies. Full Page

brought only the same number of replies. No. 3,
very similar to both 1 and 2 in general content,
but occupying a full page, brought only 75 re-
plies. That is to say, it is four times the size of

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

No. 1, but brought only twice as many replies, as
we should expect, under the square root law.

Of course if the style of the appeal is changed,
these results will vary correspondingly. Thus No.
4, which introduces an interest incentive (picture,
suggested activity) is no larger than No. 2, but

■ .- ^^^^

1 Hrite for
1 Your Copy
■ ByNo.i'^.M

This Is It-

-l)"' Edition

Joseph lJ!\i
1 ,

n i,-ucir„c Co.

Ad. No. 4—186 Keplies. li Page

brought 186 replies. This last appeal will be re-
ferred to again under the section on suggested
activity.

Miinsterberg has recently reported experi-
ments designed to measure the value of large
spaces, appearing once, as compared with that of
smaller spaces appearing often enough to make
the final space occupied equal in both cases.
Based on the total attention and memory values,
the relative values are as follows:

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

Full page, appearing once 33

Half page, appearing twice 30

Quarter page, appearing four times 49

Eighth page, eight times 44

Twelfth page, twelve times 47

On the basis of the chances of the advertise-
ment being included among the first 10 remem-
bered, in time, the values are:

Full page, appearing once 0.5

Half page, appearing twice 1.2

Quarter page, four times 2.9

Eighth page, eight times ; . . . 2.3

Twelfth page, twelve times 2.4

In general, that is to say, the small spaces re-
peated are more effective than the large space
appearing but once. Of course, these values are
not entirely dependent on the difference in space,
but also upon the factor of repetition, which is in
itself a form of mechanical device, if the appeal
is attended to when repeated.

"Further information bearing in this same gen-
eral direction is afforded by several experiments
conducted by Dr. E. K. Strong, Jr., Research Fel-
low in Columbia University, for the New York
Advertising Men's League and the National Asso-
ciation of Advertising Managers. Perhaps the
only argument in favor of magnitude is that ad-
vanced by some practical advertising men, to the
effect that the additional prestige and suggestion

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

of prosperity conveyed by the large space em-
ployed tend to create a favorable impression in
the mind of the reader.

So far as the experience of the psychologist
goes, mere magnitude possesses the same defect
as does mere intensity, and to even greater de-
gree. The large object does attract initial atten-
tion. Unusually large things possess a certain
importance in the life of any animal; they are
likely to be dangerous, unmanageable, to be avoid-
ed, etc. Therefore, the first appearance of a mam-
moth billboard or electric sign will attract atten-
tion. But as soon as the real character, the harm-
lessness, of the thing is learned, it will be passed
by unnoticed, just as are the Singer building, the
Metropolitan tower, the Imperator, and the
enormous signs and displays of the Great White
Way. Magnitude in advertising is probably of
real value only in so far as it makes possible cer-
tain more genuine interest appeals.

The question of size of type has also received
frequent discussion and investigation. Gale found
progressive increase in attention value with in-
crease in size of type from two to six millimeters.
He gives the table on page 73:

Scott studied two kinds of type with the same
body, but one of which had light and the other
. 72

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

heavy face. What he tried to discover was the
time required to read these two kinds of type and
the number of errors made in such reading. For
the light faced type the total time of six observers
was 147 minutes, the number of errors 132. For
the heavy face, the total time was 129 minutes, the

TABLE IV

Height Type

Relative

Legibility, Per Cent.

Men

Women

Average

2 mm ....

8.7
20.2
27.7
43.0

11.6
15.8
27.5
45.0

10.1

4 mm

5 mm

6 mm

18.0
27.6
44.0

errors 91. Such legibility tests should be carried
further. But it must not be supposed that legi-
bility and attention value are the same thing. It
is in general true that the more easily type can
be read the more agreeably will the people read
it. But they will not be likely to read it just be-
cause it is legible. Under a given set of con-
ditions a certain type size, a certain spacing and
massing will be most favorable. But adequate
tests of this matter, from the practical point of
view, have not been made. More will be said on
this topic in another connection.

The writer would, then, be inclined to stress the

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

futility of mere size as an effective advertising
device. On psychological grounds the small ad-
vertisement with intrinsic interest of some sort
or other — color, cut, action suggested, comic, ap-
peal to special instinct or feeling or value, will be
more effective, and less expensive as well.

3. MOTION

The third mechanical incentive to attention
is that of a moving stimulus. An object in mo-
tion has much higher attention value than a sta-
tionary thing. This is true far down in the ani-
mal scale. One may approach very close to a
wild animal so long as one's accessory movements
are inhibited. A squirrel may perch on my hand,
but the slightest movement of a near-by object
suffices to send him scurrying. Hold your finger,
for instance, in the edge of your field of vision;
you are not able to see it, but wriggle it a little
and its image becomes at once distinct. Psycho-
logically there are two reasons why this should be
true. One is an interest reason, viz., the fact that
moving objects are more likely to contain in them
possibilities of good or evil. Hence from earliest
experience moving objects have become of un-
usual interest and significance for us. The second
reason is a mechanical one, viz., that sensation is

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

only consciousness of change. We become rap-
idly adapted to a constant stimulus so that we fail
to notice the weight of our hats, the temperature
of the room we are in, the odors of the subway.
But the moment a change occurs it is detected,
because it involves fresh and unfatigued sensitive
surface. So keen is our sense of movement that
we can detect the motion of a point on the skin
long before we can tell the direction in which it is
traveling. This is the basis for the high atten-
tion value of rotating barbgr signs and display
shelves, shifting bulletin boards, moving pictures,
flash lights, moving frames in shoe and hat stores.
The Old Dutch Cleanser in Harlem, and the
Heatherbloom petticoat sign are instances of the
initial value of movement, as are running lights
and serpentines. The use of movement is cer-
tainly one of the most effective of the mechanical
incentives, but it has in common with all mechan-
ical devices the fault of failing to hold attention
when once it is caught, and the further defect of
rapidly undergoing adaptation. You must not
confuse the actual use of movement with the
somewhat related principle of suggested action.
Nothing has higher attention value than the repro-
duction of a fellow creature in action. But this
is much different from the crude use of mere mo-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

tion of an inanimate object. It is strictly an in-
terest incentive and will be considered fully under
that heading.

4. CONTKAST

The next important mechanical device is that
of contrast. Because sensation is the conscious-
ness of change, any great or striking differ-
ence in the intensity, size, color or character of
the stimulus produces an unusually vivid con-
sciousness. The gradual appearance of an elec-
tric sign would pass unnoticed, but the alternation
of its sudden illumination and disappearance at
once attracts the attention. In the same way a
striking difference between foreground and back-
ground has strong attention value, and black on
white, blue on yellow, red on green are the most
striking combinations of color, because the two
members of each pair are contrasting in color. A
small man and a large woman, a Shetland pony
harnessed alongside a draught horse, would have
a similar attention value. So, in looking through
the advertisements of a magazine, any sharp de-
parture from the usual appearance of the pages
in size, form, color, style of type, content, size of
tjT)e, kind of cut, possesses strong attention
value. And in our day of manifold advertisement

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

pages this is an important item. The defect of the
contrast incentive again is that of all the mechani-
cal devices. To be effective it must be reinforced
by an interest incentive, or else it fails to hold the
attention it has gained by sheer force.

I^LECTROTYPieRS

Advcrti>^ing Platen Our
Specialtj^

lOO NORTH riTTHAVrNUB

C/\lCAGO

White ox Black

The writer has frequently been asked why black
on white attracts more attention than white on
black. The contrast is apparently the same here,
and the principle of irradiation would lead us to
expect just the opposite result. The reason is

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

probably that we babitually associate dark
spaces with objects and light spaces with back-
ground— with air, opening, sky, water, etc. It is
always the positive, active features of our envir-
onment, the objects, to which we give special no-
tice. Backgrounds have no particular importance
except as they set off objects. So when black let-
ters are seen on white the letters attract atten-
tion. But when white letters appear on black,
they seem to be merely holes in the object, which
is now the dark part. Hence we do not attend to
the form, etc., of the letters. So far as acuity and
legibility go there is no difference between the
two arrangements.

5. ISOLATION

Closely allied to contrast is another factor
— the absence of counter attraction. Conscious-
ness is never empty. If it were it would not be
consciousness. This means that we must attend
to something, and, for the most part, to some-
thing in the outside world. In the absence of
counter attraction consciousness fixates the one
thing in the field. The value of monopolizing the
whole space, of eliminating competing appeals by
employing plenty of white space, etc., has its basis

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

here. Little more need be said. The difficulties
with this device are: (1) that we quickly become
adapted to its artificial character, (2) that there

Attention Value op Isolation

is always more than one field open to conscious-
ness, and it is necessary to make the page, wall,
side of the street, etc., have some intrinsic inter-
est before the absence of counter attraction in
that particular field has a chance to work.

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

A Tempting
Dessert Delicacy

to serve in place of pies or pastry, and at
luncheons or -afternoon teas.

Nabisco Sugar Wafers make instant
appeal to everybody.

They have a charm wholly their own,
and are exquisitely superior to any other
confection delicacy ever produced.
In ten cent tins

Also in twenty-five cent tins

CHOCOLATE Tokens— NABisco-like

goodness enclosed in a shell of rich chocolate.

Absexce of Counter Attraction

POSITION

The final mechanical device is that of posi-
tion. Because of certain habitual fixation tenden-
cies of the eyes in reading and observing, certain
positions on a printed page, a bulletin board, etc.,
have greater attention value than others. Thus, in

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

Gale's experiments the left side of the page was
found to have greater attention value than the
right. This result would follow from the tendency
to begin on the left and read to the right, so that in
a quick exposure such as Gale gave the left side
would have the advantage, and especially so since
he studied the page when it was taken out of the
magazine and presented as a flat surface. Starch
experimented with nonsense syllables placed in
ditferent positions in a pamphlet of twelve
pages. On the third and eighth pages the same
syllable occurred. Fifty people looked through
the pamphlet and then wrote out all the syllables
remembered. Of those occurring on the left side
of the page 44 per cent, were recalled, while 56
per cent, of those on the right were recalled. This
contradicts Gale's results.

The experiments are complicated by the fact
that in reading the eye has a second tendency to
fixate the object in each hand — the part of the
page held at normal reading distance. This will
be in magazines, and especially in newspapers,
the two outside columns, one of which is on the
right, the other on the left. Starch's experiments
further erred in using such unusual and artificial
things as nonsense syllables which vary greatly
among themselves in attention and memory

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

value. From general knowledge of the laws of
reading and eye movement, however, I will ven-
ture to prophesy that in flat surfaces the left side
will be found to be most favorable, in newspaper
pages the outside spaces, that is, the left on the
left-hand pages and the right on the right-hand
pages, while on magazine pages there will be lit-
tle difference found.

A second question relating to position concerns
the relative value of the top and bottom of the
page. Psychologically there are two factors that
work here:

(1) We tend to find meaning in the top of
things, the faces of our fellow men, the branches
of trees, etc. We begin to read at the top of
the page. Further, in reading, experiments show
that the upper part of the printed letters is
more significant than the lower part and that the
eye does not run along the middle of a printed or
written line but rather along a line between the
middle of the small letters and the tops of the
high ones, that is, a line somewhat above the cen-
ter.

(2) In fixating a general object, especially a
work of art, a picture, wall, etc., there is a con-
stant tendency to fixate the center. This gives us

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

the best view of the object as a whole and also
enables us to perceive its unitary structure, bal-
ance, proportion, etc.

Here are, then, two tendencies. The result is a
compromise, in which the space between top and
center has greatest advantage. Experiment con-
firms this result. Thus, in Starch's tests, the
value of the upper half of pages was 61 per cent.,
as aga.inst 39 per cent, for the lower half, when
the page was divided into quarters. When it was
divided only into halves the same law held, the
values being, upper half 54 per cent., lower half
46 per cent. Gale, studying flat surfaces, divided
into horizontal quarters, found that the quarter
just above the middle was strongest, and the bot-
tom weakest.

Finally, in this problem of position there is the
question of preferred pages. The fact of pre-
ferred pages is recognized by magazine rates, but
the policies here are quite discordant, some mak-
ing great and some relatively small extra charge
for preferred positions. Starch studied this prob-
lem using nonsense syllables with his twelve-page
pamphlet. He found the following results :

DATA

Total number recalled 261

Average number on outside cover recalled . 34

Average number on inside cover recalled 26

Average number on other pages recalled 17

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

This indicates the outer cover to be twice as ef-
fective, an^ the inside cover to be half again as
effective as the ordinary inside pages.

Using real advertisements instead of the syl-
lables, the results were: preferred positions,
average 19.2 times ; non-preferred positions, aver-
age 6.5 times. But these figures are highly unre-
liable because the advertisements themselves dif-
fer greatly in attention value, familiarity and in-
terest. Furthermore, all the inside pages are
lumped together, with no attempt to discriminate
between, say, page 3 and page 7, or between back
half and front half of th6 pamphlet. Moreover,
the value of other preferred pages, such as those
next to the reading matter, is not considered.

The following figures resulted from a prelim-
inary experiment performed by one of my stu-
dents. A magazine containing 10 pages of adver-
tising matter in the front section and 10 in the
back section was chosen. A set of trade marks
(geometrical forms of solid black and of approxi-
mately the same area) was aflfixed, one to the cen-
ter of each of these pages. The relative attention
value of each of these forms, when all were seen
under the same conditions, was determined by a
careful experiment with 25 people. After this
had been done it was possible to allow for the dif-

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

ferences in attention value, due not to the page it-
self, but to the form which it happened to carry.
Thus, if the form on page 3 was found to have
2.5 times the attention value of the form on page
7, the results from page 7, when multiplied by
2.5, might be supposed to be absolutely compara-
ble with the results from page 3, and any differ-
ence between the two, after this compensation
had been made, would reflect nothing but the rela-
tive attention value of the two pages themselves.
The experiment thus attempted to conform to the
first requirement of a scientific experiment (curi-
ously neglected in reported tests of advertising
values), namely, that the only variable factor be
that which is being specifically investigated, or
that, if other factors vary, this variation be also
measured and reckoned with in the valuation of
the final returns. The set of trade marks, with
their relative attention value, will appear in an-
other connection.

A group of 25 subjects was then allowed to
look through the magazine for a limited time,
without being told the purpose of the experiment.
Each subject took the magazine from a shelf of
books, and looked through it in his own way. He
was later presented with a complete set of 50
geometrical forms and requested to pick out the

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

20 forms that lie bad previously seen in the maga-
zine.

The results were then transformed into com-
parable quantities, in the manner just described,
and in this way the relative attention value of the
various pages, when the magazine was handled in
this way, was determined,
resulted :

The following table

TABLE V

Front Section

Value in
Per Cent.

Back Section

Value in
Per Cent.

Page

34.4
44.2
38.0
43.9
39.1
G9.0

Page

48.6

2 or 3

4 or 5

12 or 13

14 or 15

16 or 17

18 or 19

21.5
31.5

6 or 7 ...

30.4

8 or 9

32.4
20.0

Average of front section, 43 . 4 ; average of back section, 30.0.

Several facts are clearly evident here :

1. The value of the front section is almost
50 per cent, better than that of the back
section.

2. The best page of all is the page next to the
reading matter in front (page 10, 69 per
cent.). The next best is the page next to
the reading matter behind (page 11, 48.6
per cent.).

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

3. The front cover (page 1) and the back
cover (page 20) turn out to be the poorest
pages of the whole twenty.

4. Aside from the front cover and the page
next the reading matter, all the front
pages are of about equal value, when the
section is limited to 10 pages.

5. Aside from the back cover and the page
next to the reading matter, all the back
pages are of about equal value.

Here are a number of experimental facts that
are in striking contrast with the common theories
of preferred position. To be sure, the results can-
not, without further verification, be transferred
to conditions other than those in which the ex-
periment was performed. But other tests seem
to indicate that all the rules which hold in this
experiment also hold when the sections are much
larger, when actual advertisements are consid-
ered instead of geometrical forms, and when the
magazine is taken home and read in the ordinary-
way.

The following curves give the results of an
elaborate experiment performed by Dr. Strong,
for the purpose of determining the relative value
of preferred pages in a larger magazine than the

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

small one employed in the case of the experiments
I have just described. This experiment con^
formed even more closely to the conditions of
actual reading habits. The procedure is described

ir„.f

■'-'->'

i f>s»J/y /yo/fe^

Bacf

AJver

fitiitf

•Sfc/ra/T

'■J

)

■^s__

Eesults of One op Dr. Strong's Tests On Attention Value
OP Different Advertising Pages in Everybody's Magazine,
The figures at the left represent the percentage of 137 women
who noticed the advertisement in the various pages. The fig-
ures across the bottom indicate the number of the page in the
advertising sections. The advertisementfe on the covers were
not considered. For example, the adverVisement on the page
opposite the second cover was noticed by 10^4% of the women
tested, the advertisement on the page just preceding reading
matter by QVi% of the women, the adveftisement on the page
just after reading matter by 9%% of the women, and the
advertisement on the last page opposite the third cover by
7% of the women. Contrasted with theSe preferred pages we
find but 2%% of the women noticing advertisements in the
neighborhood of page 88 — the center of the back advertising
section.

by Strong as follows : "A professor assigned his
class as necessary reading an ariicle in the Sep-
tember issue of Everybody's Magazine. Each
member of the class was supplied with a copy of

MECHANICAL INCENTIVES

the magazine, and was allowed to keep it one
week, after which time it was to be returned to
the class room. Each person was then given an
envelope containing all the full-page advertise-
ments that had appeared in the issue and a good
number of others from another issue. They were
requested to look through these and select those
they remembered as having been in the magazine.
One hundred and thirty-seven people were thus
tested, ranging in age from 18 to 50. A number
were married, and all were in the Domestic Sci-
ence Department of Teachers College, and espe-
cially interested in problems of the household.
Many are right now the buyers for homes, and
most of the remainder are qualifying to become
so in the near future." These results are seen to
confirm all the generalizations based on the ear-
lier experiment, except that, because of the length
of time which the magazine was used, the cover
pages came to have higher value than was ac-
corded them in the earlier tests.

This completes our study of the mechanical in-
centives, their characteristics, laws, and relative
values. In general we may say that these in-
centives are crude and unsatisfactory. After hav-
ing discussed the interest incentives in a similar
way, I shall give an account of an interesting

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

demonstration and proof of the inferior value of
the mechanical group. The essential thing about
a successful appeal is that it shall be able to sus-
tain the attention it has once caught, and the me-
chanical incentives in themselves fail to do this.
Only attention based on interest is likely to be
held long enough for the suggested idea to realize
itself in action. The interest incentives, then, are
the effective ones. A study of these factors we
are to take up in the next chapter.

CHAPTER VI

INTEREST INCENTIVES

Interest incentives fall under the headings of
eight chief principles. These are the most effec-
tive devices for catching the attention in a per-
manent way. Their chief strength is derived
from the fact that the feeling of interest, which is
essential to sustained attention, is the very basis
of their initial attraction value. These eight in-
centives are the appeal through:

1. Novelty: bizarre effects, unusual devices
and statements.

2. Color: brightness, tone and harmony.

3. Illustration: cuts, photographs, sketches.

4. Action: suggested activity on the part of
persons or things.

5. The comic : pictorial and verbal humor.

6. Feeling tone: pleasantness, excitement,
strain and their opposites.

7. Instinctive response : any appeal to a fun-
damental instinct.

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

8. Effective conceptions: appeal to estab-
lished habits and ideals.

1. NOVELTY

The basis of the value of novelty as an in-
centive is twofold. Kecall the extreme impor-
tance, in the lives of our ancestors and in our
own experience, of unusual objects, new situa-
tions, unaccustomed stimuli. The organism is
perfectly adapted to familiar objects, but strange
ones can only set up disturbed or random re-
sponses, and hence cause the feeling of shock. We
are startled by the novel. It is full of interest to
us both on account of the danger it may contain
and on account of the good it may afford. Hence
we always attend to it closely w^hen we discover
it. This incentive is closely related to the instinct
of curiosity. Curiosity is merely the name for
our interest in the unknown or unfamiliar. Throw
a strange object into the field and the horses and
cattle will circle around it, sniffing, poking and
snorting until they seem to have discovered all
the possible sources of activity to be anticipated
from the object. If the object shows no new
traits, but behaves just as the old familiar ob-
jects in the pasture, the cattle soon scatter away

INTEREST INCENTIVES

and are hereafter unconcerned about it. But if it
shows any new or unwonted characteristics, the

Novelty as an Effecti\'e Attention Device. This also illus-
trates an important principle of Perception, viz., that one
"sees" not so much what the sense organ affords but rather
what the present stimulus has been learned to mean. Sensa-
tion is supplemented by perception. In the above picture only-
parts of the objects are given in sensation, but the objects are
nevertheless perceived as wholes.

animals are interested in it for days and may be
observed constantly examining it. The same is
true of a child with a new toy.

Herein lies the strong attention value of all de-
vices designed to arouse curiosity — bizarre fig-
ures, cuts, shapes, grotesque faces, novel forms
and arrangements, new tj^De faces, curious spell-

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ing, unusual location or positions, catchy names,
trade marks, unfamiliar media, such as kites, sky-
rockets, balloons, curious street walkers, window
exhibitions, prize packages, lotteries, prizes, puz-
zles, contests, continued stories, etc. Churches

In our $35. overcoat every
penny is a wise Invest-
ment.

Every dollar of the $35.
will work for your benefit.

If you're tired of conven-
tional styles and colors come
and see these quaint patterns
and tones— shape and cut
equally new.

For the conservative cus-
tomer—everything dignified.

Prices from $15 to $40.

New Neckwear to har-
monize with the color of the
overcoat.

Of the three iMding New York
and LoodoD ovcrcoatj for the
FiU tba cut gives a general idea-
la gel the exact idea come in
and trjr 'em on.

Certainly iome of these coata
are extreme— very ulua radical—
pitu, and let it go at that.

They are only for those who
appreciate the vcr; newest
fashion.

For tha man of quiet taste
everything in correct conserva-
tive lines.
Overcoats $— to $—
Suits $- to S"
Our New York Resident Buyer
sent in a few new and odd Pcrsiao
designs in neckwear.

The Conventional

have frequently carried on advertising campaigns
based on the novelty incentive, introducing un-
heard-of specialties and stunts into the service.
Newspapers, politicians, purveyors of foodstuffs,
publishers, clothiers, dealers in every comijiodity
except perhaps large staple products, machinery,

INTEREST INCENTIVES

etc., use this incentive to advantage. The element
of novelty attracts the attention initially, and, if
the thing is sufficiently curious, the observer is
likely to keep his attention fixed until the adver-
tisement has been thoroughly digested.

EXTREMES MEET.

/(/ 0.// am rnrim, lypt <•/ fttipU
m-ho tarry o /otfciM to i'J nlrrmf
hmil ■■

This winter we've carried
out the ideas expressed by
the "Clothier and Furnisher"

• Dij«i/if4 tinki't i-i 0" '"•utr
Mh'vr hmti HiU bt ihe KUthtm ii
dfmawt lor wrnif "

Our suits and overcoats
while embodying all the
novel features in cut and
fabric are in the com-
mon-sense, becoming, fash-
ionable class.

Suits $15 to $40.

OveicoaU $15. to $45.

It's time to turn those
negligee shirts out to grass.

October is the time for the
stiff bosom shirt to be fim)
In its demands on your atten-
tion. We have 'em in short
bosoms, so now all the old
discomforts are avoided.
Try 'em.

Prices.-

Unique designs in new
(all neckwear.

Special display now.

The Novel

If possible, the novelty should be intrinsic, not
simply obtruded as an attention device. In the
illustrations given, this latter situation is very
likely to be the case. A good example of effective
and intrinsic novelty is the assertion made by the
advertisements of 3-in-l Oil: "Men shave with

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

it." The Brownies, Gold Dust Twins, Sunny Jim,
the Herpicide cards, etc., may be cited as attempts
to employ the novelty device for purposes of at-
tention.

The chief danger in using the novelty incentive
is, of course, that of emphasizing the novelty
rather than the product.

2. COLOR

The use of color for advertising purposes de-
pends chiefly on the strong and lasting inter-
est that all living beings have in color. The
lower animals develop gorgeous plumage dur-
ing the mating season, when the attention re-
ceived is a chief item in the life of an individual.
The savage will barter his weapons and choice
possessions for bright red blankets or a chain of
tinted beads. The most civilized of us loves to
adorn himself with modulated hues and harmoni-
ous color schemes. Moreover, colors differ
greatly in their influence. Far dow^n in the scale
of living things can be seen color preferences
more or less physiological in kind. Microscopic
animals are attracted by some colors, repelled by
others. Bulls and frogs, with their well-known
reaction to reds, illustrate the point.

The red-yellow end of the spectrum, generally
96

INTEREST INCENTIVES

speaking, is warm and active. It is stimulating,
exciting, sometimes irritating. The green-blue
end, on the other hand, is cold and passive. Its
action is in general depressing, quieting. To
''have the blues" is a popular expression suggest-

CuRVEs Showing Visual Acuity with Lights of Different?
Colors. These curves are taken from an important study of
"Visual Acuity with Lights of Different Colors and Intensi-
ties," by Dr. D. Edgar Rice, of the Department of Science
and Technology of Pratt Institute. Dr. Rice remarks, "As to
the effect of different colors upon acuity ... it is quite
clear that whatever differences exist are in favor of the colors
at the red end of the spectrum. . . . The red and the white
illuminations yield approximately equal acuity, while both are
considerably higher than the green. The acuity with the blue
illumination is the lowest."

ing this relation. This is more than a question of
imagination and sentiment. It is a demonstrable
physiological and psychological fact that the red
end is dynamogenic in its influence, that is, that
it increases and reinforces activities going on in
the system, while the blue end inhibits. The ac-
companying diagram gives a set of curves show-
ing the relative legibility of type under the same

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

intensity of illumination by different colors. Col-
ors, then, if used discreetly or harmoniously, at-
tract the eye, and, what is equally important, hold
it. We do not tire of agreeable color combina-
tions. We revel in them, contemplate them again
and again, look for them on other occasions and
point them out to our friends. But the colors
must be properly employed or they may not only
fail to hold the eye, but may actually repel it.

A significant fact is that of preferred colors.
Elaborate statistical studies on men and women
students in New York, Minnesota, and England
disclose certain interesting differences in color
preference. There is, of course, a considerable
range of individual differences, and the results
would be greatly modified by changes in the use to
which the color might be put. Comparison of the
different investigations is so interesting that I
give here a summary, prepared by one of my stu-
dents, of the principal results of several of them.

1. Grant Allen studied the color preferences
shown by savages, securing the assistance
of missionaries in various lands. He gives
the following order as the result of these
inquiries :

INTEREST INCENTIVES

1. Red

2. Yellow

3. Orange

4. Blue

5. Green

Baldwin studied the color preferences
shown by a young baby, on the basis of the
color reached for when variously colored
papers were placed before it. He gives
the following order of preferences :

1. Red

2. Blue

3. White

4. Green

5. Brown

Winch investigated color preferences of
2,000 school children in London, with the
following order resulting, for both boys
and girls :

1. Blue

2. Red

3. Yellow, falling lower with in-
creased age and intelligence

4. Green, rising higher with in-
creased age and intelligence

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

5. White

6. Black

4. Gordon, with only a few subjects, studied
the influence of background, securing the
following orders:

On Black

On White

1. Red

1. Blue

2. Yellow

2. Red

3. Green

4. Blue

4. Yellow

5. Studies of students in Vassar College

yield the following

order of preference :

1. Blue

2. Red

3. Green

4. Yellow and Orange

6. Wissler, from his study of Columbia men
and women students, deduces the following
table. His results show that yellow was
preferred more by the younger students
than by the older. With age, he concludes,
the preferred color passes on down toward
the violet end of the spectrum. Combin-
ing this result with those shown in his
table, we might conclude that, in so far as
100

INTEREST INCENTIVES

the data are reliable, the younger the per-
son the nearer the red end of the spectrum
would be his or her favorite color, and
also that children and women would prefer
reds, while men and older women would
show greater fondness for blues.

TABLE VI

(Wissler's Table)

Percentage

Color

of Men

of Women

Who

Like It

Dislike It

Like It

Dislike It

Red

Orange ....

Yellow....

Green

Blue

Violet

White

Taking these studies as a group, the following
points are to be noted. The reds and blues stand
high for educated people, the orange and yellow
standing low. For children and savages just the
reverse is the case. Yellow falls in the develop-
ment of the race and also in the development of
the individual. No very striking sex differences
for order are shown, but the figures show consid-
erable differences for amount. It is a further

101

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

general principle that the most saturated colors
are preferred.

Besides the strong attention value of colors,
there are certain other advantages in its use
which might as well be briefly enumerated while
we are on the topic.

1. The use of color enables the adequate repre-
sentation of the texture, quality, fabric, grain,
pattern and hue of the article with less strain on
the imagination.

2. It conveys a precise idea — yellow as a word
may mean anything between red and blue, in-
numerable shades and tints of orange, yellow and
yellowish green.

3. It enables the recognition of packages and
articles much better than does a simple name or
trade mark. The National Biscuit Company pack-
ages are good illustrations of this fact.

The value of color is illustrated by comparative
tests carried on by mail-order houses in Chicago.
These tests show that a cut in color often sells as
high as 15 times as much as does a plain black
and white cut of the same article. These houses
are using more and more color in their catalogues
in spite of the extra cost.

Another important fact about color which also
greatly enhances its attention value is that a sign

102

INTEREST INCENTIVES

or color scheme which is really flat may be made
to look solid, to have depth, to be extended in
three dimensions instead of two, by the proper
use of color.

Color and third dimension. — The third dimen-
sion can be suggested without the aid of perspec-
tive drawing, by simple color quality differences,
in two ways.

1. By appropriate selection of brightness
values. Brightness is easily taken to mean near-
ness, while relative dullness suggests distance.
When, in the laboratory, the illumination of ob-
jects is increased or diminished, observers fre-
quently suppose the object to be approaching or
receding, although it has remained stationary
throughout.

2. But the most important, practical and strik-
ing result is that secured by a proper selection
of differences in hues. The red, warm end of the
spectrum seems closer to us than the blue end
when both really are located at the same distance.
In fact, the spectral series shows an increasing
suggestion of distance as we go from red and
orange through yellow and green to blue and vio-
let.

The ether waves causing the different colors
are refracted by the eye in different degrees. Red

103

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

is bent least of all, yellow a little more, green still
more, and blue most of all. This is the reason
that a prism can break up a beam of white light
into the colors of the rainbow. The waves pro-
ducing the different hues emerge from the prism
at different angles, so that the separate colors
can be thrown upon a screen or upon the retina
in the form known as the spectrum.

The following figure represents this fact:

Chromatic Aberrattox ix the Humax Eye. By way of explain-
ing why blue and green objects seem farther away than do red
and yellow objects. This principle can be used to advantage
in constructing electric signs. Because of their apparent near-
ness the red and yellow lights stand out more prominently than
the green and blue lights. (See text for explanation.)

Suppose, now, that the lens in the eye is ad-
justed so that the blue rays come to a focus on
the retina at B and, therefore, give a clear image
of the object from which they come. The red
rays do not focus until R, which is some distance
behind the retina. In order to get a clear picture
of the red object, the lens must bulge out, becom-

104

INTEREST INCENTIVES

ing more convex, hence bending each ray of light
correspondingly more so that the red rays focus
sooner than before, until, in fact, they meet at X
on the retina.

But we also bulge out this lens in order to get
a clear image of a near object when we have been
looking at a more distant one. In this way bulg-
ing the lens comes to mean for us a near object.
And when we bulge the lens for a clear image of
the red rays we naturally infer their source
to be nearer. And, since we flatten the lens both
for a clear picture of a distant object and for a
sharp image from the blue rays, we suppose the
blue object to be far away; we confuse blueness
with distance.

We shall later see the appropriateness of blue
for mural decorations when the suggestion of dis-
tance is desirable. The value of this principle is
demonstrated in many electric light signs on
our streets, though the principle is often disre-
garded with the result that what should seem near
seems distant and vice versa. We shall take up
the topic of color more fully when we consider the
factors which make for sustained attention, and
shall there discuss the effectiveness of different
color combinations. It is sufficient here to indi-
cate the high initial attention value of color.

105

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

3. CUTS AND ILLUSTBATIONS

Closely related to the interest in colors is that
in pictures. Pictures were the first means of writ-
ten communication. The letters of our alphabet
can be traced far back to their early pictorial
sources. The pictorial impulse is a universal one
and no art has been further developed than that
of pictorial representation. The reasons for this
strong interest are many. Chief among them is

Illustration as an Attention and Interest Device

the fact that pictures so often afford pleasing
color combinations. Again, two of the things that
provoke strongest interest are personality and ac-
tion. Next to a human being nothing is fuller of
personality than a picture — the personality of the

106

INTEREST INCENTIVES

artist, of the subject represented, associations
called up in the mind of the observer. Besides,
the painter takes care to choose for his subject a

The Use op Illustration

theme that has an intrinsic interest. Experiments
show this pictorial interest to be stronger with
women and children than men. As the race has
progressed, its means of communication have de-
veloped in abstract directions, quite beyond the

107

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

pictorial stage. Men who have been most active
in this process seem to have lost somewhat of
their earlier pictorial interest.

However, experiments go to show that there are
two quite distinct classes of people in this re-
spect, an unimaginative or imageless class, who
require pictures for comprehension of statements
in the copy, and another class who do not. Thus
in a study by the writer of a group of expert en-
gineers with respect to the persuasiveness of dif-
ferent sorts of machinery advertisements, the men
broke into two sharply defined groups. Mem-
bers of one group seemed to think in terms of vis-
ual pictures. They did not need an illustration of
the machine, for the words themselves called up
vivid mental pictures of the parts and the advan-
tages described. To these men the presence of a
cut was not necessary — they wanted all the text
they could get and placed copy advertisements
higher than advertisements with illustrations.
But for the men in the other group the words
called up no mental pictures. They seemed to
think in terms of sounds and movements and had
to have a complete cut of the machine before them
before they could perfectly comprehend its ad-
vantages. For such men advertisements with
.clear cuts were more persuasive than those with

108

INTEREST INCENTIVES

only reading matter. See Chapter I for Table
of these results.

A study by Strong of thirty women in my own
laboratory showed the same two groups. This
was a study of the persuasiveness of ten adver-
tisements for a given brand of soap. In the fol-
lowing table the two groups are designated as
Group A and Group B. The figures with the ( + )
or ( — ) indicate whether and how much these ad-
vertisements were placed above ( + ) or below
( — ) the average by the members of the two
groups. The pictures represented various combi-
nations of cuts and reading matter, and it will be
seen that one group (B) consistently places cuts
higher than the average, and text lower, while
the other group (A) just reverses this relation,
placing text higher.

TABLE

VII

Character and Content of the Appeals.

2
O

All
cut

All
text

cut

4
text

cut

6
text

7
cut

%
text

Va
cut

10
All

text

A
B

-4.2
+3.1

+2.6
-2.9

—0.2
+0.1

+0.2
-0.2

+0.7
-0.3

+0.4
+ 1.0

+ 1.3
-1.1

-1.0
+0.9

-1.0
+0.5

+ 1.0
-0.3

Averages

Group A places text advertisements high +1.3

Group A places cut advertisements low — 1 . 0

Group B places cut advertisements high +1.0

Group B places text advertisements low —0.8

109

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

The inference is, then, that the ideal appeal
should contain, other things being equal, both cut
and reading matter. By this arrangement both
the visual and auditory-motor types of imagina-
tion will be provided for.

Since illustrations are to be used, the question
arises : What sort of a picture will be most effec-
tive? A strictly relevant cut, portraying the ar-
ticle itself and designed not merely to attract but
to inform as well — such a cut, in fact, as the fol-
lowing? Or should the cut be simply a means of

THE COUSINS SHOE

FOR WOMEN

Particular Women choose this Shoe
because of its elegance of line and pro-
. portion. Besides, they know It Is the l)€st
at the price.

A Strictly Eelevant Illustration

catching the eye — a cut more or less unrelated to

the article advertised — a pretty face, a funny

scene, etc., such an irrelevant cut for example as

the following?

110

THE COUSINS SHOE

FOR WOMEN

The High Plane of excellence in the
Cousins Shoe Is the logical result of Sixty
Years of the most careful Shoemaking.
The Cousins Shoe embodies the Perfect.
Blend of Style, Comfort, and Durability. j

An' Irrelevant TLLrsTRATiox

Ill

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

And, since reading matter is also to be used,
should it be a straightforward declaration of sell-
ing points — relevant copy 1

THE PHEASANT

Fine feathers make fine
looking birds. Il isn'l the
outej attractiveness but the
inner worth that has made
the MOGUL reiiuta-
tion — A reputation sus-
tained by thousands of
smokers who will have

iKKhLi, \ A.N r ILi^ LSI tiA iitjN

Or can it be irrelevant, merely amusing, strik-
ing, or calculated to connect some special feeling
with the article?

An interesting study of this question is re-
112

INTEREST INCENTIVES

ported by Gale. These four kinds of material
were exposed for brief intervals on five different
occasions and record was made of the number of
times each item was observed. The results are
shown by a set of curves, which show the ef-
fect of repetition on relevant and irrelevant
words and cuts so far as attention value is con-
cerned.

The chief results may be summed up as fol-
lows:

I. With respect to attention value, the
items stand in the following order:

1. Relevant words

2. Eelevant and irrelevant cuts

3. Irrelevant words

II. On five repetitions of the same appeals :

1. Relevant words increase in value

2. All cuts decrease in value

3. Irrelevant words do not change
III. Women are more attracted by cuts and

by irrelevancy than are men.

This pioneer study by Gale is a most suggestive
piece of work, and its results should be checked
and verified or tested by other investigations of
the same kind. Such studies are now in progress
in several laboratories.

113

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

4. SUGGESTED ACTIVITY

The fourth interest incentive grows out of
the preceding one quite directly. It is what we
may call interest in suggested action. Nothing is
more interesting than a person, an animal, even a
machine, in action. Much of the strength of win-
dow demonstrations, street vending, etc., depends
on this fact. The New York Herald has no bet-
ter advertisement than the sight of its presses,
from the windows on Broadway. A barber strop-
ping his razor, a gang of men unloading a piano,
a mason using his trowel, a lather slapping in the
nails, anywhere, even in politics and in the White
House, the man in action attracts interest. This
is not the same factor that we discerned under the
head of movement. This is shown by the fact that
pictures and representations of action have the
same attractiveness as does the action itself. Pic-
tures of people doing things possess an interest
far greater than any representation of inert ob-
jects or the most vivid word pictures. Note the
effectiveness of suggested activity as shown in
the quarter-page Graphite advertisement in Chap-
ter V.

A very curious and important fact in this con-
nection is that to suggest action pictorially, the

114

INTEREST INCENTIVES

moving object must always be caught at a resting
point, otherwise it suggests not action but arrest.
The mistake is repeatedly made of supposing that
to suggest motion, let us say of a horse trotting,
the animal should be represented in the middle of
its step. Nothing is further from the truth. To
suggest action effectively the foot should be
caught at one of two resting points, either at the
initial point, before beginning the movement, or
at the final point, midway between extension and
return. To show it in the middle of its course
suggests only pose, and stilted pose at that. Con-
sequently walking is best represented not by a
man with one foot in the air, but by one with both
feet on the ground, one just having completed its
swing, the other just about to begin. A man strik-
ing a blow with his fist should be represented
either with an arm drawn back ready to strike or
with an arm extended, the blow having been al-
ready launched, but never with it in a halfway
position. Newspaper photographers are the most
grievous blunderers in this respect by failing to
press the button at the psychological moment.
The accompanying illustrations clearly represent
the truth of this principle. Compare the inert-
ness, stiffness and lack of attractiveness in Group
I with the animation and interest of Group II.

115

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

It was thought that the introduction of moving
pictures and kinematograph photography would
be of great service to the painter and sculptor in

The Auto may be
powerless on some of
our lc7 country roads,
but the horse with

ROWE ~ CALKS

goes along SURELY and
SAFH.Y, and CU] FULL A
aSATY LOAD EASILY*

The snlle of con-
fidence on man and
horse tells the story
>lalnly — the horse has

ROWE 'S' CALKS

on his shoes and an
otherwise nervotis
animal baa becoDe sure-
footed.

The World moves and
the old-fashioned
DSthods of horseshoe
sharpening must give
way to the detachable
Calks

ROWE ™ CALKS

Say the word and I
will get a set ready

The look of aatia-
taetlon on horse and
rider shows that the
Captain is having
an easier time of It
than the men afoot ;
but he would not have

ARE THEY MOVING? HOW DID YOU GUESS IT?

Violating the Law of the Eesting Point. Suggestion of Pose
rather than of Activity.

catching their living subjects in the process of
quick action, preserving this attitude for repro-
duction with brush and chisel. But it was found
that the expectation was all a false hope. No at-
titude represented action so vigorously as the

116

INTEREST INCENTIVES

resting points with which we were already fa-
miliar. The reason for this rather surprising cir-
cumstance is probably to be found, in part, in

The flight of Time brings
round our (jfiw date) Anniver-
\are going to make
of mutual interest

THESE MOVE! DO THEY NOT?

Illusteating the Law of the Besting Point.
tion of Activity.

Strong Sugges-

the fact that the eye cannot perceive while it is it-
self in motion. Look into a mirror at your own
eye, meanwhile moving the eye about. You will
find yourself unable to observe the movements of
your own eye. For in the moment in which the

117

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

movement is taking place, the external stimulus
does not have time to set up any definite images
on the constantly shifting retina. So it comes
that, just because we do not see the intermediate
positions except when the limb is deliberately held
there fixed, we do not associate them with the
movement, but always the two extremes that we
do see.

Observe the mental picture called up in your
mind's eye when you read the words "a panther
leaping. ' ' You will see the meaning is visualized
either by the picture of a panther preparing to
spring, or by that of a panther just alighted —
probably never by the picture of a panther in
the progress of the leap. Or if this should hap-
pen, you will find that the panther is at that
resting point immediately between springing and
landing — the point between ascent and descent,
when the animal hangs poised for a moment.
So a successful picture of a man leaping a fence
must catch him at one of the three resting points,
the moment of , springing, the moment of alight-
ing, or the moment of suspension at the height of
the leap when he seems poised just above -the
fence.

How, then, can we represent action when there
is no resting point to be caught? There are per-

118

INTEREST INCENTIVES

haps two chief types of cases in which this might
be desirable : the case of a swiftly moving vehicle,
and that of vibrating pieces of machinery. Here
we clearly have a different proposition. We are
dealing with inanimate objects, with mechanically
produced and uniform motion. The law of asso-
ciation which we invoked to explain the principle
of the resting point must also come to our assist-
ance here. All we can do is to portray the retinal
picture which the eye gets when looking at such a
moving object — blurred spokes in the wheels,
streaming ribbons and banners, blurred visions of
oscillating levers, or what not. The law is always
to put there just what the eye could really see
and no more. Too much interpretation and as-
sistance on the part of the artist defeats its own
purpose.

5. THE COMIC

The use of the comic element as an attention
incentive in business is, to say the least, precari-
ous, and will be successful only in the most skill-
ful hands. We may discuss this factor under
three headings:

A. It must be pointed out first that the comic,
while it attracts and sustains attention, draws this
attention quite unto itself. The comic pictures

119

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

occupying the Boston Rubber Company's adver-
tisements attract only incidental attention to the
commodity announced, and the reader remembers
the picture but not the brand of goods. Repeated
laboratory tests have shown this to be true.

B. As will be developed later, a statement of
selling points is perhaps the very best direction
which an appeal can take. Selling points are seri-
ous propositions, and so is the effective distribu-
tion of goods. But the introduction of levity,
which usually tends toward the ridiculous in ad-
vertising copy, seems like an attempt to slur over
and evade a discussion of the pertinent points at
issue and to keep attention from them in favor of
irrelevant material. The weakness of irrelevant
matter we have already had occasion to point out.

C. One especially important characteristic of
the comic is the fact that we soon become adapted
to it. Jokes and funny pictures rapidly become
' ' chestnuts ' ' and stale. But if the comic appeal is
to be employed, it is worth while knowing that the
different sorts of the comic do not grow stale with
equal rapidity. Reports of a prolonged experi-
ment on the effect of repetition on the comic and
on the individual differences in reaction to comic
situations have already been published by the au-
thor. The full discussion can be found in the

120

INTEREST INCENTIVES

Psychological Review for 1911. We may divide
the comic into two main tj^es.

The rule in football Is
*'Hit the line hard" and
*twas ours in ordering our
clothing for fall. We hit
the line hard and selected
the finest and largest assort-
ment of men's styles we
have ever handled. It is
a line that you and every
man will enjoy looking
.through and wearing.

From $15. durability to
$35. luxury, whatever
quality you select you'll get
the full worth of your money

To-day our special is (describe and
frice) .

The Objective Comic. The Calamity.
1. The objective, in which the source of amuse-
ment is the fact that some other person is in-
volved in a predicament, is subordinated, disap-

121

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

pointed, deceived, tricked, duped or bantered,
either by a third person or by natural forces,

"Tkert ain't no such animal. "

"In circus announcements we expect
the unexpected — but the store that ex-
aggerates in its advertisements is simply
signalling to the sheriff." — Hubbell.

Our advertisements are so
short, we're freed from the
temptation of exaggeration.

Here's a suit at $15. and
an overcoat at $18. where
every cent of the cost has
been expended to give the
customers utmost values,
at the prices.

• The Objective Comic. The Naive.

without serious consequences. Under such cir-
cumstances we tend to be amused. The calamity
joke, the naive or unconscious joke, would be ex-
amples of this group,

122

INTEREST INCENTIVES

The second group, the subjective comic, com-.
prises those situations in which the laugh is
caused by the fact that we ourselves are tricked,
surprised, discomfited mildly, disappointed, in

Here's a square pro-
position for the man
who wants an all-round
suit— a suit for all kinds
of wear and any kind of
business. We've stud-
ied every comer of the
clothing business to
make this suit a winner,
to win your approval
and to win new custom-
ers.

Scmt sfiKtOi trousfrs fin tmmis
and golf.

The Subjective Comic. Play on Words,

expecting one thing, one event, one use of a word,
and getting instead an unexpected one. Exam-
ples would be the pun, play on words, the sharp
retort, the dialect joke, wit, etc.

Xow the characteristic of the objective comic is
that it loses its flavor rather slowly — it often
waxes, increasing in funniness with repetition.
The subjective comic, on the other hand, becomes

123

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

stale with great rapidity. When a series of comic
appeals, containing examples of both classes, is
arranged in an order of funniness in successive

•'Signs of an early spring.'*

Means there's got to be
something doing in our fur
coats.

We have a bunch Of hot
ones and every one of them
anxious to get in touch with
YOU to prove what a warm
friend it can be.

Prices $— to $—

Fur gloves $~ to $—

Fur caps $— to $—
The Subjective Comic. Play on Words.

trials a week apart, the objective jokes rise in rel-
ative value, thus constituting a waxing class. The
subjective appeals fall in value, thus comprising
a waning class. Jokes which contain both ele-

124

INTEREST INCENTIVES

ments remain on a level. The reader is referred
to the original article for further details. But the
importance of this waxing and waning law, in se-
lecting comic appeals to be repeatedly seen in an
advertisement, is clear from what already has
been said.

6, 7, 8. FEELING TONE. INSTINCT AND HABIT

There remain yet to be considered the in-
terest incentives, of feeling tone, instinctive re-

TW Ww«gCn>^

Showing the Influence of Five Repetitions on Objectively
Comic Appeals, The Relative Value Increases

sponse and effective conception. While it is true
that these three appeals have a strong initial at-

125

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

tention value, their greatest service lies in hold-
ing the attention already attracted by some other
device, or in reinforcing the response which this
appeal invited. Hence we shall treat feeling tone

36-

Showixg the Influence of Five Repetitions on Subjectively
Comic Appeals. The Relative Value Decreases

under the heading of the second task, and instinct
and effective conception under the fourth task of
an advertisement. But, when we come to discuss
their value as "sustainers" of attention, it must
be remembered that all that is said of them there
applies equally well to their operation as initial
appeals. .

CHaPTEK VII

AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF THE RELATIVE ATTEN-
TION AND MEMORY VALUE OF THE MECHAN-
ICAL AND THE INTEREST DEVICES

In order to test the relative value of the inter-
est incentives as compared with that of the me-
chanical devices, an interesting experiment was
performed with the aid of a group of six adyer-
tising men, selected from a class which had been
following a course of study based on the material
presented in this book. These men were made fa-
miliar, through lectures and demonstrations, with
the characteristics of the two groups of incen-
tives. They were then given the 77 full-page ad-
vertisements found in an issue of Everybody's
Magazine, and asked to indicate, in the case of
each advertisement, the chief three incentives re-
lied on to attract and hold attention. When less
than three devices were found, the indication in-
cluded only such devices as were clearly discerni-
ble. Three psychologists made similar determina-
tions of these advertisements. The total number
of votes, for the two classes of incentives, was
computed for each advertisement, thus affording

127

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

a fairly reliable measure of the '' character" of
each.

Meanwhile Dr. E. K. Strong tested the atten-
tion and memory value of each of these advertise-
ments, as shown by the ability of 137 women to
recognize them as having been previously seen in
a copy of the magazine which they had had in
their possession for one week, with instructions to
read a certain article therein, in connection with
their regular class work in college. None of these
women knew that they were going to be in any
way tested for their memory of the advertise-
ments, nor, indeed, in any other way.

We have, then, the judgments of six advertis-
ing men and three psychologists on the type of
incentive most prominent in each of the appeals,
and these judgments are shown in the following
table. We have also a measurement of the at-
tention and memory value of each of these adver-
tisements, as secured from the records of the 137
women readers. The following table gives thes^
values, also. The table gives the results for the
10 best advertisements (remembered by the great-
est number of readers) and for the 10 poorest
(remembered by the fewest readers), exclusive of
the six advertisements which appeared in pre-
ferred position (cover pages and next to reading

128

RELATIVE VALUE OF INTEREST DEVICES

matter). The * incentives" column gives the
number of votes for each of the two types of de-

vices.

TABLE VIII

The Ten Best Remembered

Firm or Commodity
Name

Number

Mechanical

Incentives

Reported

Number

Interest

Incentives

Reported

Per Cent,
of 137
people
who re-
membered

128

Ivory Soap

6
1

1
8
8
6
5
2
1
3

16
15
6
9
15
17
15
21
18
18

8.2

Cosmopolitan

8.0

29
117

Barbara Worth

Gillette Razor

8.0
7.2

Post Toasties

7.1

36
96

Campbell Soup

Jap-a-Lac

7.1

6.8

66
57
60

Western Electric

Baldwin Piano

Mallory Hats

6.6
6.3
6.3

Averages

4.1

7.2

Percentage Interest Incentives, 78.5.

The Ten Least Remembered

62
^5

Overland Auto

Genasco

9
3
6
9
2
3
9
4
3
5

4
13
12
4
1
1
9
3
5
5

1.2
0.9

64
63

Wilcox Trucks

Overland Auto ....

Dahlstrom

0.9
0.7
0.6

Underfeed

0.2

53
30

44
5^^

J. M. Asbestos

Lord and Thomas

Keystone Watch

Congoleum

0.2
0.2
0.0
0.0

Averages

5.3

5.7

0.5

Percentage Interest Incentives, 51.8.

129

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

Two things are clearly indicated by the table.
In the first place, those appeals which were re
membered by few of the readers are the ones
which utilize few definite incentives of any kind.
They are the ones on which fewest votes were cast
for any incentives whatsoever — they were doubt-
less constructed by "inspiration," without any
conscious or formulated plan in mind, and they
well-nigh defy analysis, either by the advertising
men or by the psychologists. This is in itself a
lesson worth learning.

But the second point is the one in which we are
most interested in this connection. In the case
of the advertisements best remembered, 78.5 per
cent, of the votes were for interest incentives.
These advertisements, relying for the most part
on the interest devices (picture, novelty, color,
feeling tone, the comic, suggested activity, in-
stinctive reaction, and habit), are remembered by
7.2 per cent, of the 137 people, that is to say, they
were remembered over 14 times as often as were
those relying on mechanical devices.

In the case of these latter advertisements, the
average amount of mechanical incentive (5.3) is
even a little more than in the case of those of the
first group. The only considerable change is in
the degree to which interest incentives are relied

130

RELATIVE VALUE OF INTEREST DEVICES

on. Here we find only 51.8 per cent, of the votes
given to interest incentives, as contrasted with
the 78.5 per cent, in the case of the better group.
And, indeed, even this fairly high per cent, is al-
most entirely due to two of the appeals.

Taking the appeals one by one, in the case of
the 10 best remembered ones, without exception,,
the interest incentives predominate. In the case
of the 10 least remembered, in 7 cases out of the
10 the mechanical incentives either equal or ex-
ceed the interest incentives, leaving only 3 in
which the reverse is the case.

The superiority of the interest incentives, for
purposes of attention and memory, for which we
have contended throughout this discussion, is
most thoroughly confirmed by the results of this
experiment, as well as by the returns from adver-
tisements actually run.

:- CHAPTER VIII

THE SECOND TASK: HOLDING THE ATTENTION

Let US assume, now, that, through the applica-
tion of some principle in the foregoing chapters,
an appeal has been formed so as to attract initial
attention. The final effectiveness of the appeal
will depend on whether or not this attention can
be held long enough for the suggestion or the ar-
gument to take its place in consciousness along
with other appeals and to modify the later re-
sponses of the reader. This is the point at which
the persuasiveness of the appeal first begins to
make itself felt. Persuasion is simply the act of
holding the favorable attention long enough for
the stimulus to enter into effective combination
with other processes in consciousness. Such com-
bination leads to the response. What the re-
sponse is will be determined partly by the needs,
resources and general purposes of the reader.
But it depends also largely upon the character of
the appeal, for this appeal may be potent enough

132

HOLDING THE ATTENTION

to create his needs, suggest resources, and modify
his general purposes.

We have already seen that attention always
fluctuates or comes in pulses. The appeal then
cannot operate by simply prolonging the first mo-
ment of attention. It must be so constructed that
after this first moment the eye does not move to
another thing, but fixates again and again the
original object, that is to say, the reader must be
able to see some new phase or aspect in the origi-
nal appeal. Figure 1 (page 134) is able to hold
attention, but it does so by appearing to change
its character. Now it is seen as a stairway lead-
ing upward, now it is a stairway upside down, now
a set of steps seen from below, now from above,
etc. As fast as attention to one aspect wanes an-
other aspect suggests itself. The same is true of
figures 2 and 3. Watch a passenger reading the
Subway advertisements. You will see at once that
he hurries by some cards and lingers over others.
Or compare your own interest in the follow-
ing advertisements. The first is too simple,
the second is too complex and choppy, while the
third is in some way so constructed that you look
at it again and again; it holds your attention.
What then are the requisites for sustained atten-
tion?

133

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

Here again we may point out two groups of
factors, a group of mechanical devices and a
group of interest devices.

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

Figures Appearing to Change Character

134

HOLDING THE ATTENTION

I. MECHANICAL HELPS

1. Complexity. — Unless the advertisement is in-
tended to be a mere reminder, a mere suggestion

New Oriental GaHery

Wanamaker's

Astor Place Statibii

Cards from New York Subway

of some other appeal previously seen, a certain
amount of complexity is requisite. The adver-
tisement should contain shifting points so that,

135

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

while attention must fluctuate, it can flit from
point to point, aspect to aspect, of the same space.
Perhaps three elements or units, three facts,
styles, etc., represent the ideal; three arguments
or propositions of interest, three figures if the ad-
vertisement takes the form of picture, threo
styles or sizes of type, three color masses, etc.

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of parts of some foreign unit into consciousness.
2. Unity. — The second mechanical factor then
is that of unity. Not only must there be com-
plexity, but the elements should be so interrelated
as to form a whole, so related that the shift from
one to the other is perfectly natural. There are

136

HOLDING THE ATTENTION

various ways in which this unity can be accom-
plished.

(a) Structure. — The elements may all partici-
pate in a general design or composition, as do
the figures in the Arrow Collar card. By the
direction in which the faces are turned, by some
common act in which all are engaged, etc., atten-
tion may be led from point to point in the total
composition, and always returned, in the long run,
to the salient points or center of the arrangement.
Notice how all the lines and all the faces of all the
figures are turned in the direction of the man with
the collar in the Arrow collar card. The Sistine
Madonna is the classical example of such an ar-
rangement. Aside from these devices of compo-
sition, the content of the parts may all assist in
the formation of a unit. Thus a question may lead
naturally to an answer which follows or is to be
found in another part of the composition.

(b) The use of pointers, curves, arrows, bor-
ders and similar lines may also be used to the
same end. The border gives an artificial unity
to the contents bounded by it. It tends to keep
the eye within the given area, since the eye re-
flexly tends to follow lines rather than to leap
across them. Just as the pasture fence keeps the
cattle wandering about the enclosure instead of

137

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

breaking out of it, so the border, the curve^ the
pointer, keep the restless eye from straying to
foreign quarters by turning it ever back toward
the center of the composition. Moreover these
borders, frames and lines of demarcation may be

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themselves artistically designed and so possess
positive attention value which may reinforce that
of the content of the space which they embrace.
The simple law that the eye tends to move along
lines instead of across them is worth bearing in
mind.

II. INTEKEST DEVICES

The mechanical devices for sustaining attention
should not be disregarded, but their importance
is insignificant as compared with what we may
call the feeling tone of the appeal itself. By feel-

138

HOLDING THE ATTENTION

ing tone we mean the pleasantness or unpleasant-
ness which accompanies our perception of objects.
Every object in our experience has a twofold
character. It is at once an object of cognition
and an object of feeling.

From the point of view of cognition it is this
or that object, has this or that use, is made of this
or that material, and so on. From the other point
of view it is not only this or that kind of object,
but it also makes us feel agreeable or disagree-
able, comfortable or uncomfortable in its pres-
ence. It makes us feel either desire or aversion,
it either attracts or repels. Experiments show
that we not only feel at the same time that we
perceive, but that we also make characteristic
movements toward the object.

The feeling of pleasantness is accompanied by
expansive, open, appropriative bodily attitudes,
and by actual movements toward the agreeable
stimulus. Under these conditions stimuli effect
easy entrance to the higher levels, make strong
impressions and are long remembered. The pleas-
ant impression tends to persist in consciousness,
long after the original stimulus has been removed.

The feeling of unpleasantness, on the contrary,
is accompanied by retractile, conflicting or eva-
sive movements, the organism tends to shrink

139

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

away from the stimulus rather than to move
towards it. Under these conditions the resistance
of the nervous pathways is increased, stimuli
make relatively faint impression, and this impres-
sion tends easily to oblivisce or be forgot-
ten. Along with the law of persistence of the
pleasant goes that of the obliviscence of the dis-
agreeable.^ The importance of the feeling tone
of an appeal ought, then, to be very apparent.
The feeling tone of an advertisement, as of any
other object, will influence not only the amount
of attention it receives but its persistence in con-
sciousness as well, and it follows that the reac-
tion to the appeal will also involve the article in
the interest of which the appeal is made.

The feeling tone of an appeal may depend on
two principal factors :

I. On its form or arrangement, its character as
a work of art, its general beauty. Symmetry,
proportion, clearness, balance, the quality of
lines, spaces, masses, colors, harmonies, at-
mosphere, all play their role here, all of those ele-
ments and laws of design which a course on the
''Principles of Arrangement" would treat.

II. The feeling tone will depend not only on the

* See the article on this subject, by the writer, in the Journal of
Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, Dec. 22, 1910.

140

HOLDING THE ATTENTION

form of the appeal but on its content as well.
Words have their feeling tone just as do lines
and color. Besides, certain objects, ideas, topics,
people, purposes, characteristics, arguments, as-
sociations, etc., have the power to arouse strong
agreeable feeling on the part of the reader while
others are intrinsically repulsive.

CHAPTER IX

FEELING TONE OF FOEM

These factors I shall discuss under the head-
ings of the various elements of design — lines,
form, relations, masses, colors, harmonies, etc.

LINES

Mathematically, lines are lacking in quality as
they are in width, but psychologically, even the
simplest line, as it appears in sketching, has both
feeling tone and symbolic significance. This feel-
ing tone of lines can be utilized to advantage in
representing advertised articles by both relevant
and irrelevant cuts, and should also be consid-
ered in the appropriate selection of type faces.
The feeling tone of a line depends upon three
chief factors: (1) its quality, (2) its direction;
(3) its character, as straight or curved.

Quality. — The factors constituting the qual-
ity of a line are: (1) breadth; (2) intensity; (3)
texture; (4) color. By these we mean: (1)

142

FEELING TONE OF FORM

whether the line is wide or narrow; (2) dark or
light; (3) rough or smooth; (4) its hue.

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The fine black line suggests precision and
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The broad rough line suggests homeliness

and solidity.

143

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

The proper selection of lines in cuts or copy is
of great utility in showing the texture of the ar-
ticle, or in lending atmosphere either to the cut,
the object, or the appeal as a whole.

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Direction. — 1. Verticals. — The moderate use
of vertical lines conveys a suggestion of simplic-
ity, firmness and dignity, with a certain severe
grace. Excess of verticals, however, is likely to
give stiffness and rigid formality.

There are two psychological reasons for this ef-
fect of verticals :

144

FEELING TONE OF FORM

(a) The feeling tone of all spatial elements, as
of many spatial arrangements, depends on imi-
tative tendencies to movement or attitude which
they provoke on the part of the observer. The
instinctive response to a vertical line consists in
straightening out the body, assuming an erect
position. This is the position we assume in mo-
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parade, etc., and hence at once suggests to us the
emotions accompanying these movements.

(b) Ideal literary and architectural associa-
tions of towers, monuments, columns, warriors,
etc., with their erect, proud direction, have come
to make the vertical symbolic of "uprightness,"
moral strength, and this symbolism still attaches
itself to such a line, even when it is in no sense a
part of the object with which the original asso-
ciation was made.

2. Horizontals. — The movement from side to
145

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

side is the movement wliich the eye can execute
with the least effort. So much is this true that
we overestimate the length of verticals as com-
pared with equal horizontals, since the former re-
quire so much effort for the eye to sweep along
them from end to end. Side to side movements
are frequent, as in sweeping the horizon, reading,
looking at an audience, etc. Their very frequency

iLLUS'ptATING INAPPROPRIATE USE OF DIAGONAL LiNES

is probably the chief reason for their relatively
greater ease. Hence the horizontal is the line of
ease, quiescence and repose, almost of languor,
*Hhe suggestion of lying down and the consequent
suggestion of quiet and relaxation being particu-
larly strong."

As is well known, the headpiece of the Roman
cross must be actually shorter if it is to appear
equal to the arm pieces. The extra effort in-
volved in running the eye along the vertical head
piece makes that line seem equal in length to the

146

FEELING TONE OF FORM

actually longer but more easily perceived horizon-
tal arm.

3. Diagonals. — The diagonal line seems to the
observer to be full of action and movement. The
psychological reasons for its possession of this
character are:

(a) The fact that our bodies when engaged in
tense action of effort or movement are thrown
into such oblique lines in order to counterbalance
load or resistance. Hence, when we see these di-
agonals, we associate the direction with the ob-
lique lines which we observe when human beings
are active.

(b) The diagonal sets up imitative movements
on the part of the observer. We tend to throw our
own body in a direction corresponding to that of
the line, and these movements at once call up the
feelings of strain and activity associated with
them under other circumstances. The ' ' Gladiator
Combatant" in the Louvre and the diagonal of
the three figures running, suggests this rush and
speed of the oblique line generally. So does St.
Gaudens' bas-relief on Boston Commons, and the
Winged Victory fragment.

4. Curves. — Generally speaking, curves are more
pleasing than straight lines, whether the curve be
arc, serpentine, loop, spiral or what not. The

147

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

reason for this preference for curves is not very
clear. The old theory that the most natural and
agreeable eye movement was such as would be

Feelixg Tone from Direction of Lines

made in following the preferred curves has been
shown to be false. The eye, even in following
curves, exerts jerky and irregular movements,
which when traced or photographed do not at all
make aesthetic lines. The most probable explan-
ation is that otfered by Gordon that "the curve

148

FEELING TONE OF FORM

suggests smooth and easy movement in other
parts of the body. We are able to move hand,
wrists, head and feet, at least in serpentine lines
and to experience the greatest ease and pleasure
as well as the greater economy and power of these
movements. It seems fair to assume that the
memory of these movements, and perhaps som6
actual half-conscious movements like them, may
be the basis of our aesthetic appreciation of the
serpentine line."

At any rate, curves, whether they occur in copy,
cut or decorative design, avoid the hardness and
stiffness likely to be produced by straight lines,
giving an atmosphere of grace, pliability, richness
and voluptuousness.

CLOSED FORMS

Geometrical forms, as well as lines, have their
own individual feeling tone due (1) to the char-
acter of their boundary lines and (2) to the char-
acter of the enclosed space. The chief source of
these qualities seems again to be imitative move-
ments or memories on our own part.

1. The triangle with its diagonal lines and
sharp corners is lively, incisive and delicately bal-
anced. Especially if it be not resting on its base,
it is strongly suggestive of spirit, life and con-

149

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

stant motion. The stars themselves are not really
five-pointed, but nothing represents their twink-
ling better than a combination of triangles. Tri-
angles would form an appropriate border for ad-
vertisements of sparkling water, wine, lively mu-
sic, light, etc. An isosceles triangle resting on its
base is a perfect example of balance that is not
dead but quite alive and active.

2. The square, composed as it is of vertical and
horizontal lines, unites at once the stiffness and
firmness of the former with the ease and repose
of the latter, hence suggests solidity and strength,
sturdiness. This is true so long as the square
remains on one of its sides. The moment it
stands on one corner it resolves itself into tri-
angles and conveys the corresponding impression
of delicate balance and liveliness.

3. The Oblong. — These forms vary so much in
proportion and magnitude that it is difficult to as-
sign them as a class any common emotional qual-
ity. But one interesting and important feature
about them is the fact of rather decided prefer-
ence for certain proportions. Nearly a hundred
years ago Zeising argued for the ''golden sec-
tion" as the most beautiful of all proportions.
By the ''golden section" is meant a division of a
whole into two parts, in such a relation that the

150

FEELING TONE OF FORM

size of the whole is to the size of the larger part
as that part is to the smaller (a + b ; a : : a : b), or,
roughly, a ratio between the two parts of 3:5.
The law was supposed to hold for the division
of lines and rectangles, dimensions of rectangles,
ellipses, and other geometrical forms, as well as
for concrete objects of art and industry, rooms,
blocks, playing cards, windows, doors, fountains,
books, writing paper, etc.

In order to be most pleasing, the dimensions of
these objects must conform to the 3 : 5 ratio.
There has since been considerable experimental
evidence for this preference, and. the measure-
ment of many forms which are pleasing will be
found to conform to it. Advertisements should
utilize all possible chances of pleasing the eye.
The division of the advertisement into cut and
copy, the size of the card or space, the shape of
trade marks, etc., could all utilize the principle,
and doubtless with good effect. But it should be
remarked here that the apparent proportion of a
closed space form is often modified by the influ-
ence of adjacent elements and figures and the
role which the form plays in the design as a whole.
So much for the lines and forms. Let us now
turn to the matter of relations, or to what are
called the principles of design.

151

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

! PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

The geijeral laws of arrangement will be found
fully analyzed in text books on design and deco-
ration, and somewhat more briefly in the text
books on aesthetics, but it seems worth while to
sum up a few of these principles in the present
connection. So far as we shall do this, the mat-
ter will fall under the three heads of rhythm, bal-
ance and stability.

1. Rhythm is an important elemfent in agreeable
decoration, such as herders, etc. The basis of
rhythm lies in the motor response, of an imita-
tive kind, which the observer makes. The body is
a rhythmical machine, and repetitions that fall in
with organic rhythm easily fall into rhythmical
groupings in perception.

Ehythm consists of some kind of repetition,
but this repetition need not be literal nor com-
plete. The essential thing about rhythm in spa-
tial design is that the direction of the movement
be (1) definite and (2) clearly indicated.

does not produce a rhythmical ertect, but —

152

FEELING TONE OF FORM

does, since it reads clearly from left to right. The
single element gives direction, and the design as
a whole is but a repetition of this motive. In A
the movement may be either left-right or right-
left, hence A cannot be called a rhythmical de-
sign. But there may be subdivision of the ele-
ment, so that some larger section of the design
serves as the motive.
Thus in

there is repetition more or less complete, but only
the group of four elements suggests direction,
hence the group would be the element of rhythm.
This is also true in the case of D.

2. Balance in Design. — Just as balance is neces-
sary in color arrangement, so it is an essential

153

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

factor in spatial arrangement. The human body
is bilaterally symmetrical, and designs which set
up bi-symmetrical movements of examination, re-
sponse or imitation fit in most agreeably with the
organic habit and structure. The most perfect
balance would be what we call bilateral sym-
metry. In such compositions each half is a per-
fect copy of the other except for direction. Only
in very formal compositions can this condition be
conformed to. In actual representative painting,
in type arrangement and illustrations by cuts,
some deviation is of course required.

So for practical purposes we usually have to
resort to what Puffer calls "substitutional sym-
metry." According to the principles of ''substi-
tutional symmetry" there are four items of
** weight" in composition, and these four items
may be made to balance each other in various
combinations. The items are :

1. Mass.

2. Depth or vista.

3. Direction (of line or motion or attention).

4. Interest.

Says Gordon: ''In good pictures one will
probably find an equation in which two of these
items are set over against the other two, unless

154

FEELING TONE OF FORM

Balance op Mass against Vista (Distance)

it happens that one item is extraordinarily
stronger, and in this case it will be balanced by
the other three. In a portrait, for instance, if the
mass of the person's form is on one side of the

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Mechanical Balance of Mass against Mass

canvas, together with some interesting object,
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find on the opposite side some vista of depth or
direction of attention by means of line or mo-
tion."

155

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

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3. Stability. — Here we may again quote Gor-
don: ''Anomer phase of the problem of bal-
ance is the distribution of masses and space
between the upper and lower parts of a compo-
sition. An arrangement may be symmetrical on
its right and left halves, but wholly unsymmetri-
cal as between upper and lower halves. In gen-
eral, to prevent top-heaviness and give, as it were,
enough ballast to a composition, there should be
more below the center than above it. Pierce's
experiments show that the principle of stability
is even of more moment than that of left and
right balance. An inverted pyramid would be an
unpleasant and precarious-looking structure. The
visible sign of a sure equilibrium is breadth of
base, and most massive things are built to slope
by more or less obvious degrees toward their tops.

156

FEELING TONE OF FORM

It is not true, though, that all beautiful and well-
poised forms are larger at the bottom ; very good
effects are sometimes secured by putting the mass
of the thing represented near the upper limit of
the picture. A mass of graceful flowers may fill
the upper part with only their slender stocks be-
low; a drift of clouds or a flock of birds may be
shown high up in the picture, with only a few
landscape lines below, the nearest approach to
empty space. Why do not such pictures look as
top-heavy and unstable as the inverted pyramid?
''The reason is that they represent things that
are not dead, inanimate weights, but are delicate
and light. Placing the flowers or clouds or birds
above the center of the picture, with the empty
space below, is just what suits their character,
and brings out their lightness and buoyancy.
These two facts, then, are part of the same truth ;
to gain stability, large masses must be below the
center, and this is appropriate when the masses
are supposed to be heavy; to gain freedom and
buoyancy, masses may lie above the center, and
this is appropriate when the masses represent
something light."

CHAPTER X

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

Under this heading come the topics : color qual-
ity, color harmony and balance, relations of feel-
ing tone to imagination, imagery types, feeling
tone of words, pictures and associations, and the
curious facts of synaesthesia. These topics we
now take up in order.

CHARACTER OF COLORS

To sensitive observers the simple colors, taken
separately, possess different emotional tones.
-This tone depends partly on the physiological
factors already discussed, and partly on associa-
tions which may have been originally of a more
or less arbitrary kind. On this point I can do no
better than quote from Gordon's ''Esthetics"
(p. 146).

1. Red. — "Red has been compared to the blare
of a trumpet, loud and ringing; it is also known
as one of the 'warm' colors. Some clue to the
emotional effect of a color is gained by a glance

158

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

at the associations and the symbolism which have
grown up around it. Red, the color of the blood,
is the symbol of passion and death. Among the
Chinese it is said to denote virtue and truth.
With the ancient Romans the red flag was the
battle signal. In the middle ages of Europe the
candidate for knighthood was invested with the
red garment in token of his readiness to shed his
blood. In the Christian era Christ and the Vir-
gin are very generally represented as wearing a
red tunic under a blue mantle. The symbolic use
of red in modern art is illustrated in Rossetti; in
* Dante's Dream' the angel of love is all in scarlet
and scarlet poppies strew the floor, and in 'Beata
Beatrix' there is the scarlet dove. A distinction
was made, in religious art, between different
qualities of the same color; for example, a clear
red denoted a pure feeling, but a muddy red was
the hue of sin. In Abbey's 'Holy Grail' paintings
the robe of Gallahad is a clear red."

2. Yellow. — ' ' The yellow of the spectrum is the
brightest of all the spectral hues. It is joyous
and uplifting; in the orient a sacred color, a sym-
bol of faith and of the sun. The Christian church,
however, made yellow the color of dishonor, and
in popular symbolism it stands for jealousy and
decay. Pale yellow and gold are among the most

159

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

adaptable colors in the sense of making pleasant
combinations with almost any other color. Both
red and yellow are usually spoken of as strong
or exciting colors, though the type of excitement
is not the same in both. Red is said to suggest a
hurried, onward, dashing, but orderly movement,
accompanied by sound; yellow a lighter, airy,
whirling movement."

3. Green. — ''Green belongs to the cool end of
the spectrum, and is less exciting than the reds
and yellows. Grant Allen points out that green
is, among primitive peoples, relatively unprized.
He says the men in civilized communities, i.e., in
cities, have missed the green of the fields and
woods, and hence have come to the appreciation
of it. In Christian symbolism it stands for hope
and inspiration. We connect it also with spring-
time and growing things."

4. Blue. — ''Blue is generally felt to be cool and
calm and to be suggestive of stillness and depth.
Ruskin writes as follows : 'Wherever Turner gives
blue, there he gives atmosphere; it is air, not
object. Blue he gives to his sea, so does nature;
blue he gives, sapphire deep, to his eternal dis-
tance, so does nature ; blue he gives to the mighty
shadows and hollows of his hills — but blue he
gives not where detailed and illumined surfaces

160

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

are visible.' Lafcadio Hearn writes similarly
and says that blue appeals to one's ideas of 'alti-
tude, of vastness and of profundity,' and that it
is the 'tint of distance and vagueness.' And
again, 'Vivid blue, unlike other bright colors, is
never associated in our experience of nature with
large opaque solidity.'

"Blue tones, thus, since they are enveloping,
atmospheric and spacious, should be proper for
the decoration of backgrounds, of walls and of
ceilings. The beautiful fitness of Puvis de Cha-
vannes' mural paintings is due in part to
their soft prevailing blues. Blue in Christian
art and in popular symbolism is the color for con-
stancy. ' '

5. White, Gray and Black. — "White stimu-
lates a joyful but serene mood. It is the symbolic
color of joy and purity. Gray is of all colors the
most sober, quiet and subtle. A laboratory sub-
ject, whose task was to look at a large sheet of
gray paper and to record her impression of the
color experience, wrote as follows: 'Visually a
pure gray, it gives the impression of softness and
depth. I seem to hear its very quietness. Its
gentleness of gradation and of shading suggests
grace, delicacy, and expertness. The whole ex-
perience is one of neatness, delicacy, and refine-

161

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ment, which ideas produce a bodily feeling of
reverence or of deference.' "

Poetically we find gray referred to as a "chas-
tened tinge" or as ashen or sober.

Black by itself is melancholy and depressing, it
is the symbol, among western peoples, of grief and
death. It stands also for quiet. In combination
with other colors, particularly when it is limited
in extent, black makes the impression of great
concentration and strength. No other color has
more "character" than black.

COLOR COMBINATIONS

Without going into the technical aspect of color
mixture or of decorative design we may give sev-
eral leading principles of agreeable color combi-
nations :

1. Cool colors harmonize well with their own
tints, but tints of warm colors usually harmonize
best with other colors, or with their own shades.

2. Complementary colors combine agreeably, but
combinations of colors not quite complementary
(leaning toward the warm end) are usually pre-
ferred.

3. Oranges and yellows and golds have the most
acceptable harmonizing qualities, and they com-

162

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

bine well both with their own shades and with
other colors. Even discordant colors can often
be reconciled by joining their edges with a band
of gold.

4. For the most part, colors combine pleasantly
with the white-gray-black series. But it seems
that the better a color harmonizes with other col-
ors, the less pleasing is it in combination with
gray.

5. The most agreeable combinations, according
to Kirschmann, are those which exhibit three
kinds of contrast effect, namely : Contrast of hue,
of brightness and saturation.

6. For brilliant and vivacious effects the con-
trasted color scheme is the best suited. ^^This
would show, perhaps, two key colors, whose tints
and shades would weave together, or, according
to some, a concentrated scheme must represent
the three colors red, blue and yellow" (Gordon,
p. 151).

7. For a more uniform and subdued effect the
gradual transition of the dominant method is bet-
ter suited. Here ' ' there should be one prevailing
hue, and variations should be introduced by
changes in the saturation and brightness and by
limited changes in hue. There might be touches
of contrasted colors, but not enough to interfere

163

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

with the impression of a single governing hue"
(Gordon, p. 151).

COLOR BALANCE

1. Quantity (From Gordon, p. 153). — "When
two masses of color are alike in every way, hue,
brightness, saturation, size, shape — occupying
symmetrical positions on either side of a picture
or design — they are said to balance. In this fig-
urative conception of balance the center of the
picture is regarded as a fulcrum and the horizon-
tal distances out from the center are the two arms
of the lever. We know that in maintaining a
literal physical balance, if we shorten the arm of
a lever on one side w^e must increase the weight
on that side, but that if we lengthen the arm we
must diminish the weight. The same thing is true
of the apparent balance between color masses. A
small color mass far out from the center balances
a large mass close up to the center. A more com-
plex problem presents itself when the two op-
posed colors are no longer of the same quality;
when, for instance, blue must be balanced with
orange, or yellow with green. Experiments show
that (on a dark background) a small mass of
bright color seems to balance a large mass of
dull color. If, then, we had a bright and a dark

164

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

mass of equal size the bright mass should be put
on the shorter lever arm, that is, nearer the cen-
ter of the picture, since its extra weight must be
offset by short leverage. . . . On a light back-
ground the more a color approaches black the
greater its weight or value."

2. Quality. — Besides this quantitative balance,
there is a balance of quality depending on the
phenomenon of contrast. According to Eoss ("A
Theory of Pure Design"), ''Tones, simply as
tones, disregarding the positions, measures, and
shapes which may be given to them, balance,
when the contrasts w^hich they make with the
ground tone upon which they are placed are
equal."

Says Gordon: ''When a composition contains
three or more hues, then a balance becomes pos-
sible. In a design of w^hite, gray, and black the
brightnesses balance when the gray is as much
darker than the white as the black is darker than
the gray. The hues of yellow, greenish yellow
and orange yellow would balance if the greenish
and the orange yellows were removed by equal
degrees from pure yellow. It is also proper to
speak of a balance of saturations when two tones
vary by equal degrees of saturation from a
ground tone."

165

/\i

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

So much for the feeling tone of form and ar-
rangement. It is impossible in the time at our
disposal to illustrate each of these facts in the
concrete field of advertising. The composer or
designer must himself make the applications.
But the propriety or impropriety of a given form
ought to be fairly obvious if the foregoing prin-
ciples are borne in mind. Thus the writer recalls
an advertisement for beds and mattresses in
which the composer sought to convey an atmos-
phere of quiet and repose. But the effect was
utterly destroyed by the insistent activity of a
diagonal line of type and contrasting color which
ran across the composition. Moreover, the colors
selected for this appeal were not the quieting and
soothing blues and greens, but aggressive and ir-
ritating oranges and yellows. The best way to
realize fully the importance of these laws of feel-
ing tone is to go about looking for examples of
their violation.

The lines, forms, relations, colors and distribu-
ion of elements should so far as possible reflect
the character of the goods or the mood desired in
the reader. A patent illustration of this would
be the fact that in selecting type faces, bulk,
weight, mass or strength demands heavy, strong,
bold faced type, while an appeal to feeling or emo-

166

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

Lentheric, T'aris

220 ^ue Sdinl-HonoH

Hakmonious Cooedination between Subject, Type and
Teade-maek

tion should be conveyed by means of artistically
formed letters, shaded type, with free, flowing
or graceful lines. Observe the accompanying il-

Lord & Taylor

Imported Lace Curtains

jirah Marie Antoinette "Rpnaistance
"Brutselt Irish Point

600 pairs at . . $12,^0 p"

Value fl5.00 and $I8.M

325 pairs at $17-50 »»*»

VWue f2I.«0 and I23.JO

Point Arab and Italian Filet
Lace Curtains

•t SJS-OO, 50.00, 75JDO, J 15.00 pair
UsuaJ prices fM.OO, $65.00. $lCib.QO, $150.00

Embroidered Portieres

Single pairs
Fonnerly $iO.Oe to $110.00 pair

•t $20.00 to 65,00 p«r

Bnwdvsy & aotb St. : 5tbA*«. ; 19tli St.

Type Faces Suggesting Kefinement and Delicacy of Textueb

167

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

lustrations, which show the effectiveness of such
selection.

FEELING TONE AND IMAGINATION

The feeling tone of a given composition of read-
ing matter and cut will also depend somewhat on
w^hat is called the imagery type of the reader.
We can think of objects even when they are not
present to our sense organs. Thus I can call up
in my mind 's eye more or less vividly my boyhood
home, and seem to see, though more obscurely
than if I were present on the spot, the house and
barn, the grape arbor, the garden, even my little
bookcase in the library. I can smell the honey in
the bee boxes and can hear the general hum and
stir of the hives. I can do this because I can call
up images of these past experiences. Or by put-
ting together the images of wheels, sails, birds,
ropes, etc., which I have actually seen in the
past, I can create in my mind's eye an aeroplane
of a pattern which has never yet been con-
structed.

Similarly, if you read the following list of
words- through slowly, you will find that each
word calls up some image of the thing it repre-
sents.

168

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

Violin Earthquake

Beefsteak Falling from a balloon

Subway Battle

Cheese ' Caruso

Surf Elevator

You will find, further, that some of the images
come quickly, others slowly; some are strong and
vivid, others faint or obscure; some words will
call up visual pictures, some auditory, others feel-
ings of movement, still others tastes, smells,
touches, temperatures, etc. You will likely find
that in your own case the swift and vivid images
will all tend to be of the same type: visual, au-
ditory, etc., as the case may be.

But if you compare your results with those of
several of your friends you will likely find strik-
ing differences. One will think of ''earthquake"
in terms of rumbling noises, another in terms of
irregular and sudden tossings and movements of
his own body, while still another will see falling
buildings, smoke, and frightened people in his
mind's eye. With respect to their normal and
most vivid imagery, people show not universals
but types. And the result of such an experiment
as that above will usually reveal the imagery type
of the reader, that is, it will show what kinds of

169

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

imagery he employs easily, quickly, vividly and
most frequently.

Thus one observer recorded 2,500 of his own
images during two years of study of the subject,
and recorded the following table:

TABLE IX

Visual 57% Organic 1%

Auditory 20% Taste 6%

Olfactory 6% Motor 3%

Tactual 4% Emotional 1%

Temperature 2%

V j The two types that are most pronounced are
the visual type and the auditory-motor type.

Images of the so-called ''lower senses," touch,
taste, smell, temperature, etc., are both slow and
weak as well as infrequent with most people. But
in describing such things as clothing, furniture,
food products, toilet articles, fabrics, soaps, per-
fumes, etc., the advertiser desires very much to
arouse such images. If they can be aroused suc-
cessfully, they not only add tremendous interest
to the advertisement itself, but they may actually
constitute selling points for the article described.
This will be especially true of all appeals made
over the short circuit — all appeals to the appetite,
the instincts, the feelings and emotions of the
prospective purchaser. And it is precisely with
such articles as those mentioned above that the

170

REELING TONE OF CONTENT

feeling appeal seems to be most effective — articles
which contribute toward personal comfort, con-
venience, pleasure and satisfaction, and which yet
do not involve any great expenditure. It is well,
then, to point out the ways in which these images
may be most effectively aroused.

1. Words. — It is difficult to arouse images of
touch, taste, smell, temperature, appetite, etc., by
means of words. But it can be accomplished if
the words are chosen carefully for their poetic
quality and applied with a certain moderate pro-
fusion and cumulative effect. The poetic quali-
ties of words depend on two chief factors.

(a) Their phonic composition. — Certain combi-
nations of oral sounds are in themselves agree-
able, and the advertising writer should develop a
delicate sense for the feeling tone of sound com-
binations. Compare, for instance, the auditory
distastefulness of the words in the first column
with the agreeableness of those in the second.

I n

Tootsie Rolls Sapolio

Lemon Squash Ivory

Waw-waw Sauce Electroline

Bootz Cordial Clover Farms

Beakes Dairy Crystal Domino

Stink Spearmint

Foot-Eazer Shakamaxou
171

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

This matter of phonic feeling tone can be best
studied by using words in a foreign language,
whose meanings are unknown. The elements of
association and poetic usage are thus eliminated,
and striking results are secured. Thus a French
woman is reported as having said that "cellar
door" is the most pleasing of English words.

(b) Besides arousing the feeling tone due to
phonetic composition, words may be pleasant or
unpleasant because of associations which cluster
around them. These associations are largely due
to literary usage, though this usage will usually
be found to depend on simple psychological facts
due to the quality, composition, origin or history
of the words themselves. Thus there tends to
be, on the whole, a certain set of words which,
while conversationally satisfactory, are felt to be
inappropriate for use in literary composition.
And even in the language of writing, as distinct
from language of conversation, certain words and
groups of words seem to be sacred to poetry, ro-
mance and song. Compare, with this idea in
mind, the two following columns of words.

Horse

Steed

Girl

172

Maiden

FEELING TONE

OF CONTENT

Writing

Scripture

Book

Volume

Candy

Sweet-meat

Jump

Leap

Hogs

Swine

Light

Ignite

The factors involved here are too complex for
brief discussion. It must suffice to point out that
the image-power of words depends largely on
their feeling tone. An appreciation X)f this feel-
ing tone must come from literary training rather
than from "scientific experiment.

2. Pictures. — A peculiar thing about these im-
ages from the lower senses is that, although they
are not easily aroused directly by words, they
come rather easily and vividly when a visual im-
age or impression is present to help them into
consciousness. Consequently, the most effective
way of producing them is by means of suggestive
pictures of tasteful scenes associated with the ar-
ticle, or by a tempting array of pictures of the
objects themselves, in a setting which itself pos-
sesses agreeable feeling tone.

The important thing here is the necessity of
avoiding disagreeable images or negative sugges-
tions, either in,

173

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

1. The picture itself.

2. The reading matter.

3. The name or brand mark.

4. The adjacent advertisements.

5. Chance associations.

These points can be best illustrated by giving in-
stances of their violation.

Don't use anything but

If you wish for a really dis*

Mouthwash infecting water for the

laoioids ^jjyy, g^j, yjg ^ggyj

Testimonials from all circles of society.
Obtainable on board the Lloyd Steamers.

ROBERT HQHMANN, pharmaceutical preparations,
Magdeburg-Westerhilsen.

Inappeopeiate Feeling Tone May in Some Cases Be Provoked
BY This Adveetisement

1. The picture of a guest at a restaurant table
refusing a substitute for some article the name
of which appears nearby in bold tj^e is likely to
associate the act of rejection with the very article
advertised.

2. The suggestions of substitutes, even in the
nature of warning, is considered in general to be
a bad method psychologically. It calls up extrin-
sic, foreign imagery, in the place of relevant pic-
tures.

174

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

3. The third point is constantly violated by ad-
vertisements which associate disagreeable words,
objects or people with the commodity, as

Slimy fish with medicine

Guinea pigs with toilet preparations

Tramps with soap and lotions

Cattle with tobacco

Frogs with coffee

A dirty floor with soup

Butterflies with sugar etc.

Feeling Tone of Associations Inappropriately Used. Cover of
a folder issued by Sehonland Bros., sausage manufacturers in
Portland, Me. (From Advertising and Selling, Dec, 1910.)

4. Writers have frequently pointed out the fu-
tility of placing a breakfast food advertisement
alongside one for an asthma cure, that of a deli-
cate dessert next to a remedy for eczema, . etc.
The important principle here is that the feeling
tone of an appeal depends not entirely on our
reaction to that appeal alone, but also on our

175

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

general mood at the time. And this general mood
is easily influenced by adjacent advertisements,
jecent experiences, etc.

5. In illustration of the role of chance associa-
tions we may instance two facts:

A. An article may be surrounded with a favor-
able atmosphere, a favorable association cluster,
by utilizing an atmosphere already created for
another purpose. Thus our attitude toward a
Yale bicycle or a Yale pipe is influenced by
what we already know of the efficiency of Yale
locks or of the prowess and reliability of Yale's
football team. Arcadia Mixture smoking to-
bacco has been sold to many a smoker because of
the delightful atmosphere previously drawn about
the name in J. M. Barrie 's ' ' My Lady Nicotine. ' '
There may be certain unethical features involved
in such utilization of borrowed atmosphere, but
the psychological basis for its success remains,
nevertheless.

B. Synaesthesia. — An interesting phenomenon
which may some day become of concrete use to
the advertisement writer is the fact that certain
sensations are often closely associated with sen-
sations from quite different sense departments.
Thus sounds of musical instruments, vowels, syl-
lables, may be seen to be colored. One man on

176

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

record sees consonants as purplish black, while
the vowels vary in color. "U" is a light dove
color, "e" is pale emerald, *'a" is yellow, etc.
Thinking of the word '^ Tuesday," the first part
seems light gray-green and the latter part yel-
low.

In some cases colors accompany the sensations
of taste and smell. Salt, for instance, is de-
scribed by one observer as dull red, bitter as
brown, sour as green or greenish-blue, and sweet
as clear bright red. One observer sees the taste
of meat as red and brown, Graham bread as a
rich red, and all ice creams — except chocolate and
coffee — as blue. To another observer the sound
of the word ' ' intelligence ' ' tastes like fresh sliced
tomatoes and "interest" like stewed tomatoes !

These synaesthesias, as they are called, seem,
however, to be so individual and personal that no
two people are likely to agree on them by pres-
ent methods of inquiry. If there were more gen-
eral laws there could be much clever and subtle
selection of appropriate colors, words, etc. At
present, however, no such law^s can be announced.

STRAIN- AND EELAXATION

In discussing the suggestive character of hori-
zontal and diagonal lines we have already had

177

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

occasion to refer to feelings of strain and relaxa-
tion. Feelings of this sort are of particular im-
portance in another connection, that of the legi-
bility of type when an appeal is presented to the
sense of sight. ]\Iany an advertisement fails to

THE HOTEL SEVILLE OFFERS VERY
DESIRABLE SUITES OF ANY NUMBER OF
ROOMS, WITH ALL MODERN IMPROVE-
MENTS. THE ROOMS ARE OF VARIOUS
SIZES, EQUIPPED WITH LARGE CLOS-
ETS, AREWELL FURNISHED AND' WELL
ARRANGED. THE TABLE (A LA CARTE)
AND ITS APPOINTMENTS ARE STRICTLY
FIRST CLASS. WELL-TRAINED WHITE
SERVANTS RENDER STRICTLY UP-TO-
DATE SERVICE. ROOMS AND SUITES ARE
RENTED BY THE DAY. BY THE SEASON
AND BY THE YEAR. A VERY QUIET YET
CENTRAL LOCATION, APPEALING PAR-
TICULARLY TO PEOPLE OF REFINEMENT

MADISON AVKNUB AND EDW. PURCHAS,

TWENTY-NINTH STREET. MANAGER.

Stbain

influence simply because it is so difficult to read
that few individuals take the pains to decipher
ito The Hotel Seville announcement shows an ad-
vertisement of this sort, which has caught my eye
many times, but which to this day I have not yet
read, nor shall I ever read it through. Compare
this hotel announcement with that of the Bel-

178

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

nord. The comfortable legibility of the latter
contrasts strongly with the hopelessness of the
former. The former is an example of strain, the

CThe BELNORD is built in the form of a hollow
square, enclosing the largest apartment house court in
existence. Every room is an outside room. Each
suite, 7 to 14 rooms. Includes numerous modem de-
vices for extra comfort and convenience.

CThe absence of noise and vibration has been
achieved by locating the engine rooms under the cen-
tral court and not under any part of the building
'proper. Yearly rentals begin at $2,400.

CA visit to the BELNORD will save you many fa-
tigumg: days of "apartment hunting." Interested
parties are cordially invited.

iV, H. DOLSON & CO., AgenU

Qffict wt the Prtmtses
2364 Broaitoay, at ^ih SL Telephone 10400— Ricer.

Relaxation

latter an example of relaxation, both being de-
pendent on the legibility of the appeal. In this
connection it may be useful to point out some of
the factors which make for legibility of printed
matter.

179

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

1. Favorable Length of Printed Lines. — Experi-
mental studies of the way in which the eye be-
haves in reading show that the whole line of

Go to the bottom of the roofing question
— if you want to save money on your roof.

Don't be caught by mere looks and mysterious
terms. Find out what the roofing is made of.

And the time to find out is befor*; you buy — it ia
often costly to find out afterward.

Genasco

the Trinidad-Lake-AsphjJt Roofing

is made of natural asphalt.

The difference between nat:
ural asphalt and manufactured
or artificial "asphalts" is great.
Natural Trinidad Lake asphalt
contains natural oils which give
it lasting life. They are sealed
in Genasco and stay there to
defend it permanently against
rain, sun, wind, heat, and cold.

Artificial asphalts are resid-
ual products. Same way with

The Kant-leak Kleet is tile lasting
nail-leaks, and docs away w^th unsightly
Ask your deal ' "

coal tar. They are mixed with
oils which makes them pliable
for a while, but the oils evapo-
rate quickly when exposed to
sun and air; they leave the roof-
ing lifeless, aad it cracks and
leaks.

When you get Genasco you
can be sure of roofing that lasts.
And roofing that lasts is the
only kind worth having.

raterproof fastening (or seams — prevents
tment.

nineral or smooth surface roofings witll
1 the roll. Fully guaranteed. Write for the Good Rod

Kant-leak Kleets packed i
Guide Book and samples,

THE BARBER ASPHALT PAVING COMPANY

PHILADELPHIA
San Francisco

Cliioago

a Gmmsco Medal Raefias

MliSttM THnhtod l!ak« Asphd

The Use op Lower Case Letters and of Favorable Length of
Line. Reading matter made legible and more likely both to
attract and to hold the reader's attention.

printed matter is not seen at once and as a whole
by the eye. Nor are the separate letters each fix-
ated in succession, nor are the successive words
even examined one by one. The eye fixates

180

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

three or four points in reading the line, these
points falling where they may — now in the middle
of a word, now at the beginning or end, now be-
tween two words. When the printing is legible a
given line thus requires few movements for the
comprehension of the words — a few fixations will
cover the whole of the line. But when the print-
ing is difficult to read clearly, the separate letters
or words difficult to discriminate from each other,
more fixations are required, and these extra fixa-
tions mean strain and fatigue. The most comfor-
table length of line, for ordinary printing, is found
to be about three and one-half inches.

2. Appropriate Spacing of Letters, Words and
Lines. — The spacing used should indicate the
natural unities of the material presented. Thus
the space between letters making up a word
should be less than the width of the letters them-
selves, while the space between adjacent words
should be greater than either of these two dis-
tances. The space between sentences should be
somewhat greater still. If a number of lines are
intended to belong together as a unit or para-
graph, the spacing between the various lines
should be somewhat less than the width of the
lines themselves (as measured by the height of
the letters). If this rule is not followed, the space

181

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

between paragraphs should be then increased, in
order to suggest the unity of the paragraphs. In-

FRANKLIN AUTOMOBILES ARE MADEIN FIVE CHASSIS SI2E1S.
TWO -FOURS" AND THREE -SIXES-, WITH THIRTEEN STi'LES
OF OPEN AND ENCLOSED BODIES. THE EQUIPMENT OF ALL
OPEN TYPE BODIES INCLUDES WIND SHIELD AND TOP.
PRICES ARE F. O. B. FACTORY. , , "

2a.H01tSE POWER. KOI.RCIXIN'PKR MODEL G TOGKING c'\R. S'am
MODEL G RUNAIKKT, 1S.J10RSE POWER,. FOUR CYLINDER. Sl'M.
SIX CYLINDER. »riOR.'!E.POWEP. MODEI, M, S2.»«. FOR TOURING
CAR. rC;RPEDO.pl|.\ETON OR ROADSTER. ■- ^

NOER

MOBEL H LIMOUSINE. SSOOO. 23HQRSLPOWCR LIMOUSINE OR
LAND.AULET, 53SO0. » ■

FRANKLIN COMMERCIAL CARS INCLUtlE P.NFXMATIC-TIRED TRUCKS.
LIGHT DELIVERY WAGONS. PATROLS. AMBULANCES. O.MNIBUSES
AND TAXIC.ABS. ■ ' , ■

BEAUTY OF DESIGN. LUXURIOUS .RIDING. LIGHT WEIGHT.
GREAT tiBE ECONOMY, ARE DISTINGUISHING FRANKLIN
FEATURES. THE MOST NOTABLE FE.ATURE.' HO WE\'ER. IS
THE AIR-COOLED MOTOR A.ND RECENT IMPROVEMENTS HAVE
MADE IT THE MOST REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AUTO.
MOBILE MOTOR DESIGN. WHEN WRITING FOR OCR NEW
CATALOGUE ASK ALSO FOR. "THE FRANKLIN ENGINE".

FRANKLIN AUTOMOBILE COMPANY

SYRACUSE NY /

Illegibility Resulting from the Exclusive Use of Capital
Letters in Beading Matter Designed to Hold the Reader's
Attention^

dentation of paragraphs and even of every other
line in the printed matter is found to facilitate the
process of reading.

3. "We have already seen that we tend to find
182

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

meaning in the tops rather than in the bases of
things. This is particularly true in reading

In ali sections
the result the same

Cfeam EVEN Meat
at LEAST Cost

mwm^skww^^

TTNDER ■/icondittoos and to ill sfcttont, 'Under- Following tbemunidpatexAinple of MlonetpoUa

*^ feed re»ulta' we bappliy the tuae — 9lhmn,. In beating her shelter houses, Kcw York hss ■!

even best *t l€»at po»%ih!» cost.' Just Imagine kstaJIed CDderfeed boilers ia Zoologtcal Garden

heiting' a t«&~room bouse La Michigan Jor $26, Bui^mss, because Underfeed '

vinter. And lie adds: "ftHs wry casr wtake and dutj. the great econotnf of Dndeifeed main-
c-ire of, thoroughlr cosMuiKS coat cod makes very ■ tfiunce has earned for It recogojtioQ «s the moat
few a&^«S." • . ^ profitable Aesling iavetlmtnU

^^ $evms ofofie-lmlfto (vo-fArnfs ofcaai hiUs ^ach year is astared by

pecK-%^Hiams(mUnderfeed

HEATING f'^'^^RM AIR • XJ STEAM-HOT WATER

SYSTEMS rURNACES-D OILERS

i art yOVR lev, of (he UnJ«<.

PECK.WILLIAMSONCO^ SOG-W. Fifth St^. aNCINNATl. O.

Hardware Dcalen— Write for «ar NCW HaMy-fM-'Voa Sales Ptaii

<l>y>9 Coupon To^ox

SAVE

CoalBJIl

UNDERFEED 1

Illegibility axd Strain Are Produced by Too Great Variety
OF Type Faces, Interrupted Lines and Ineffective Spac-
ing. All of these make rhythmical movements and adjust-
ments impossible.

printed matter. The eye tends to follow the up-
per part of the line of letters, and the upper parts
of the type faces are the parts which show variety
and differentiation as between the different let-

183

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ters. Partly for this reason the ''lower case" let-
ters are more easily perceived and read than are

yo« lo ruproJiici-, l)h.K"i:rap!iic:il;v. every Mil,t!i-t>- fif an artist's stvk-.— or.
to read iuto<llc HiK-s your own interpretation of xhc fOailKjscr's meaning-

Tlie distinctive cliaracler of the Baldwin !'i:im> c>irKtca a "I'layvr ' ..f
liarticularscoiic ahd retnieiiiviit : due capable ol/ui/r exii'.oitinj,' ]iaicKvin-ionv.
Jialdwin player-mcvhanism i? tlio iiratv id.al of the )l;,i.l«in ]'iano

' ■ /' The rcsiilt is ," « iivM- kind of player music" iiv ivhicli tlie perfornie-r's
enjoyment is sjiontaneons and persoml,- tlu toiia'iities bc^ntitHl, llie artistic

(tlifialkittillompang

Illustrating the Eask of Reading and Feeling of Relaxation
Produced by the Use of Lower Case Letters and by the
Presence of Appropriate Spacing.

capital letters. Franklin Automobile Company's
advertisement illustrates the difficulty of reading
printed matter composed entirely of capitals. In
the case of the Peck- Williamson Company's ad-

184

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

vertisement the illegibility is also partly a matter
of faulty spacing. The Baldwin Company's ad-
vertisement combines the ease of "lower case"
letters with favorable and appropriate spacing.
It also shows the ease with which the ** lower
case" letters are read.

4. Ease of reading is interfered with by too
great a variety of type faces. Thus the ** Under-
feed" advertisement is most illegible, partly be-
cause of the lack of unity and organization, but
largely also because the thirty different kinds of
letters and type faces occurring on a single page
call for excessive and uncomfortable changes in
adjustment at irregular intervals. One of the
things which most facilitates easy reading is the
possibility of falling into rhythmical habits of eye
movement across the page and back again, and
rhythmical changes of adjustment of the optical
apparatus from moment to moment.

5. A fifth factor of importance is the fact that
not all type faces of the same size are equally
legible. The type faces which happen to have
been most used in printed advertisements turn
out, under experimental conditions, to be the least
legible of a large group of faces and styles which
were studied. The table on page 187 gives the
legibility of each of nine different faces, lower

185

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

case letters only, when these letters occur grouped
as in words. The legibility was measured by de-
termining the ma,ximum distance, in daylight il-
lumination, at which the letters could be cor-
rectly identified. Each letter of the alphabet was
tested 12 times, twice by each of 6 observers, and
the results of the 26 letters were averaged to give
the final measure of the type face as a whole.
The measures in the table give the number of
centimeters at which the given type face can, on
the average, be read. All letters used were what
are known as 10 point letters, the faces all being
Roman, no bold or italic faces being used. Tables
for upper case letters and for lower case letters,
for 16 different faces, the letters occurring both
in groups and in isolation, may be found in an
article by Roethlein in the American Journal of
Psychology of January, 1912. Legibility was
found to vary little with the form of the type, but
to depend chiefly on the size, width of line, and
amount of white space exposed between the let-
ters. The faces differ less when the letters are
grouped than they do when the letters are ob-
served in isolation. And it must be said here that
even these measurements are by no means com-
plete statements of the legibility of the type faces
when used in printing, because much of our read-

186

FEELING TONE OF CONTENT

ing is done, not by perceiving the separate let-
ters which make up the words, but very largely
by recognizing the words as wholes, by means of
their characteristic "word forms."

_, „ Order of Legibilityi

^yP^ P<^' cm. distance

News Gothic 166

Gushing Old Style 165

Century Old Style 162

Cheltenham Wide 159

Century Expanded 159

Scotch Romaa 151

Bullfinch 150

Caslon 149

Gushing Monotype 144

Illustrations of these faces may be found in many manuals of
reference and data books used by printers and advertising men.

6. A final factor which may be mentioned as
contributing toward relaxation in reading printed
matter is the background on which the letters
occur. A maximum brightness difference between
background and type makes for easy perception.
When colored background or type is used, the
same rule holds, for it is not the difference in
color as such, but the difference in the brightness
values of the colors used which is effective. We
have already had occasion, when discussing con-
trast as an attention device, to explain the greater
attention value of black on white, as contrasted
with white on black, and to point out that we are

187

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

not concerned there with a real difference in legi-
bility. There is some difficulty in reading printed
matter which does not differ sufficiently from the
brightness of the background on which it appears.

CHAPTER XI

THE THIRD TASK: FIXING THE IMPRESSION

Clearly tlie work of an appeal does not stop
with attracting attention or even with holding it
until the copy is read. Rival appeals will be
operating, and, if they are at all effective, will
have a certain persistence in the consciousness of
the reader. Evidently an essential function is
that of being able to so impress the reader that
in a later moment, when there is need felt for an
article of the general type, this particular brand
will suggest itself as the first of its kind. This
recurrence of a previous idea we call a recollec-
tion. Now, ideas do not spring up spontaneously
in the mind. So far as we can see, an idea is
always introduced by virtue of its connection with
a preceding thought. If in a moment of need the
specific name of an article designatec^ to fill that
need is thought of, this happens because that
particular naiae has been, as we say, associated,
linked up with the situation of need more firmly
than any other name for a similar article. This

189

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

dominance of ideas is what we are concerned
with in the psychology of association. Ideas oc-
cur by virtue of previous connections, and these
connections are determined by definite laws, can
be brought about and facilitated by specific de-
vices, or weakened by failure to conform to these
rules.

We shall be better able to understand the laws
of association by knowing something of the ner-
vous processes on which they depend. Associa-
tion takes place when nervous energy from one
center flows out into related centers, causing a
corresponding related consciousness. This over-
flowing of energy must take place along a nervous
pathway, and this pathway must be formed in the
nervous tissue before the exchange is direct. The
general rule is that energy radiates out in all
directions from a center so long as all the pos-
sible paths have equal resistance. Now, if two
adjacent centers should discharge at the same
moment, there would be a pathway between them
which would be doubly excited, and hence its re-
sistance would be lowered. Thus suppose three
processes, A, B, C, to have occurred at the same
time. Such a pathway will be at once formed be-
tween the centers corresponding to these proc-
esses. Whenever either of the three occurs at a

190

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

later moment it will tend to excite the centers
corresponding to each of the others. Every ele-
ment thus tends to bring up again the whole of
which it was previously a part. Thus the sight of
either of the three words, ''Company," "Bos-
ton" or "Rubber" will tend to remind the reader
of the whole phrase, "Boston Rubber Company."
Three primary laws may be laid down here:

1. Every nervous current leaves traces of its
pathway.

2. This trace facilitates the passage of sub-
sequent impulses over the same pathway.

3. Such a pathway tends to drain off energy
from other centers which may be active
only in a random way.

This process of linkage between the two ideas
such as "Boston" and "Rubber" is what we
mean by association.

PRINCIPLES OF CONNECTIOIT

There are two fundamental principles of asso-
ciation which advertisements persistently and
flagrantly violate. In natural thinking there are
two laws that control the play of our ideas. Both
laws are true in general. But in order for the

191

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

advertiser to be effective, he must set one of these
laws against the other.

1. The first law is that we tend hahitually to
think from particular to general. If I hear or
read ''Ingersoll" I at once think 'Svatch," the
general class of which the ^'Ingersoll" is but a
particular. If I hear ''Rambler" I think ''bi-
cycle," "Ditson" — "saws," "Maydole" — "ham-
mers," etc. Now, this is a perfectly natural ten-
dency, but it is of no use to the advertiser, who
wants us, not so much to think "watch" when we
hear "Ingersoll," as to think "Ingersoll" when
we need a watch, "Cluett" when we need a shirt,
"Burns" when the general idea "coal" is in the
mind. That is, :t? order to attain his end, the ad-
vertiser must force us to violate a fundamental
law of thinking and to go not from "shirt" to its
class "garment,"' but down to a particular shirt
as "Cluett."

Now, the strangest part of it all is that the
average advertisement not only fails to realize
this necessity, but even works against itself by
failing to recognize the second general law, the
forward law.

2. We tend to think forward rather than back-
ward. Associations tend to take their original
direction and have only little influence in the

192

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

reverse direction. You cannot tell me without
some reflection what letter comes before the let-
ter ''I" in our alphabet. When you can, you will
find that you have recalled it by starting with
*'A" and going forward. From ''H" to "I" is a
perfectly natural transition, but from *'I" to
'*H" is a violation of the law. Similarly you can
tell me much more quickly last names of men with
given first names than you can the first names of
a row of last names. The same is true with a
line of poetry. The first word calls up the whole
line, but the last word, although it has previously
existed in consciousness along with the preced-
ing words, does not tend to call them up to any-
thing like the same degree. Subsequent impulses
tend not only to follow old pathways, but they
tend to follow them in the direction of the original
connection. So if I hear *' George" I tend at
once to think ''Washington." But if I hear
''Washington," I do not go back to "George,"
but forward to "monument," "square,"
"bridge," etc.

The reason for this first principle is simply
that nervous energy tends to spread out from the
centers of origin into all related or connected cen-
ters, thus calling into play the whole class. The
reason for the second law is not clear, but we

193

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

may be sure that it lias some stable basis in tbe
structure of the nervous pathways.

Here, then, we have a principle which can be
employed to counteract the tendency of principle 1.

A .UNIQUE HIND OF GIFT

has come into ;>oguf for Christmas, Urthdays, weddings^
and oiUtt -occasionn la the [jrn.ite reproduction o

Family Portraits in

the COr-lXV TRINTS. Evrrjonc nis « disacrtcotypf. ni-vlslurr. or old ftiolo;
graph, or a pt««it.<iay portr «it, of which olhcr mimbcrs nl iKe family would iiV
to iisvc copin. For th« i=!irnacy o( (amily Sifii notiung coiiii have gnater <ii>
tiimion, n.t. qi:ality tit te^trainrtinn U g.,Briintci-<i by tr.c higii ifp.italirn »tuc!;
the (■•,«£y PRINTS have won throuRhout t!ie wotii CcrrMjKT.d-nrr ,r.vMin:

■ »*""»» Bostoi

Curtis (Si, Cameron

FOEWAED EeaSONING — CORESCT AeRANGEMENT

We tend to think from particular to general,
other things being equal. But, if in reading an
advertisement, our thought has been repeatedly
led from a general to a given particular, by the
composer putting the general term first and fol-
lowing it by the particular, the second law is, able

194

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

to offset the first. The general rule should be,
then :

are the acceri^J standard of. art reproduction.
They rank with art museums in their influence
for good taste in pictures. Gold medal from the
French Government. Over a thousand subjects
to choose from in America^ Art. They make the

BEST OF GIFTS

Illustrated Catalog, 320 cuts (practically a
handbook of Americsn Art), sent for 25 cents:

stamps accepted. Th;?; cost deducted from pur-
chase of the Prints themseh-es. 50 cents to
$20.00. .\t art stores, .or sent on approra'.
I':xlii)>iii<iii<i for schools, cltibs, rharches, etc.
I iiiiiily ri>!l!;>iis ij.ne on private order, from
dajrucrit: , photographs, "ivor.-. c:.-

CURTIS &Ln.u..

.<;'p. Public Library

rr^

Backward Eeasoninq — Incorrect Areangement. The effective
method is to present first the name of the commodity, or the
idea, need, occasion, which shall be in the reader's mind on
subsequent occasions. Follow this by the name of the partic-
ular brand, the firm name, the trade mark, the slogan, etc.,
which you desire him to think of at the moment when he
thinks of the commodity or feels the particular need.

Place first the general class, the purpose or use
to which the article can be put, the word which.

195

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

will be in consciousness in the moment of need.
Thus, "the best of Christmas gifts."

Place next the name of the article or brand
which you desire to connect with the need, or
which you desire to make the standard specimen
for the general class in question. See the Copley
prints advertisements.

If, instead, the first word in the advertisement
were "Copley prints," and only later came the
woKds, "best Christmas gift," the idea of
"prints" would come to remind the reader of
"Christmas," but when he found himself think-
ing over the "best gift" to purchase there would
"be no particularly strong inclination to think of
^'Copley prints."

It seems to the writer that no law is violated
oftener than this in current advertising, and that
ihe law is no mere subtlety but an important ele-
ment in the general efficiency of copy. In fact,
the law may: be conformed to so fully that the
specific brand may come to be synonymous, in the
mind of the public, with the general class or use.
When this point is reached it becomes necessary
io teach not association but dissociation. Thus
the Kodak copy must now teach people that not
all cameras arc Kodaks. The law of association
worked so thoroughly here that it now operates

196

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

against its original purpose. The case nicely il-
lustrates the fallacy of relying solely on any one
principle and disregarding others.

The chief method of fixing an impression re-
ceived from an advertisement is by connecting it
up with the stimulus in which the need for some
such article will be felt. There are various ways
in which this connection may be made.

I. LAWS OF ORIGINAL CONNECTION"

1. Contiguity. — This is perhaps the most fre-
quent cause of association. Things perceived
side by side, either in space or time, tend to sug-
gest each other, on recurrence of either. Thus
"Brooklyn Bridge" calls up "East Eiver."

If a place of business is announced as b^ing
''one block from Grand Central" or "near Her-
ald Square," the thought or sight of Grand Cen-
tral or Herald Square will tend to ^^vive, by as-
sociation, the name, business, and location of the
advertised store.

2. Similarity. — Things bearing a resemblance
to each other tend to call each other up in con-
sciousness. They do this because certain ele-
ments in the two facts are identical, hence tend
to call up both wholes of which they have previ-

197

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ously been a part. Thus one person reminds
one of another because the two have identi-
cally shaped noses. One biscuit reminds one
of another because the color of the box is the
same. The Jungf rau reminds us of Pike 's Peak ;
Moxine reminds us of Moxie, and will take unto
itself any atmosphere of desirability that Moxie
has developed. Similarly Yale locks w^ill sell Yale
bicycles. The general sentiment seems to be
against the use of such similarity appeal as is
involved in the reference to substitutes and imi-
tations. Obviously this is only from the point of
view of the original article. If you happen to be
engaged in the manufacture of substitutes the
more of the original atmosphere you can borrow,
the better.

3. The third basis of association is emotional
congruity. This simply means that the feelings
aroused by two different experiences are the same,
and whenever one comes, the feeling produced
tends to call up the other also. Thus falling from
a trapeze once reminded me vividly of a time
when I was chased by an Indian with a tomahawk.
The importance of the aesthetic factors of an ad-
vertisement comes here strongly into prominence.
Not only do pleasing advertisements attract us,
and hold us, but we in turn hold them.

198

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

Furthermore, any experience with strong feel-
ing tone is better retained than indifferent facts.
This is of especial importance in appeals over the
short circuit, appeals to feelings and emotions for
the sake of vividness.

Connection with pleasurable emotions fixates
associations and tends to lead to action. Appeals
through sympathy, loyalty, interest, civic pride,
local atmosphere, through excitement over cur-
rent events, through prevalent ideas, crazes, de-
sires, movements, etc., will all tend to be more
or less successful, though transiently so. Such
advertising must keep constantly changing in tone
and direction, and it is both difficult and expensive
to "keep one's finger on the public pulse" closely
and delicately enough to be able to use these so-
cial currents to advantage. When the local ex-
citement has blown over and the incident tends
to be forgotten, the article advertised in connec-
tion with it tends to be forgotten along with it.

A safer plan is to utilize the stable and perma-
nent emotions more or less common to all times
and places. Thus a powerful basis of appeal and
spring of conduct, for certain kinds of commodi-
ties, is the religious emotion. It is reported that
a book entitled * ' Wonders of Nature ' ' fell flat on
the market. The title was changed to ''Wonders

199

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

of Nature and Architecture of God," and a sec-
ond edition was at once called for.

n. PKINCIPLES or EEVIVAL

The foregoing are called the principles of con-
nection because they have to do with the process
by which an association is originally produced.
But the fact that a connection has been made does
not guarantee the reproduction of the pair. For
several ideas might each have been connected with
the stimulus, and they could not all be revived at
once. There is, then, a further question, viz.,
how, granted a connection once made, can we be
sure that one associate will come rather than some
other?

In answer to this question we find a group of
principles which we may call the principles of re-
vival as distinguished from the principles of con-
nection. The first four are the most important.
They are, in order of their relative strength:

1. Frequency. — Other things being equal, the
association most often repeated will be the strong-
est connection. '^ Theodore" suggests ''Roose-
velt," rather than "Sturm," "Cousins," or any
other associate, ■ simply because it has occurred
more frequently than any other. Every repeti-

200

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

tion strengthens the connection, just as every rab-
bit hopping through the snow emphasizes and de-
fines the path of the rabbit which passed that
way before. This is the principle of repetition in
advertising. Repetition has both a memory and
response value, as we shall see later. In experi-
ments in the laboratory, counting *' normal asso-
ciation," or that which results after unemphasized
reading, as 26 per cent., repetition gives an aver-
age value of 64 per cent., nearly three times the
memory value of unrepeated material. So among
practical men, repetition is considered an effec-
tive, albeit an expensive, method of securing pub-
licity. As we have already seen, different kinds
of material vary somewhat with respect to their
attention value in repetition, relevant words in-
creasing, all cuts decreasing, and irrelevant words
remaining on a level. But so far as memory
goes, repetition, if supported hy attention, always
strengthens the impression.

2. The second factor in relative strength is
vividness. Vividness may lie brought about in
many ways — through sheer intensity, through sur-
prise, strong attention, interest, or through con-
nection with some emotion, as fear, hope, envy,
etc. The more vivid the impression, the longer
it lasts. Strong colors, enormous signs, humor-

201

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ous associations, motor responses such as clip-
ping a coupon, sending an inquiry, etc., are merely
varied ways of producing vividness. Compared
with the normal value, 26 per cent., vividness
gives an experimental average of 52 per cent, effi-
ciency.

Closely related to vividness, and being, perhaps,
only special forms of it are :

3. Recency, with an average value of 50 per
cent., and

4. Primacy, with a value of 46 per cent.
When all other factors are equal, we can be

sure that the first association will predominate.
At least the first and last impressions have the
advantage. We have already discussed this in the
section on ''position."

The Curve of Forgetting. — Another important
point has to do with the most effective distribu-
tion of a series of appeals which are to be ad-
dressed, one after the other, to the same person.
Circulars, follow-up literature, educational cam-
paigns, etc., often afford instances of this method
of appeal. The ordinary method is to distribute
the successive appeals according to the calendar
divisions of time, as every week or ten days,
every two weeks, etc., until all the appeals have
been presented. This method proceeds on the as-

202

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

sumption that the reader's memory and interest
are controlled bj" the movements of the celestial or
terrestrial bodies, while the fact is that memory
follows laws of its own, regardless of the conven-
tional and calendar divisions of the passage of
time. When a given appeal is addressed to me,
I straightway proceed to forget it. But I do not
forget it at a uniform rate, so much being for-
gotten on each succeeding day until all is forgot-

The Cueve of Forgetting

ten. Instead I forget the material that has been
seeii or learned, according to a definite ''curve of
forgetting," a curve which descends rapidly at
first and then more slowly. The larger propor-
tion of the material is forgotten in the first day
or so. After that a constantly decreasing amount
is forgotten on each succeeding day.

The height of the curve above the base line here
indicates the amount remembered, the figures

203

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

along the base indicating the units of time elapsed
since first learning the material. During the first
ten units as much is forgotten as during all the
remaining twenty-five. Of course, the amounts
and time units in the accompanying curve are
purely arbitrary. Their real value will depend on
the quality and the quantity of the material
learned and on the time interval chosen. But the
form of the curve shows clearly that by far the
greater number of repetitions should come at the
beginning of the campaign, when the tendency to
forget is strong. When the maximum of retention
is then reached the later repetitions may be
farther and farther apart.

It ought to be obvious at once that the effective
distribution of a series of appeals will be a dis-
tribution which conforms to this curve of forget-
ting. The first appeal having been presented, the
second should follow close upon it, the third at a
somewhat greater interval from the second, the
fourth a somewhat longer time after the third,
etc., the intervals growing longer and longer un-
til the series is completed. This massing of the
appeals at the earlier portion of the total period
will result in reinforcement of the first appeal at
the crucial moments, the moments when, unless
thus reinforced, they tend to be quickly forgot-

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FIXING THE IMPRESSION

ten, thus leaving the later appeals to appear on
what is practically barren ground. That is to
say, the effective distribution of a series of ap-
peals addressed to the same person will not fol-
low a calendar order such as the following:

Initial

After One

After Two

After Three

After Four

Appeal

Week

Weeks

but will follow a distribution based on the curve
of forgetting, as :

Initial

After

Appeal

2 Days

5 Days

10 Days

20 Days

Any one may convince himself of the existence
of this law by simply trying to memorize a given
amount of material of any sort, by distributing
his learning periods or repetitions according to
the two plans. This law seems to me to be one of
the most important results of the experimental
study of memory, and one which the practical
man has been surprisingly slow in appropriating.

MINOR DEVICES

Further minor devices for aiding the memory
value are : Ingenuity, rliyme, rhythm, and motor
reinforcement. These are really nothing more
than forms of vividness, but are distinct enough
from each other to merit separate mention.

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PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

1. Ingenuity. — Just as novelty attracts atten-
tion and holds it, a curious, bizarre name, pack-
age, trade mark is likely to stick. Such words as
"Uneeda Biscuit," ''Keen Kutter," "Rough on
Rats," ''Ever Stick," "No Smellee," stick in
one's consciousness. The merchant with

Street No. 33
Telephone No. 33
Letters in name, 33
Price of suit, $33

could easily make up an ingenious and impressive
advertisement (see Scott). But to be effective
under this heading a name must be really in-
genious, not merely a hybrid.

2. Rhyme and alliteration are other things that
attract attention and are easily remembered be-
cause they suggest in themselves a single unified
scheme on which to hang the separate facts.

3. Closely related also is rhythm, which re-
duces the learning of a given amount of material
about 40-50 per cent., by lending motor control
and further means of association with movements.
The writer once tried to teach the English alpha-
bet to a kindergarten class of German children.
Several days' effort was unsuccessful. At last
the idea occurred to set the letters to the tune of

206

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

*' Yankee Doodle" and sing them with the class.
The alphabet was learned in a single recitation
period. Similarly the names of things sung in
rhythm or rhyme on the advertising cards tend
to be retained. This does not mean, however, that
the goods thus sung will necessarily be sold. It is
one thing to make a commodity known as * ' worthy
of song" and quite another thing to make it
known as ''worth buying."

4. Motor reinforcement is one of the important
aids to memory. Try to memorize a verse of
poetry. You will at once find yourself making
sets of movements which are designed to aid you
in retaining the material; you speak the words to
yourself, moving the lips meanwhile, or you write
the lines on paper or accompany the learning
process by tapping the toes, swinging the body
to and fro, nodding the head, etc. Just as clench-
ing the fist or gripping a piece of wood re-
inforces the leap or brace which one is about to
give, so the performance of a motor process in
connection with an idea tends strongly to impress
that idea in memory. You remember the thing
you have done yourself much more easily than
the things you have passively observed others
performing — the words you write much more eas-
ily than the sentence you merely read.

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PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

Herein lies the chief importance of invitations
to clip out the advertisement, to draw the figure,
to write for information or catalogues, to tear off
and preserve or return coupons, etc. If the
reader can be induced to carry out any such ac-
tion in connection with the advertisement, the
memory value of the copy will be tremendously
enhanced. And this follows, not only because
more time is spent on the advertisement and more
thought given to it, but largely because the motor
response reinforces the mental impression.

Obviously the success of such devices will usu-
ally depend on the ease with which the action can
be carried out. The ideal would be the longest
act which the average reader would carry out
without the sense of lost time.

MEMORABILITY OF DIFFEEENT KINDS OF FACTS

An important factor in putting an article on
the market or in keeping it there is that of having
a trade mark, emblem, seal, design, or name, by
which the article may always be remembered,
asked for, recognized and recommended. Herein
enter in large measure the preceding factors of
rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and ingenuity. But
another highly important factor which is little
recognized is that of the memorability of different

208

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

kinds of material. In selecting a mark by which
goods, designed for popular consumption, are to
be known, it is of real value, for instance, to know
that persons and faces are more easily remem-
bered than objects, and objects more easily than
actions; that form is more easily remembered and
recognized than color, although colors are more
accurately remembered than numbers. More
numbers can be remembered than colors, but they
are likely to be wrongly remembered or remem-
bered as existing in a false order or position.

In a carefully conducted experiment in the
writer's laboratory the investigator measured the
accuracy with which 40 persons in an audience
could observe and remember for a period of three
days the various features ol an elaborately
planned performance which was carried on in
their presence. The reliability of each witness
was measured, along with the accuracy with which
different sorts of facts were reported.

The individual reliability ranged from 38 per
cent, to 82 per cent, accuracy, with an average of
62 per cent. It is important to note, then, that
the ordinary witness observes only about 60 per
cent, of the features of an event to which his at-
tention is already directed. That is to say, 40
per cent, of the advertisements and 40 per cent.

209

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

of each advertisement will, on the average, pass
unnoticed. Moreover, only about 2 per cent, of
readers normally see advertisements. (See
Strong.) This gives 2 per cent, of 60 = about 1
per cent, efficiency. Which features, then, will
most likely be observed and retained correctly?
The table for this experiment, indicating the
relative accuracy with which different sorts of
facts are reported when direct questions are
asked concerning them, runs as follows:

TABLE X

Accuracy

1. Mere presence of things 97%

2. Number of people 65%

3. Space relations, form, etc 58%

4. Condition of objects 48%

5. Order of events 35%

6. Color 26%

7. Size and quantity 22%

8. Sounds 10%

9. Time (duration) 8%

10. Actions (strong attention value but not ac-
curately reported)

The importance of these facts in selecting trade
marks, packages, names, slogans, and points of
emphasis for advertising purposes is constantly
disregarded.

Another experiment was designed to measure
the relative memory value of cuts as compared
with that of reading matter. For this experi-

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FIXING THE IMPRESSION

ment proof slips of advertisements designed and
kindly furnished by Will Phillip Hooper were
used. The advertisements were uniform in size
and style, and all contained about equal amounts
of cut and reading matter. Twenty-five of these
advertisements were examined by each of the ob-
servers, who were then requested to select from a
collection of ninety advertisements those which
they had previously seen. Of the twenty-five orig-
inal cards, fifteen were present unchanged. Of the
remaining ten, five contained the same cut, but the
text had been changed, while five retained the
original text but bore a totally new cut. The idea
was to discover which of these two changes, of
cut or of text, would attract more attention, and
which would most disturb the memory of the ob-
server.

The following table resulted, showing: (1)
that the change in the cut is most frequently de-
tected, thus that the cut has greater attention
value; (2) that cards with changed cuts are re-
membered by the text more often than cards with
changed text are remembered by the cut, that is
that the memory value of text is higher than that
of cuts; (3) that the combination of the original
cut with original text has much higher memory

211

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

value than that of either of the two mutilated
forms.

TABLE XI

Normal ads recognized 77%

Ads with right text but wrong cut 56%

Ads with right cut but wrong text 43%

Substitution of cut detected 26%

Substitution of text detected 17%

TRADE MAEKS

In the same laboratory a study has been made
of the relative attention and memory value of
different geometric forms, such as are commonly
used as trade marks. Fifty such designs were
chosen, of the same general size and same color.
Experiments on twenty-five observers showed
these forms to differ widely in the respect tested.
The values range from 28 per cent, to 92 per
cent. The following plate gives the list of these
forms and also the percentage of accuracy with
which each was recognized when a group of fif-
teen previously displayed was selected from a set
of fifty which included the original fifteen and
thirty-five strange forms. The general principle
suggested by this experiment is that those forms
are best remembered to which specific names can
be given, as ''star," "crescent," "crown," etc.

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FIXING THE IMPRESSION

r^y ^^ ^y 40 60 fcO 60 to

^^ - '"^ i-L i'^ 4-4 ^-» J-;^^

Eelative Attention Value of 50 Geometbicax, Foems
VICASIOUS SACKLFICES IN ADVERTISING

The failure to observe the foregoing laws of
association and memory often leads to what may
be called ''vicarious sacrifice" in advertising. A
century ago we could consume faster than we

213

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

could produce. The situation now is frequently
said to be just tlie reverse, the advertiser often
finding it necessary to stimulate consumption.
He finds it necessary to create a new need, or to
invest an old need with greater urgency, just as
Hand Sapolio tried to create an ideal of cleanli-
ness among people not using soap, or as Sapolio
created a higher ideal of cleanliness of pots and
kettles. (See Balmer, p. 34.)

Once such a demand is created, non-advertised
articles at once share in the profits. In so far as
this happens, the work of the advertiser may be
said to be vicarious; it is a free will offering to
the non-advertiser. Such sacrifice, however, is
often due to the advertising. Thus the early Sub-
way cards of Boston Rubber Company with their
"Wet Feet Did It" warnings certainly created a
greater demand for rubbers in general, but not
for Boston Rubbers in particular, because this
particular brand was not carefully associated in
the mind of the reader with the need. Experi-
ments which the writer was making with a set of
seventy-five subway advertisements at the time
showed clearly the tendency not to notice the
brand advertised on these cards at all, but to con-
nect the warnings and general feelings of need
with a striking card advertising the "Ever Stick"

214

FIXING THE IMPRESSION

rubber, which, so far as the writer's knowledge
goes, was a rival product. Since that time these
cards have been greatly improved.

In conclusion, we may say that a successful ad-
vertisement not only attracts and holds attention,
but in so doing it connects a specific brand or ar-
ticle with a general need, so that when the general
need is felt, the action will not be toward such ar-
ticles in general, but toward this specific brand in
particular. In the following chapter on provok-
ing the response we shall seek to analyze still fur-
ther the ways in which this specific action may be
brought about.

CHAPTER XII

THE FOUETH TASK: PEO YOKING THE RESPONSE

After all has been said, the final value of an ap-
peal depends entirely upon the effectiveness with
which it leads to the desired specific action. No
amount of care in framing a solicitation so as to
catch the eye, to hold attention, and to stick in the
memory, will be worth the trouble if the reader's
reaction does not go beyond the appeal itself, and
include the article which the appeal announces.
Granted, then, that the first three tasks have been
adequately performed, what are the principles
which control the direction, the certainty, and the
force of the response?

Obviously there are two cases to be considered
here. First, the case in which ihe appeal is ad-
dressed directly to the life of feeling, impulse
and instinct — what we have called the short-cir-
cuit appeal — and, second, the ca*e in which delib-
eration, comparison and argument are invited —
the ''reason why" appeal by means of the long
circuit. In the first case there is no conflict or

216

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

rivalry stirred up in the reader's consciousness;
there is simply the attempt to present the article
in such a way as to provoke some firmly grounded
act of appropriation, to stir up some strong im-
pulse or keen desire and so to lead to favorable
action. In the second type conflict is, on the con-
trary, even encouraged. Selling points, superi-
orities, advantages, etc., are advanced, and the
claims of rival commodities deliberately chal-
lenged.

It will be difficult to speak in terms of general
laws here, and yet to remain concrete. Condi-
tions will vary according to the article, the read-
er's temperament and need, local influences,
habits and customs. The result is that this is one
of the most promising fields for further research
in applied and practical psychology. Some of the
experiments that are already in progress in the
field of advertising will be reported in the chapter
on the experimental method. But there is a cer-
tain group of principles which can be clearly
stated and applied on the basis of what we al-
ready know of mental processes in the life of ac-
tion. These we will take up in turn. Our chief
concern will be with the laws of suggestion and
with our earlier question concerning the ap-
propriate use of long and short circuit appeals.

217

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

DIRECT APPEALS TO FEELING

Short Circuit Action Without Conflict. — We
may distinguish two general types of short circuit
appeal :

(a) The appeal through command, assertion,
invitation, either direct or indirect. Such an
appeal will owe its force to the degree to which it
conforms to the laws of suggestion. At this
point, then, these laws of suggestion must come in
for their share of discussion.

(b) The second type will be the appeal to some
definite instinct, or other strong and certain form
of reaction. Success here will depend chiefly on
the strength and promptness of the instinct to
which the appeal is made. Here, then, will be the
place to consider the topic to which we have so
frequently referred, but as often postponed for
later discussion, viz., the question of the relative
strength of the various human instincts, and their
dependence on such factors as age, sex, class, oc-
cupation, training, the commodity in question, etc.

THE NATURE AND LAWS OF SUGGESTION

No little mystery has come to invest the word
"suggestion," chiefly because of its constant use

218

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

by pseudo-scientific writers in their attempts to
develop dramatic interest in the extreme sug-
gestibility of certain states of drowsiness, ab-
straction, fatigue and hysteria. But there is no
more mystery here than there is in any of the
simple mental processes along the nervous arc.
The fundamental law is that of ideo-motor ac-
tion}. In the earlier discussion of the nervous
basis of mental processes, we pointed out the law
that every sensory impulse has its inevitable mo-
tor issue. The nervous energy generated or liber-
ated by a stimulus emerges at the other end of
the arc in the form of action. This action is usu-
ally directed toward the stimulus itself, in the
form of movements of appropriation or rejection.
Sometimes, however, the response is not so ap-
parent, when, for instance, it takes the form of
general bodily attitude, changes in breathing,
heart beat, gland action, vascular changes, or
general rigidity or tension of muscles. More-
over, the strength of the reaction need not be ex-
actly proportionate to the strength of the stimu-
lus. Sometimes the energy may be drained off
into other channels that are active at the time,

' The psychological reader should not confuse the law of ideo-
motor action, as here presented, with the doctrine that the cause
of a voluntary movement is a kinaesthetic image of that movement.

219

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

and the value of the response will then be ob-
scured. Again, the direct response may itself
drain off energy from other pathways, and its
strength be relatively increased.

Closely connected with this law of the inevitable
motor issue of sensory impulses is a correlate
law which concerns mental processes that do not
have an immediate sensory cause. In the section
on Imagination we have seen that we may have
ideas and images even when there is no corre-
sponding activity of the sense organ. These
processes are then due to what we may call the
spontaneous activity of the brain centers. This
spontaneity, however, will only mean independ-
ence of a corresponding sensory impression. But
the activity will usually be seen to be caused by
virtue of the association of the center in ques-
tion with some other center whose previous activ-
ity has stirred it up in what seems to be a spon-
taneous way. Often the activity is due to some
present sensory impression, which, however, does
not correspond in character to that of the spon-
taneous image or idea. Frequently this impres-
sion is simply a word — the auditory impression
of syllables spoken or the visual impression of a
written or printed word. The word center is
closely associated with the sensory center which

220

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

is involved when "we actually perceive the object
which the word denotes or means. Hence, activ-
ity from the word center overflows into the object
center, and the result is an apparently spontane-
ous image, picture, or idea of the object or act
which the word suggests.

Now these so-called spontaneous nervous
processes have their tendency to motor issue, just
as do sensory impulses. Every idea of a situa-
tion tends to produce movements calculated to
handle that situation. This happens just because
the discharge of energy from brain center to
motor apparatus has become a habit. Constant
practice has set up ready paths of discharge be-
tween ideational and motor centers. Thus I do
not have to deliberately trace out the form of
these letters as I write. I simply think the word
and, by fixing my attention on the point of the
pencil, guide it in straight lines across the page.
But the letters form themselves. The simple idea
of the word carries itself out into the act of writ-
ing it. The interesting and, to the uninitiated,
mystifying performances of the planchette, the
Guija board, the automatic writer, the muscle
reader, and similar phenomena have been clearly
shown to be due to this motor issue of conscious

221

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

or subconscious ideas and images in the mind of
the experimenter.

Ideas and images of objects, persons and situa-
tions tend just as strongly to set up responses
calculated to adapt the organism to the particular
object, person or situation thought of. Think
intently of your cravat, and you will find your-
self fingering and adjusting it. Concentrate on
the choice cigar in your pocket, and you will likely
search at once for the match box. Vividly re-
call the pleasant languor of a warm bath or the
tremendous wind currents of lower Broadway and
you will find yourself either stretching out your
legs, closing your eyes and reclining in your chair,
or, as the case may be, ducking down into your
coat collar and clutching your hat brim; and the
more you attend to the idea in mind the more com-
pletely will its motor issue be realized. If you at-
tend strongly enough you may find the idea
amounting to an hallucination — that is, you act
just as you would in the presence of the actual
object.

This, then, is the fundamental law of ideo-
motor action, and the basis of what we sometimes
call suggestion. Every idea of a function tends
to realize itself, and will do so in so far as it is
not inhibited by rival ideas or impeded by physi-

222

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

cal circumstances. Whatever tends to clarify or
intensify the image or idea tends to precipitate
the act. This is what was meant in the fourth
chapter, when it was said that "attention is the
basis of every act of will." An idea, once intro-
duced into consciousness, derives its ''will
power," its action strength, from the degree to
which it can completely dominate consciousness.
This domination will depend partly on the intrin-
sic intensity and impulsiveness of the idea, partly
on the degree to which it is reinforced by inner
processes — attention, ideal, etc. Other things be-
ing equal, this power depends on the amount of
attention the idea receives.

When such an idea originates more or less di-
rectly or spontaneously in the mind of the actor,
we call it an intention, a purpose, an impulse, etc.
When its origin can be traced further back to
some more or less obvious external source, a pic-
ture, a command or an invitation of a second per-
son, the behavior of another person or group of
persons, etc., we call it a suggestion. Suggestion,
then, is no more a mystery than the fact that 1
can speak or write my thoughts, button my coat
or sharpen my lead pencil at pleasure. But just
as there are certain laws which experiment and
general observation show to control the maximum

223

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

efficiency of voluntary action, so there are certain
conditions on which the action power of sugges-
tion depends. We shall enumerate the most im-
portant of these conditions and illustrate them by
examples in the field of advertising.

THE LAWS OB SUGGESTION

1. Decision is only another name for the final
outcome of the rivalry of competing ideas. It is,
then, important, in appealing over the short cir-
cuit for a specific line of action, not to suggest
interference, not to suggest an opposing action,
a substitute, a rival idea. Any such suggestion
will simply impede the action power of the first
idea, by inviting comparison and making neces-
sary a more or less deliberate choice. This will
immediately involve long circuit response, the di-
rect appeal will be reduced to ** reason why"
copy, and the original purpose of the suggestion
will be defeated. It is not necessary to give ex-
amples of the violation or observance of this law.

2. The strength of a suggestion will be the
greater the more the suggestion appears to be of
spontaneous internal origin. Every one of us is
predisposed in favor of his own ideas. We in-
stinctively resist encroachment, domination, ex-

224

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

ternal control. But we welcome and magnify an
impulse, a tendency, a line of action that seems
to have originated in our own bosom. For this
reason an external suggestion which seeks max-
imal action power should be addressed to some
present interest, personal value or universal in-
stinct. Such appeals are not readily recognized as
external and foreign. They are readily assimi-
lated and transformed into personal intentions.
Two common tendencies of current advertising
take advantage of this principle. One is the
tendency to give news interest to advertising
copy. The advertisement thus easily appears as
simply an avenue of information, the beseeching
or the arrogant tones are lost, and the action sug-
gested seems easily to be a quite natural and mat-
ter-of-fact intention of the reader. The other
tendency is the constant use of repetition and
variation. By these means the particular time
and place of origin of the suggestion are lost. So
long as I can say, ' ' This or that suggestion comes
from this or that advertisement," the appeal re-
mains external and foreign. But when that same
appeal has met me in a score of places and in a
score of forms, the particular source fades into
an indefinite and apparently universal one, a per-
fectly familiar one, so familiar, indeed, that the

225

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

suggestion seems to have been with me all my life,
it appears to be an idea of my own, a plan which I
have always harbored, and I am surprised that I
have delayed its execution so long. The growing
practice of signing advertising copy must cer-
tainly work against this second law of suggestion,
and is hence utterly unsuited for direct appeals,
though perhaps no impediment to ''reason why"
copy. The Hand Sapolio crusade began with the
simple command "Be Clean," expressed in vari-
ous forms and places. The constant presence of
this injunction is said to have unconsciously
raised the standard of personal cleanliness, and
made a market in the locality for Hand Sapolio.
Obviously if this crusade had been flagrantly
conducted, or associated definitely with a given
signboard or placard, the exhortation would have
been resented, rather than complied with.

3. The action power of a suggestion depends,
among other things, on its actual intrinsic in-
tensity, force and vigor. The motor response to
an image is not so strong as that to an actual im-
pression. But the more an image comes to re-
semble an impression, the more intense and in-
sistent it becomes, the stronger becomes the re-
sponse. Hence -the suggestion should be as defi-
nite, pointed, incisive and vigorous as it can be

226

TROVOKING THE RESPONSE

while yet conforming to the second law. It should
ring with confidence, certainty and conviction.
The action suggested should be specific, clear and
full of necessity. Thos. E. Dockrell, in a
trenchant essay on this law, has pointed out its
confirmation in history, literature and business,
at the same time recognizing the distinction be-
tween ''domination" and ''arrogance" — empha-
sizing thereby the necessity of conforming to the
second law as well as to the third. See in this
connection also Scott's chapter on "The Direct
Command. ' '

4. Suggestion is most active at its positive pole.
Whenever possible, the human mind works in
terms of positives rather than negatives, simi-
larities rather than differences, presences rather
than absences. Ask a group of men to compare
two buildings in height, two noises in intensity,
two towns in size, two men with respect to their
eflBciency. Nine out of ten will tell you which is
the highest, the loudest, the largest or the ablest.
Only rarely will you find a man who thinks in
terms of shortness, faintness, smallness or weak-
ness. Just as association leads forward more
strongly than backward, so attention, judgment
and interest are drawn to the positives, the affirm-
atives, the similarities of the world. We say

227

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE •

things differ in length, strength, importance, not
in shortness, weakness, insignificance. Even when
an appeal is couched in negative terms, its posi-
tive suggestion is more likely to be realized than
its negative. The Old Covenant with its ''Thou
shalt not" had to be replaced by the New Cove-
nant with its simple positive ' * Thou shalt. ' '

Miinsterberg tells a story of an alchemist who
sold directions for turning eggs into gold. The
buyer was to hold a pan containing the yolks of a
dozen eggs, and stir these eggs for half an hour
without ever thinking of the word ''hippopota-
mus. ' ' Thousands tried, but none succeeded in re-
sisting the positive suggestion. The same writer
continues : ' ' Whether shop girls in a department
store are advised to ask after every sale 'Do you
want to take it with you?' or 'Do you want it
sent?' makes no difference to the feeling of the
customers, but may mean for the store a differ-
ence of thousands for the delivery service."

5. The strength of a suggestion will depend
also on the degree of attention under which it
operates. This law follows naturally from the
second and third laws in which the importance of
intensity and clearness was pointed out. If you
will recall the enumeration of the laws and re-
sults of attention you will remember that the

228

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

processes attended to becomes both clearer and
more intense than it would otherwise be. And
since intensity and clearness influence to so
marked a degree the action-power of a suggestion,
the importance of attention is obvious.

Even when the suggestion is subliminal, that
is, below the threshold of consciousness, it pos-
sesses action power, and this action power will
depend on the variability or constancy of the at-
tention given to the general field in which the
stimulus occurs. The writer has often been told
by active copy men that the psychological subtle-
ties in advertising are a mere pastime, since the
genuine power of advertisements comes from the
unconscious influence which they exert on the
reader's mind rather than on any conscious men-
tal process set up. It need only be said that in
so far as there are such things as unconscious
suggestions they operate according to the same
laws as do suggestions of which we are keenly
aware. These laws of attention, perception, in-
terest, association, memory, choice and action ap-
ply to both with equal rigor.

One of the writer's students has recently per-
formed experiments which clearly illustrate the
dependence of even unconscious suggestion on de-
gree of attention. It is a well-known fact that

229

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

the addition of wing lines pointing in opposite di-
rections may change the apparent length of a
base line. Thus the base line in A seems longer

than in B, although they are really of the same
length. Practically everybody gets this illusion,
which depends upon the strength of some sugges-
tion coming from the added wings. Take the
wings away and the lines at once appear equal.
What now would be the result if the wings were

really present, but were drawn so faintly that the
observer, at the distance at which he is placed
in the experiment, cannot detect them, but sees
only the broad strong base line? The suggestion
afforded by the wings is present on the retina, but
too faint and weak to come to consciousness. The
experiment here referred to shows that even un-

230

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

der these conditions 17 out of 20 observers yield
to the suggestion and pronounce A longer than
B. Yet at the end of the experiment of 50 trials
for each observer, not one of them even suspected
the presence of the wings. They merely thought
themselves to be judging the length of two sim-
ple black lines. Certain other investigators have
reported similar results.

But some people get the illusion with subcon-
scious wings more strongly and frequently than
others. The table on page 232 shows the per
cent, of the total trials in which each observer
pronounced A to be longer than B. In such a
table 50 per cent, wdll mean that no illusion is
present, but that, being compelled to choose be-
tween A and B, the chances are even. But every
per cent, above 50 will indicate the presence of
the illusion due to the subconscious suggestion.
It will be seen that only three observers have 50
per cent, records or lower, the others ranging up-
ward to as high as 76 per cent., the average being
60 per cent.

How can we explain these striking individual
differences? Comparison of these records with
the scholarship record for the course of study
which these people were taking at the time shows
high correlation between the scholarship grade

231

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

and the illusion record. People who get the illu-
sion strongly are the people with high grades,
people with firm and steady attention habits. The
people whose illusion records are low are those
whose scholarship is also low. The records of the

TABLE XII

Per Ceniage of Times
Individual Illusion Occurred

1 76

2 73

3 72

4 68

5 67

6 66

7 66

8 65

9 65

10 63

11 62

12 60

13 58

14 57

15 57

16 i 52

17 52

18 50

19 50

20 44

experimenter made during the trials also show
that those observers who paid close attention to
the task were the ones who were most influenced
by the suggestion. It follows, then, that even the
unconscious influence of appeals will depend on
the degree and duration of attention to the gen-
eral field in which the suggestion appears.

232

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

6. The action power of a suggestion will de-
pend furthermore on the pr&siig^ of its source.
The currents and trends of imitation in social
life are perfect examples of this law. Custom,
style, innovations, always trickle downward from
the higher social strata. The butler apes his lord-
ship and the sewing girl her mistress. In logic
and politics and many other places the ''argu-
memtum ad hominem" is a dangerous fallacy.
This argument proceeds by saying, for instance,
that ''man is immortal because Sir Oliver Lodge
says he is." The more we revere a speaker for
one reason or another, the greater confidence we
tend to put in what he has to say on any topic
whatsoever and the more prone we are to imitate
him and to follow out his suggestions. In hyp-
notic experiments, the subject, it is said, must be
en rapport with the operator, must have utter
confidence and faith in him if the experiment is
to work.

Similarly in laboratory tests of the persuasive
value of different types of advertising copy, all
investigators. Gale, Scott, Strong and the writer,
for example, find that such things as the reliabil-
ity of the firm, the reputation for straight dealing,
the length of time which the firm has survived
competition, etc., stand out clearly in direct ap-

233

• PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

peals which the experiment declares to be effec-
tive.

7. Closely related to the foregoing principle is
the law that the strength of a suggestion will be
determined partly by the amount of internal re-
sistance which the suggestion encounters. Sug-
gestions to violate lifelong habits, firmly fixed
moral feelings, sacred relationships, are impotent
even during the hypnotic trance. ' So in advertis-
ing, the attempt to displace habits, usages and
practices of long standing by simple suggestion,
affirmation or assertion, is a heavy one. The sug-
gestion will be most effective when it caii call
to its aid some other interest or impulse with
which it can cooperate.

8. Finally, the strength of a suggestion will de-
pend on the frequency with which it is met. Im-
pression after impression may summate them-
selves to produce a final intensity greater by far
than any single stimulus could be. The role of
repetition in attention, interest, association and
memory we have already pointed out. And here,
in the field of action, we, find it to have equal if
not even greater importance. No better illustra-
tion of this principle can be found than the para-
ble of ''the borrowing friend." The claims of
prestige, sympathy and friendship all failed to

234

PROVOKING THE RESPONSE

secure the three loaves, but persistence, simple
repetition did the work. "I say unto you,
though he will not rise and give him, because he
is his friend, yet because of his importunity he
will rise and give him as many as he needeth"
(St. Luke, XI, 8).

But while repetition is effective, it is at the
same time expensive, and hence should not be
employed indiscriminately. Repetition should be
frequent enough to keep the appeal always fresh
in the memory. More than this amount is likely
to be superfluous. What, then, will be the most
economical distribution of repetitions? In a gen-
eral way it may be said that the distribution of
repetitions should conform to the normal curve
of forgetting, which has already been described.

But it should be pointed out and clearly borne
in mind that mere mechanical repetition avails
little unless the repeated stimulus is attended to
with more or less interest. For example, give
some one a list of fifty words and request him
to name, as quickly as possible, the opposites or
synonyms of all the words on the list. Repeat
this day after day until the observer has read
through the list say 25 or 50 times. Then ask
him to name or write down the original list of
stimulus words which the card contains. You

235

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

may be surprised to learn that only ten or twelve
of the fifty words can be given in three to five
minutes, and that even in a quarter of an hour
the observer will be unable to recall more than
about half of the list. He has repeatedly read
through the list, that is, mechanical repetition has
been present, but he has not read with the de-
termination to remember, that is, his interest ha^
not been in the original list, but in the opposites
or synonyms which he was required to give. Now
give the observer a new list of words, ask him to
read them through with the intention of remem-
bering them, and you will find that after a very
few repetitions he can repeat the whole list cor-
rectly. Mere mechanical repetition, that is to say,
is as futile as mere mechanical intensity, magni-
tude or contrast. Only when repetition is accom-
panied by interest is it likely to be worth what it
costs.

CHAPTEB XIII

INSTINCTS, THEIE NATUEE AND STEENGTH

In the history of the race certain objects or sit-
uations in the world have stood out as funda-
mentally important factors in the struggle for
survival, for supremacy and for comfort. Fur-
ther, definite kinds of response have been proven
to be most appropriate in dealing with these ob-
I jects. Individuals who have reacted promptly
; and definitely in these appropriate ways have
been successful, have flourished, and have left de-
' scendants who possessed the samejnborn tenden-
cies to reaction. Individuals who for one reason
or another failed to react in these appropriate
ways perished. The result has been a constant^
selection of those individuals who possess more;
and more firmly the natural mechanical tendency
to react in the way which race history has proven
to be appropriate. These reactions in their finally ,
developed form are called instincts.

We may look upon the instinct as a very com-
plicated reflex action. Just as the eyelid reflexly

237

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

blinks when a blow is struck, without the volition
of the owner, so the organism behaves relflexly in
definitely useful ways in the presence of certain
kinds of objects. The sight of one boy sets up the
pugilistic attitude on the part of another. The
presence of her child leads the normal mother to
varied acts of caressing, nursing and protecting.
The discovery of a rich gold deposit attracts men
from all parts of the world, who dig out ore and
hide it away in secret places, just as a bird hides
pieces of twine, a water rat all manner of stray
objects. The discovery of a remedy for a hitherto
incurable disease sets all the world a-talking and
a-buying.

These actions we say come so promptly and
universally because of the common instincts
which men possess, instincts of pugnacity, rivalry,
maternal love, accumulation, acquisition, self-de-
pendence, curiosity, play, construction, economy,
sympathy, imitation, family affection, social co-
operation, display, sexual mating, hunting, hospi-
tality, civic and national pride, leadership, etc.,
etc.

From the point of view of the advertiser, the
important thing is that if an appeal can but touch
off one of these instinct mechanisms it is sure of
at once possessing attention power, interest,

238

INSTINCTS, THEIR NATURE AND STRENGTH

imagery, association and memory value, and is
extremely likely to set up strong response. And
the stronger and more universal the instinct, the
greater the likelihood of its effectiveness. Most
articles can be described so as to appeal to any
one of a wide range of instincts. Thus an ordi-
nary article, such as a clothes-dryer, can be em-
phasized as cheap, as safe, as popular, as home-
made, as amusing, as clean, etc. An advertise-
ment of the Hill Clothes Dryer, wretchedly
constructed from the artistic point of view, never-
theless presented an argument which appealed
strongly to the universal interest in bodily safety.
In an experiment on the relative persuasiveness
of 75 subway cards the writer found this card to
be unanimously the most convincing of the series.
And he is informed that the copy has produced
gratifying results from the point of view of sales.
Twenty years ago advertisements failed to rec-
ognize the specific character of instincts ; appeals
tended to be of a vague, generalized sort which in
our day would pass unobserved by a busy public.
But the present practice is more and more to rec-
ognize the specific instinct as a basis of appeal,
and to concentrate the appeal strongly on a single
instinct rather than to distribute it among many.
The following pairs of advertisements reprinted

239

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

from Advertising and Selling clearly show this
tendency. Compare the vague, generalized copy
of 1890 with the definite pointed appeals of
twenty years later.

We shall take up, in a moment, the question of
the relative strength of these specific instincts as

yiNOTHER NOTABLE FEATURE

New York Central Service

*'Ofc

Adirondack
Golf

No Extra Fare Charged on this Train.

1890—

1910

a basis of appeal in advertising. But before pass-
ing to this problem, it is necessary to point out
another important group of factors, which,
while they can scarcely be called instincts, yet
closely resemble them in character. The instinct
we are born with. It is the result of the experi-
ence of our ancestors. But during our own lives

240

INSTINCTS, THEIR NATURE AND STRENGTH

we all come to acquire certain other prompt re-
actions to the particular things in our experience.

^ JOHN SEBASTIAN."!

1800^

Thus, the moment a thing can be demonstrated to
be chic, stylish, nobby, modern, popular, clean,
artistic, imported, scientifically made, guaran-
teed, elegant, socially advantageous, progressive,
gentlemanly, bohemian, refined, sporty, up-to-

241

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

date, used by some favorite, etc., etc., it will at
once find a market of greater or less extent and
permanence.

!?/..

^^v

^^oom'lr^^ now in California

The Golden State Limited

find you in«y reve! ;ii the h-,- ! •■[

amid A tbt oi (la^raJit bl>t--
The KDing IS, not a JounKi/. : -
^'.oWrD Staic UmitciL"

vcr)' drtoil of peifrct tervkc bj^ the roufc nf

-'•mwJe Daily from CHicago U> Las- An«e!c«,

-: ,■ i,..„j,J i5an Frandtfco. Aniiffx car ftorn St;

- ' fiains cvtr** day ficwn CKtCHgo, St.

SanUi

iri^fcs.

E 9Uns-. 1*^1 ^ ^

J^ocklslaivd'^frisco J^n&s^

1910

Let us call tliese ideas effective conceptions.
The general law is: Besides our instinctive ac-
tions our conduct roots largely in a few funda-
mental conceptions, ideas, values, standards,
which we apply as action criteria. The moment

242

INSTINCTS, THEIR NATURE AND STRENGTH

an appeal, a suggestion, an object, can be classi-
fied under one or other of these headings, our at-
titude toward it is determined. Throw an at-
mosphere of elegance, of style or of healthfulness

^/7) Seeing

Believing

"Actions alidMyi sprak louder ihan wortji."
and (Of ih.* itjwn WILLIAMS" SHAV.
INC STICK M IK own b«it advouie. It
t itory — an rnchanting lak- to rvcry shaver.
Pethapt vou, h»vc been usinR v>mc olS«r kind ;
found, it good. too. «iuyl>e. Bm ihcrt- arc dc Kree:* p( /wvi
^M, and the gloiy o( Williams' Shaving StKk is that

U It true? We certainly do itotJiMcn-
ionally misrepresent matterv ThouianJ^ upOf» Ihou-

-who*i

eofil.

But - v-*.nt IS bil«»«ng," and
m/k way (or vou to know jboiit WHtn
Shaving SiKk IS to fry ■/ yonntif.

An e:»minaiK>n o( Ihe biau
cascflfa'^rreKe civcf. gitld-hct(>it.n(l tntvriur) I
and ol ihc dtticaii' roM-sccnd-d, tream-culurvd |
voap.and an .ipplicat'on of ih«- d<:ltcious,tre,in
like biher up«»n youf (.i.f. wH '■n»bl« y.m i
judge Will >-Oifcinal'i itii-. ojmination*

a<^ TtM 1. S. WILUAM* CO.. OlMtOtibuffc fCv^n.,

After
Baby's Bath

folds \nA criutcs of (ht
slitn ll "lU ptntnt and
jKmatc chnfinc pncl^ly
btM sikJ olhcr irniJtK^ns
(.yniiTion |i> mfimv impjrt
a vcl\ct> vftoc»« to iht
sku ind prv*« dcliffhtfullv
vHnhmR wkI rcfrtsKinR

Williams IS a dclicittK
[xrlmwtt late powder ab
•mlmily ptire iiid of i\nMi^
inipfllptbit; fini

1890- 1910

about clothing, breakfast foods, soaps, musical
instruments, etc., as the case may be, and the
reader will at once react to it by "short circuit"
response, either favorably or unfavorably, accord-
ing as the conception used is in his particular case
effective or weak. Since these effective concep-
tions are in their action similar to instincts, we
may group the two together in our attempt to
learn how these differ among themselves in

243

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

strength and action-power, how these differences
vary with sex, age, class, occupation, commodity,
etc. We must say to begin with that this is at
present a field which is almost unworked experi-
mentally. General comments and opinions are
abundant, and they are just about as reliable as
such random observations usually are. The ex-
perimental results which we shall report will,
then, represent pioneer investigations of their
kind, and must be held subject to such modifica-
tion and correction as later investigation shall
suggest.

So far we have emphasized only the principles
controlling the direct appeal to ''short circuit" re-
sponse. There remains yet the ''reason why" ap-
peal to comparison, argument and deliberate
choice, to the "long circuit" action of reason. It
is evidently impossible to say in general terms
what sorts of arguments, what methods of rea-
soning, what sort of "selling points" or "rea-
sons" will be effective. These facts will vary
with the type of article advertised, with the type
of man appealed to, and with the actual points of
superiority which the goods may chance to pos-
sess. But it may be said that even in our reason-
ing it is the appeal to our own point of view,
our own dominant instincts, conceptions, values,

244 *

INSTINCTS, THEIR NATURE AND STRENGTH

habits and needs that constitutes the most effec-
tive argument. The answer to the (question of the
relative value of types of argument, selling
points, etc., may then be left to the experiments
which are to follow.

Since the short circuit appeal is based on the
fact that human beings are equipped with cer-
tain instinctive tendencies to react in definite
ways toward particular objects or situations, it
follows that this type of appeal is particularly
'adapted to the case of certain commodities — to
those types of articles toward which or toward
the use or services of which we react with prompt-
ness, certainty, and feeling. And since acquired
habits come to resemble instincts in these re-
spects, we may include both habits and instincts
as the basis of the short circuit appeal. In a
general way we may say that the following prin-
ciples are true.

The short circuit appeal (display advertise-
ment, appeal to instinct, feeling and habit) is well
.adapted :

1. For all personal articles, the use of which
is intimate and private, 2^^ toilet articles, gifts,
stationery, etc.

2. For articles of luxury, display, and adorn-

' 245

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ment, as jewelry, fancy dress goods, feathers and
plumes, flowers, etc.

3. For articles enjoyed in themselves or for
their own sake, rather than for remote service
which they may render, as drinks, musical instru-
ments, sweetmeats, toys, etc.

4. For articles calculated to promote the hod-
il'y safety of the individual or of those dependent
on him, as disinfectants, safety devices, insur-
ance, weapons of defence, etc.

5. For all food products.

6. For all clothing which tends to be orna-
mental rather than utilitarian in character, as
ties, collars, laces, canes, etc.

The long circuit appeal (reason why copy, ar-
gument, comparative statement of advantages,
etc.) may also be used to reinforce the strength
of many of the short circuit appeals used in such
cases as those just enumerated. But it is espe-
cially fitted, by its nature and by the way in which
it will be reacted to, for articles which are the re-
verse of these in character ; for articles which are
in themselves, or from the use to which they are
put, impersonal, utilitarian, instrumental ; and for
articles which are intended not so much to fill
present needs only, but also to create new needs
or desires — such articles as books, plows, buttons,

246

INSTINCTS, THEIR NATURE AND STRENGTH

hammers, trucks, etc. — in general, to those things
which partake of the nature of a tool.

It is further true that not all instincts are
equally strong, not all habits equally coercive.
This being the case, information concerning the
relative strength of various possible appeals to
interest, attention, instinct and response tenden-
cies is desirable. To men who desire to make their
copy or their selling talk effective, and at the
same time economical, the question of the relative
strength of appeals, instincts, interests and effec-
tive habits is a live one. The writer has repeat-
edly been asked by such men to state the relative
strength of various appeals in the case of the
average man — to say in how far certain interests
are universal, to what degree certain general
types are pronounced, and how they are dis-
tributed and conditioned by age, sex, race, etc.
The practical man expects the expert psycholo-
gist to possess such information, and he has the
right to expect much more than we are at present
able to tell him.

Only one or two fragmentary attempts have
been made to answer such questions experi-
mentally. Thus Harlow Gale studied a series of
soap advertisements by the method of question-
naire and voluntary introspection. His results,

247

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

when worked over into terms of relative position,
would yield some such result as the following.
The smaller the number the higher the position,
hence the stronger the appeal.

TABLE XIII

Appeal

Relative Position

Purity by government's test

Old firm

Home industry

"Attractiveness"

Special sale

Souvenir prize

2.29
2.11
3.49
3.49
4.06
3.47

The manager of a western magazine, as re-
ported by Scott, secured thousands of replies
from readers as to which advertisement for a
given month had interested them most, and why.
The following table resulted:

TABLE XIV

Reason

Number of
replies

Reliability of firm or goods

Money considerations, cheapness . . .

Beauty of the advertisement

Presented goods needed at the time

607
508
418
408

Obviously such meager and generalized results
are of little value. What is needed is a series of

248

INSTINCTS, THEIR NATURE AND STRENGTH

■^lOiC OUd^U^>0^>0C0U3^^u? lOiOO-^-^

«5t-000>»0>05050»OOOO"-i'<

M ■<(<00iO00

S a S .

a OQ o ^

^■d*i — .2"^ t«c g*j =73 c V

3 o (s o * « 5^J2i^ o Sj3 S *i «

O <D_ u*3 a£ C -2 ^ C. i-i wPh 01-3 C v

bo^ a
03^3 2

11.2^

W)5S 5" . .

> on . >-•-

II t, o

""•^ S
•" 5p-i
■"^
.5 »ao

g'ooO

<s °
o 03 a

"(Eg

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;o6 © o

■o c a 03^

=3 S « a ^'-S o a " ■ M^
fc a5°-«o^3-oo2S

249

ajS 3 I

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

rigorous test experiments, under conditions which
are constant, and by methods which will afford
comparative numerical measures.

Strong has reported experiments designed to
determine the relative value of various argu-
ments in favor of a given type of commodity by
securing typical advertisements of such articles
and using the methods which were referred to in
the first chapter of this book and which are to be
described in detail in the chapter which is to fol-
low. His studies include such special articles as
vacuum cleaners, pianos, breakfast foods, and
soaps. An interesting presentation and interpre-
tation of his results is given in his doctor's dis-
sertation on ''The Relative Merits of Advertise-
ments." The preceding tabulation of the results
of the series of breakfast food appeals will serve
as an example of the suggestive information
which such experiments yield.

Studies of the sort reported by Gale, Scott and
Strong (some of Strong's experiments have been
subsequently repeated and confirmed by Starch,
with clothing advertisements) are especially use-
ful as pointing the way toward the possibility of
a complete exploration of the range of human in-
terests and instincts. In the following chapter
will be given an account of such an attempt, which

250

INSTINCTS, THEIR NATURE AND STRENGTH

in point of time antedated the experiments of
Strong and Starch, but which logically follows
upon them. We shall there present a series of
measurements which apply, not to special articles,
but to all articles in general, arranged in such a
way that the relative value of various appeals for
any specified commodity may be approximately
determined by reference to the larger table.

It should be said here that we are not inter-
ested, in this connection, with the strength of the
various instincts and interests in phases of life
other than that of the business transaction. Nor
can knowledge of the strength of the various in-
stinctive tendencies as they display themselves in
the home, the school, or in sport, serve as a basis
for determination of the strength of the same in-
stinctive tendencies when they constitute reac-
tions to business appeals. Thus one might be ex-
ceedingly vain and much concerned with his per-
sonal appearance in a general way, and yet mis-
trust appeals in the way of advertisements and
selling talks based upon such an instinct. One
might be sedulously careful of his health, so far
as his own activity might be concerned, and yet
mistrust assertions of the health-promoting qual-
ities of any advertised article of commerce. And

251

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

an individual with strong imitative tendencies
with respect to his general behavior might yet
refuse to adopt a given article or style of dress
merely because some favorite opera singer or
public official had recommended it.

CHAPTER XIV

THE EELATIVE STEENGTH OF THE CHIEF
INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

Before taking up the main topic of this chap-
ter, it will be well to consider in some detail the
method by which the results here presented were
secured. We have frequently had occasion to re-
fer to methods of measuring the strength of such
subjective things as the strength of appeals, the
persuasiveness of advertisements, etc. How,
now, is it possible to measure these subjective fac-
tors, so long as there is no objective scale with
which they may be compared? A few illustra-
tions may throw light on the problem.

Suppose that I have in my laboratory a series
of weights which differ from each other by very
small amounts. Suppose, further, that I desire
to know the relative weight of the members of
the series, but have no balance with which to
weigh them, and that the differences between
those most like each other are so small that I can-
not absolutely trust to my judgments when I lift

253

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

the weights in my hand and compare them with
each other. I may be led to mistrust my judg-
ments because I do not always judge consistently,
or because the judgments of other people in the
laboratory disagree somewhat with mine. These
conditions being given, is it possible for me in any
way to determine with certainty the order of the
weights as that order would turn out if a balance
were available ? The answer is that it is not only
possible, but at the same time very easily accom-
plished. All I need to do is to let a large number of
people, say twenty different individuals, arrange
the weights in what seem to them to be the order
of their relative heaviness, when lifted in the
hand. Then taking the average of the twenty
judgments of each weight in the series, I derive a
final order based on the combined judgments of
the twenty observers. This final order will be
found to coincide with the order of heaviness as
determined by the balances, when such are avail-
able. Anyone who doubts may easily satisfy him-
self by trying the experiment. If there are, say,
seven weights in the series, and five different in-
dividuals pass judgments upon them, some such
table as the one on page 255 will result:

The order of heaviness, as determined by the
judgments of the group of observers, is seen to

254

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

afford a correct statement of the real relative
heaviness of the series of weights. The objective
scale (the balance) is unnecessary. We have used
it here only in order to check up the order as de-

TABLE XVI

Typical Table Resulting from Order of Merit Method

The
Weights

Position in order of weight, as
judged by five persons

Average
Position

Order of
Heaviness

65 grams
63 grams
61 grams
59 grams
57 grams
55 grams
53 grams

6.8
6.0
4.8
4.2
3.0
1.8
1.4

termined by the judgments. In the same way it
is possible to determine the order of intensity of
a series of sounds, the relative legibility of speci-
mens of handwriting, the relative length of lines
differing only slightly from each other, the rela-
tive excellence of literary compositions, the rela-
tive eminence of scientific men, the relative per-
suasiveness of selling talks, the pulling power of
advertisements, the strength of various appeals
to instincts and interests.

It must be noted that in the experiment on the
series of weights, I do not ask my observers to ar-
range the weights in the order in which they think

255

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

they would appear to some other individual, nor
in the order in which they think they would ap-
pear to people in general, nor even in the order
in which they think the weights would be shown
to stand when measured on the balance. I in-
struct each individual, '^ Arrange the weights in
the order of heaviness as they seem to you when
you consider them. Arrange them in the order in
which they affect you when you lift them. ' ' Simi-
larly, if I am studying a series of advertisements,
I do not say: "Arrange these appeals in order
according to the way in which you think they
would affect other people," but I say: "Here
are a series of appeals. Arrange them in order
according to the degree to which they make you
desire the article, or interest you in it, or incline
you favorably toward it." That is to say, I do
not ask him to judge whether or not the various
appeals are good advertisements (persuasive to
people in general). Similarly, if I am studying a
series of landscapes, I do not ask my observers to
arrange them in the order of beauty as they think
other people would be affected by them. I merely
say: "Which picture is most beautiful to you?
Put it at the top. Which of the remaining ones
is most beautiful? Put it next in order, etc."
But my final orders of merit will represent the

256

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

way in which people as a whole, in general, on
the average, or in the long run, will react to the
objects studied. Or if any objective measurement
is possible, the final order will coincide with these
objective measurements. In other words, the de-
terminations afforded by the experimental
methods are true measures of the qualities or
traits investigated.

This is the method which was used in measur-
ing the relative pulling power of the different
series of advertisements discussed in the first
chapter of this book. And it was there shown
that the results of the laboratory tests actually
enabled us to know in advance the relative order
of pulling power of the advertisements when they
were used in business. It should be said further,
that, by the use of the proper precision and sta-
tistical method, it is not only possible to deter-
mine the relative order of these subjective fac-
tors, but to measure the amount of difference be-
tween the various members of the series. A dis-
cussion of these further refinements of the
method would involve more technicality than it is
the purpose of this book to contain. Readers
who may be interested in knowing more about the
method, its history, applications, and possibili-
ties, may be referred to Strong's monograph en-

257

PRINCIPLES 07 APPEAL AND RESPONSE

titled ''The Relative Merits of Advertisements."
This monograph consists of the elaboration and
justification of the method here described, with
applications. Thorndike's ''Mental and Social
Measurements" gives a useful account of the sta-
tistical and mathematical points involved in such
measurements.

Having given this brief description and justifi-
cation of the laboratory method, we are now
ready for the results of an extensive experiment
on the strength of such appeals as may be used in
various business situations. In order to get at
the strength of the appeal in itself, and independ-
ently of any particular article or brand in connec-
tion with which it might appear, abstract appeals
have been used, which referred not to any com-
modity in particular, but to an ideal, imaginary
article, designated by an abstract symbol, such as
3K7. The value of abstracting from particular
commodities will be pointed out after the results
have been given. Fifty abstract appeals, each de-
signed to reach a definite and different interest,
instinct, or line of argument, were prepared.
These appeals were typewritten on separate slips
of paper, and presented without being accom-
panied by picture or illustration. In addition to
the statement of the appeal, each card bore a sin-

258

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

gle word or pair of words, designed to emphasize
the specific character and direction of the appeal,
to reinforce the suggestion or argument offered
by the text itself, and to insure, in so far as pos-
sible, the same attitude on the part of all the ob-
servers in the presence of the respective appeals.
By employing such material the following results
were secured:

1. Each appeal tends to be single and uncom-
plicated by other interests.

2. Each is divorced from reactions to aYiy ar-
ticle or brand as such.

3. The elimination of illustrations and the
use of the same general style and expres-
sion lends homogeneity to the group of ap-
peals.

4. A wide range of specialized isolated ap-
peals is secured, which fairly represents
the possible range of appeal afforded by
human nature.

The series of 50 appeals was given, to each ob-
server, along with the following printed direc-
tions.

DIRECTIONS

(Read these directions two times, carefully, before
beginning the experiment.)

259

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

This is an experiment in the psychology of adver-
tising. Its purpose will be explained after you have
finished the series. Each card contains an advertise-
ment of some fictitious article, indicated by a letter-
numeral symbol (thus, 3K7). It need make no differ-
ence what the article might really be. It may be well
to assume that all the cards advertise different brands
or makes of the same article, — some ideal, imaginary
article, to which any or all of the advertisements might
apply.

I. Read all the advertisements through and arrange
them in five consecutive piles, in an order of merit, —
according to their persuasiveness, i. e., according to the
degree in which they make you desire the article or
convince you of its merit.

There will thus be five degrees of persuasiveness,
which might be roughly designated:

1. Most persuasive.

2. Very persuasive.

3. Fairly persuasive.

4. Mildly persuasive.

5. Least persuasive.

Arrange the five piles in a row so that Group 1 is at
the top. Group 5 at the bottom, and the three other

260

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

groups in their respective positions between these ex-
tremes.

II. Having done this turn to the top pile (Group 1)
and arrange the advertisements in that group in a strict
order of merit, — the strongest in the pile thus getting
the first position, the next strongest the second position,
and so on.

After the top pile is arranged, treat each of the other
groups in the same manner. In this way the whole
series of advertisements will have been arranged in an
order of merit series with respect to their persuasive-
ness,— with the most persuasive at the top and the least
persuasive at the bottom.

III. Without disturbing your arrangement of the
Groups, notify the experimenter that you have com-
pleted the series.

The 50 different appeals follow, arranged in a
final order of merit for a group of 40 observers,
consisting of 20 men and 20 women. The first
pair of figures gives the average value and mean
variation for the women, the second pair the
measures for the men.

1. 1K6,— SCIENTIFIC:— Our 1K6 article is man-
ufactured by approved scientific methods and
by scientifically tested processes, by technically
261

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

trained men, working under the constant super-
vision of experts.

2—9.1 ; 2—8.4

2. 1W5,— DURABILITY :— Combine utility with

durability by using 1W5. It lasts one-third

longer than the ordinary article. Stands the

wear and tear of constant use, combining equal

quality with greater permanence and longer

service.

1—8.2 ; 6—8.0

3. 1F3,— SANITARY :— This is the only sanitary
1F3 on the market. Put up in germ-proof, dust-
proof, hermetically sealed packages, and made
of strictly pure and unadulterated ingredients.

5—7.7; 3—10.5

4. 2D8,— EFFICIENCY :— Actual energy, earn-
ing power, is what counts in modern business.
The day is past when recognition rested on pull
and social influence. 2D8 will increase your effi-
ciency 25%. By no other means can you secure
such prompt and sure increase of producing ca-
pacity.

7—12.8; 8—13.7

262

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

5. 1T8,— TIME :— Save the minutes and the
hours will save themselves. Time is money. Our
latest 1T8 is the biggest time saver on the mar-
ket. Does in twenty minutes what requires, with
other brands, a half an hour.

3—8.6 ; 14—12.2

6. 1N6,— APPETIZING :— Try 1N6. It comes
fresh from the field and its appetizing flavor is
a treat to the palate. It makes a dainty break-
fast, a delightful luncheon, and a delicious des-
sert.

■ 13—8.9; 5—8.8

7. 2B7,— FAMILY AFFECTION:— A final day
must come to every man, and no one wants to see
his children left dependent on mere accident.
You owe a duty of provision and foresight to
your family. A 2B7 will guarantee this comfort
and security when you are gone.

17—13.5; 1—7.7

8. 1Z5, — VALUE : — Absolutely superior quality
and finer finish. 1Z5 may cost a little more, but
it's worth the difference. One trial will con-
vince.

4— 7.3 ; 16— 10.1
263

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

9. 2L7,— EVOLUTION:— Our latest 2L7 is the
result of generations of experience and experi-
ment. After years of trial 2L7 stands distinctly
in a class by itself as the final product of a long
evolution, — the climax of mechanical genius.
11—10.9; 12—9.1

10. 2C8,— AMBITION:— There's always room
higher up. Capable leaders are always in de-
mand. Why stay among the incompetent when
2C8 will bring you a better position and increase
your salary. The man who uses 2C8 is sure of
recognition and rapid promotion.

6—10.9; 18—13.5

11. 2F6,— SELF-DEFENSE :— Forearmed is fore-
warned. Your life is always threatened by some
lurking danger or another. With 2F6 in your
home you are always secure and able to protect
the rights and person of yourself and of those
whose safety is your chief concern.

15—9.7; 10—11.3

12. 1R4,— REPUTATION:— Established in 1870,
we have been for 40 years the leading manufac-
turers of 1R4 in the country.

264

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

We have the longest and most enviable record
of any house, in our line, on the continent.
9—12.8; 21—12.0

13. 2E9, — GUARANTEED :— Our well - known
trade-mark guarantees quality and satisfaction.
All our 2E9 is strictly warranted high grade.
Your money refunded if 2E9 does not accomplish
all we claim for it.

10— 12.7; 20— 11.4

14. 1P5,— STIMULATING :—lP5 fortifies the
body against the inroads of toil and * disease,
gives new life and vigor to tired muscles and
nerves, and removes unnecessary strain and fa-
tigue.

12—9.6; 41—19.4

15. 1V3,— SAFETY:— Avoid danger by using the
only absolutely safety-built, accident-proof 1V3.
Do not court danger by taking chances. This is
the only 1V3 in which you get all the protection
and none of the risk.

26—11.5; 7—10.2

16. 1E5,— POPULAR:— The name is on all
tongues. You will find 1E5 in the ladies' dress-

265

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ing-room, in the scholar's study, in the nursery,
in kitchens of the humble, in crowded Eastern
cities and on limitless Western plains. Used in,
millions of homes and everywhere it is on top.
29—13.2; 4—9.9

17. 2R5,— ECONOMIZE :— A dollar saved is a
dollar earned. 2R5 will save you money. Why
not cut down expense items and start a bank ac-
count. 2R5 will help you do it.

14—8.0; 19—7.3

18. 1Q3,— MATERNAL LOVE —Nothing is too

good for baby. 1Q3 comforts and soothes the

little chap and makes of babyhood one happy

play time. Assures the children's health and

enjoyment.

18—11.4; 15—11.8

19. 1J4,— MODERNITY :— Strictly up-to-date de-
sign with all the latest improvements. 1J4 is
equipped with every advantage and ingenious
device known to recent invention.

22—8.8; 13—11.6

20. 1C3,— HE ALTH :— As a general tonic, 1C3 is
unequaled. It nourishes the system, enriches the

266

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

blood, builds up firm, healthy tissue and gives
tone and color to the whole body. Prevents
grippe and pneumonia.

8—10.9; 30—15.6

21. 1X9,— QUALITY -.—Why keep on wasting
money when for the price of the ordinary article
you can get our own superior 1X9. Goes far-
ther and does the work better than any other.

16—12.5; 22—9.5

22. 1A7,— ELEGANCE :— Nothing contributes so
strongly to the luxurious comfort of the modern
home as 1A7. Its presence gives dignity and
elegance to the whole and creates an atmosphere
of daintiness and distinction.

30— 10.9; 11— 10.3

23. 1G2,— BARGAIN:— No 1G2 was ever offered
before for the money. As good as any others
and only two-thirds their cost. We are enabled
to offer this proposition only by virtue of our
mammoth plant and enormous capacity. Why
pay more?

28—11.0; 17—12.0
267

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

24. 2Q7,— SYMPATHY:— Kindness is the first
, law of humanity. Much of the pain and discom-
fort inflicted on dumb animals could be relieved
by using 2Q7. Be humane to your beast. Use

2Q7.

37—15.3; 9—9.9

25. 208— NECESSARY:— You cannot afford to
do without 208. It is indispensable in your
home, in your business, in your recreation. Every
man, woman and child needs it constantly.

20—8.2; 27—14.0

26. 2W8,— MIDDLEMEN:— Why pay middle-
men 's profit ? Buy direct from the manufacturer
and keep the profits yourself. We make 2W8
and ship straight to the consumer.

23—11.7 ; 26—10.4

27. 2Z7,— COURTESY :— Nothing is more dis-
courteous than an offensive breath.

2Z7 cleanses the system, purifies the blood and
sweetens the breath.

27—10.1 ; 25—12.0

28. 2T9,— REMARKABLE GROWTH:— The su-
perior quality of 2T9 is demonstrated by the
rapid development of our business.

268

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

Total Capital, 1890,— $15,273.00

1895,— 85,896.00

" " 1900,— 240,142.00

" " 1905,— 703,279.00

" " 1910,— 3,875,639.00

19—16.3; 36—11.5

29. 1S6,— AMUSEMENT:— Don't look bored!
Buy 1S6. The most side-splitting, mirth-provok-
ing novelty ever devised. Amuses old and young.
Affords fun and laughter from morning till

night.

34—10.7 ; 23—10.6

30. 2X4,— HOSPITALITY:— Don't be content
with envying the successful hostess when you can
secure the same keen pleasure for yourself. The
homes equipped with 2X4 are known far and
wide for their generous comfort and open hospi-
tality.

24—8.0; 34—11.0

31. 2Y9,— YOUTH :— The fountain of eternal
youth has never been discovered, but it has been
demonstrated beyond a doubt that 2Y9 restores
youthful vigor, quickens the step and gives new
life to both body and mind.

24—8.9; 34—13.1
269

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

32. 2V7— HUNTING :— Just the thing for the
fishing and hunting trip. Ensures a lively spirit
in the field and solid comfort in the camp. No
vacation outfit is complete without 2V7.

31—12.1; 28—11.6

33. 109 —SOCIAL STANDING :— The use of 109
is the stamp of the gentleman. It is always
found where social standards are high, and is the
favorite of men and women of discriminating
taste and culture.

38—9.0; 24^12.6

34. 2S8,— ENORMOUS :— We have the largest es-
tablishment engaged in the production of 2S8 in
the United States.

Capital, $12,000,000.00.
Factories or branch establishments in every
prominent city in the country.

25—14.6 ; 38—11.4

35. 1Y2,— CHE AP :— Buy 1Y2. Costs just one-
half the price of its competitors. Why spend
two days' wages when one day's work will bring
our high-class article to your home?

32—10.1; 33—9.6
270

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

36. 2J9,— GET THE GENUINE :— Avoid substi-
tutes. Many may pattern after us, but none can
equal us. As a matter of fact 2J9 has many imi-
tators, but there is only one standard, genuine
article. Ask for 2J9.

21—12.0 ; 48—9.4

37. 2P6,— PROGRESS:— Don't be a dead one.
Use 2P6 and be up to date. It is an essential
part of every progressive modern establishment.

40—11.7; 29—12.3

38. 2A3, — SALE : — We are closing out our large
stock of 2A3 at a great sacrifice, to make way for
next year's goods. For the next ten days 2 A3
will be sold at less than cost. Come early. Don't
miss this rare opportunity.

41—11.3; 31—11.7

39. 2M5,— EXCEL:— Don't be a wall flower. Use
2M5 and you will be the envy of all your friends.
It gives that look of superiority which everyone
recognizes and respects, but which few possess.

36—11.7; 42—13.0

40. 2K4,— CIVIC PRIDE:— We appeal to your
civic pride. 2K4 is made in your own city, by

271

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

local workmen and backed by strictly home cap-
ital. Encourage home industry. Use 2K4.
33—15.0; 45—10.3

41. 1H9,— PATRIOTISM :— Our 1H9 product is
made for American consumers, of strictly Amer-
ican-grown materials, by an American firm em-
ploying exclusively American labor and Amer-
ican capital.

35—15.6; 43—10.3

42. 2G4,— UNION MADE :— We stand for organ-
ized labor. 2G4 is a strictly union-made product,
built by union labor, of union-raised material,
and sold exclusively by all union dealers.

49—14.6 ; 32—11.6

43. 1M8,— RECOMMENDATION:— Here's what
the world-famous tenor of the Metropolitan
Opera House says of 1M8:

"I have used your product constantly and
have continued to derive great benefit from it."
(Signed) Enrico Caruso.
46—14.0; 37—14.5

44. 1D8,— NOBBY :— Our IDS products are made
by our smartest designers, especially for those

272

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

who love nobby and dressy styles. Exclusive
patterns and dashing cuts, unequaled in snap
and color.

48—7.3; 35—10.3

45. 1B5,— STYLE :— Our new 1B5 is fresh from
the center of fashion, representing the latest cre-
ation of accepted artists of style, in exclusive de-
signs and dressy patterns, chic and strictly a la
mode.

47—5.8; 40—7.5

46. 1L7,— ROYALTY :— 1L7 will be found in most
of the houses of European royalty. We are com-
missioned by official warrant to supply 1L7 to
his Excellency, the Emperor of Germany.

50—8.5; 39—12.1

47. 2N7,— ADMIRATION :— Do you desire the ad-
miration of those you meet? Use 2N7 and you
will be the constant center of attraction to ador-
ing £ind envious eyes. No jewels or marvels of
costuming can add so much to your appearance
as 2N7.

43—9.4; 47—11.5

273

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

48. 2H8— IMPORTED:— All 2H8 products are
strictly imported and foreign stamped. 2H8
comes straight from European makers, and its
superior quality is thereby guaranteed.

45—10.0; 46—9.8

49. 1U4, — BEAUTY: — Are you as pretty as you
might be? No one wants to be homely. The
continued use of 1U4 removes the undesirable
blemish, beautifies the complexion, renders the
form attractive and gives charm to the figure.

-. • 42—8.9; 50—9.8

50. 2U3,— PERSONALITY :— Everyone desires to
be attractive to the opposite sex. 2U3 will give
you distinctive presence and engaging personal-
ity which is irresistible in its appeal.

44—10.9 ; 49—19.2

Certain sources of ''error" in such an experi-
ment are at once obvious :

1. It is difficult to keep out of even the abstract
appeals some suggestion of special reference.
Thus the appeal to appetite will inevitably sug-
gt?st food, some health appeals are strikingly
medicinal in tone, and doubtless in most cases
there is a more or less pronounced tendency to
think of one article rather than another.

274

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

2. There is a certain feeling of self-conscious-
ness and reserve in submitting honestly to such
an experiment, a tendency to place low certain
appeals which really bulk large outside of the
laboratory, or a tendency toward ideal arrange-
ment strongly suggestive of the inclination to give
learned responses in association tests.

Of these two sources of error, it may be said
that from the practical point of view only the
second is of importance. And that the danger
here is minimal is attested by the fact that the
results of such tests are verified by keyed results.
The observers used were 30 women, mostly Jun-
iors in Barnard College, taking ' their second
year's work in psychology, and 20 men in Colum-
bia College of corresponding age and class.
Twenty of the women made two arrangements,
one month apart, without meanwhile having seen
the cards. The other 10 women and the 20 men
made but one arrangement. No time limit was
given. Each observer was allowed to work over
the material until a satisfactory order had been
secured.

Comparison of the two trials of the group of
20 women will thus throw light on the permanence
of such judgments and on the constancy of differ-
ent individuals. Comparison of this group with

275

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

the group of 10 women will show how far the
average judgments of such an experiment are
typical of the results to be expected from observ-
ers of approximately the same class. Compari-
son of the group of men with the group of the
women wdll reveal such sex differences in these
traits as may be present. Separate study of each
group will show the degree of variability intro-
duced by the personal equations of the various ob-
servers, the general relationships of individual
judgments to group averages, etc. The array of
figures yielded by such an experiment is a verita-
ble mine of suggestions and material. These re-
sults from the point of view of the applied
psychologist merit discussion in detail. For the
present, however, we must limit ourselves to giv-
ing the various tables of measures and briefly
summarizing their meaning and significance for
advertising and selling.

The table gives a statement of the relative per-
suasiveness of the different appeals for men and
women, their average values and positions. In
this table the various cards which might be
classed under one general heading, such as
health, reputation, economy, etc., have been
grouped and their average taken as representing
the most probable value of th^t general type of

276

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

appeal. The second column in the table gives, for
each general type, the number of actual cards

TABLE XVII

Relative Persuasiveness for Men and Women

Appeal

Health

Cleanliness

Scientific

Time Saved

Appetizing

Efficiency

Safety

Durability

Quality

Modernity

Family Afifection .

Reputation

Guarantee

Sympathy

Medicinal

Imitation

Elegance

Courtesy

Economy

Affirmation

Sport

Hospitality

Substitutes

Clan Feeling

Nobby

Recommendation .
Social Superiority,

Imported

Beautifying

No:

40 Final
Av. Pos.

4.0
4.0
6.5
8.5
0
5
5
5
5
5
2

21.1
21.2
23.0
25.0
25.5
26.0
26.0
26.4
29.0
29.0
29.0

34.5
41.0
42.5
43.0
44.0
45.5
45.8

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9i
9^
11

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

24
25
26
27
28
29

20 Women
Av. Pos.

5.0

6.5

3.0

13.0

5.3

15.7

8.5

10.0

16.5

21.8

18.4
14.5
37.0
15.0
30.0
34.0
27.0
27.6
30.0
32.5
24.0

21.0
40.5
47.5
48.0
41.2
45.0
43.0

13
9
23
10
19
22
17
18
20
21
16

14
24
28
29
25
27
26

20 Men
Av, Pos.

3.0

7.0
14.0

5.0
13.3

5.2
14.0
19.0
12.5

8.7

32.8
28.0
9.0
35.0
21.0
17.5
25.0
35.2
28.0
25.5
34.0

48.0
41.5
37.5
38.0
47.0
46.0
48.7

277

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

averaged to give the result in tlie table. Since
this number varies from 1 to 5 the reliability of
the various measures is not uniform, but the
method reduces to a certain extent the influence of
the particular way in which one or other of the
various appeals may have been expressed.

Columns 3 and 4 give the final averages and
positions for the combined groups of 20 men and
20 women. The values range from 4.0 to 45.8,
these numbers indicating the average position in
the list of 50 possible places. The group of ap-
peals, as a whole, falls into three rather sharply
defined sections, the series breaking at values 15.2
and at 29.0, at which points there are wide gaps,
which contrast with the gradual transitions of
value within the groups. And these sections,
moreover, correspond to qualitatively different
groups of appeals.

(a) In the first group, with values ranging
from 4.0 to 15.2, fall the appeals to health, cleanli-
ness, scientific construction, economy of time, ap-
petite, increase of efficiency, safety, durability,
quality, modernity, and family affection. The
general characteristic of these appeals is that
they are strictly relevant in tone, describe the ar-
ticle precisely or point out some specific value,
quality or ''selling point" which it possesses.

278

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

(b) In the second group, with values ranging
from 21.1 to 29.0, fall the appeals based on the
general reputation, guarantee or assertion of the
manufacturer, and on the set of specific and more
or less social feelings and interests, such as sym-
pathy for others (not family), courtesy, imitation,
elegance, hospitality, sport, cheapness, etc. The
characteristic of these appeals is that they do not
relevantly describe the article, but try to connect
the article with some specific instinct or effective
conception. And these appeals are distinctly less
personal, more social, than those of the first
group.

(c) In the third section, with values ranging
(with one exception) from 41.0 to 45.8, fall the
rather vague appeals to avoid substitutes, to civic
pride and clan feeling, social superiority, recom-
mendation, the ideals of fashion and foreign ori-
gin, and finally the beautifying appeal. The chief
characteristic of this group seems to be that
while, as in the second group, the statement is
semi-irrelevant or incidental, the feeling appealed
to is indeterminate and general.

The only considerable sex differences, cases in
which the difference in position is, say, 5 places or
over, are on the appeals entitled appetite, safety,
nobby, family affection, sympathy, elegance and

279

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

recommendation which are placed higher by the
men and on time saved, guarantee, medicinal, sub-
stitutes, efficiency, durability, quality and hospi-
tality, which are placed higher by the women.

In an interesting continuation of this experi-
ment five professional advertising men arranged
the series of appeals in an order, not as they ap-
pealed to them, personally, but as they judged
they would appeal to the general reader and con-
sumer. This was done in order to see how ac-
curately the expert advertising man could judge
the feelings of his audience. The final average
order, as arranged by these five experts, was then
compared with the orders as arranged by the 20
men and the 20 women. Several interesting
points resulted from this comparison.

In the first place, the consumers find greater
differences between the various appeals than do
the business men. The total range of values,
from best to poorest, for the consumers, was from
4 to 45.5. For the advertising men the total range
was only 11.8 to 40.3. This means that the ad-
vertising men did not fully realize the differences
which were felt by the readers. To the adver-
tising men the 50 appeals tend to be pretty much
alike, or rather, these men believed that the con-
sumers would feel the appeals to be pretty much

280

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

alike, in persuasiveness. They failed to appre-
ciate the real effects of rather small changes in
their copy.

By proper statistical methods a figure can be
obtained which will show the degree of corre-
spondence between the arrangements by the vari-
ous groups of people. When this is done, a co-
efficient of 100 per cent, means exact correspond-
ence. One of — 100 per cent, means just the re-
verse order in one case of that in the other. A co-
efficient of 0 per cent, means only a chance or ac-
cidental correspondence. Intermediate amounts
indicate corresponding degrees of resemblance
between the two arrangements. The coefficients
for these experiments are as follows :

1. The 20 men and the 20 women agree
closely with each other, giving a coefficient
of correspondence of 63 per cent.

2. Two different arrangements, by the 20
women, show a very high degree of corre-
spondence (90 per cent.).

3. The average ordei*, as arranged by the ad-
vertising men, corresponded only slightly
with the average order for the men and
women combined. The coefficient is only
36 per cent, of resemblance.

281

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

4. When the advertising men arranged the
appeals as they thought they would appeal
to other men, the degree of correspond-
ence was fairly high, the coefficient being
65 per cent.

5. When the advertising men arranged the
appeals as they thought they would appeal
to women, the correspondence was much
less, the coefficient being only 41 per cent.

That is to say, these experts had very incor-
rect ideas as to the relative strength of these ap-
peals for men and women in general (36 per
cent.). In the case of men alone, their opinions
were fairly correct (65 per cent.), while in the
case of women the opinion of the experts was
much less reliable (41 per cent.).

Taking the table as it stands, the various in-
stincts and interests there represented stand in
their order of strength in so far as they may
serve as the basis of appeal in business transac-
tions, regardless of the commodity concerned.
But it is obvious that not all of these appeals can
be used in the case of any single commodity.
Thus ''Appetizing Qualities" cannot apply to the
sale of diamonds or shoes, nor could ''Durabil-
ity" be applied to the merchandising of food

282

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

products. The table, nevertheless, affords an ap-
proximate statement of the relative strength of
available appeals for any given commodity. It is
only necessary to begin at the top of the list and
select the first appeal which could be applied in
the description of the commodity in question.
This will then constitute the strongest appeal
which can be made in the interest of that com-
modity. The next in the list which would apply
appropriately would be the next strongest, etc.
For example, the first appeal which would be ap-
propriate to breakfast foods would be ''Health-
fulness. ' ' Then would come, in order of strength,
as indicated by position in the table — "Cleanli-
ness," "Appetizing Qualities," "Reputation of
the Firm, " " Medicinal Properties, " " Economy, ' '
"Hospitality," "Substitutes," "Clan Loyalty,"
"Recommendation by others," and finally "Im-
ported. ' ' If the reader will now turn back to the
table in the preceding chapter, in which are given
the results of a special study of the persuasive-
ness of advertisements used for breakfast foods,
he will find that the order of strength of appeals
as indicated by this abstract table coincides with
the order determined upon independently by
Strong.

283

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

SUMMAKY

We may then summarize the practical results
of this experiment under the following headings :

1. The table of relative persuasiveness affords
a statement of the order of strengh, in general,
of most of the appeals which can be utilized in the
process of advertising and selling, regardless of
the commodity concerned.

2. Selection from this table of the appeals ap-
propriate to the description of any given com-
modity enables the formation of a smaller table
in which the appropriate appeals stand in their
order of relative persuasiveness.

3. Any sex differences, and the amount of these
differences, may be determined by the compari-
son of the orders for men and women as given in ,
the table.

4. The strongest appeals which can be made for
any commodity, in the attempt to market it, dis-
tribute it, or secure publicity for it, will consist
in strictly relevant statements of the characteris-
tics, specific qualities or merits, or '^ selling
points" possessed by the article. This will be es-
pecially true if these qualities take the form of
cleanliness, healthfulness, scientific construction,
economy of time, increase of efiiciency, safety,

284

STRENGTH OF INSTINCTS AND INTERESTS

durability, modernity, appetizing quality, and the
power to contribute to the welfare of one's fam-
ily and dependants.

5. If a commodity possesses none of these qual-
ities it is possible to resort to the use of a second
but weaker type of appeal, by trying to associate
the article with some specific instinct or effective
habit of a more '^ social," less ''personal" char-
acter than those of the first group, such appeals
as those based on reputation of the firm, guaran-
tee or assertion of the maker, sympathy for others
(not in one's family), courtesy, imitation, ele-
gance, hospitality, sport, cheapness, etc. These
appeals are not descriptive of the article itself
but attempt to utilize, in an incidental way, the
strength of instincts and interests which are pri-
marily concerned with situations outside the field
of business transactions.

6. The semi-relevant or strictly incidental ap-
peal, appealing to rather indeterminate and gen-
eral interests, such as those based on civic
pride and clan feeling, social superiority im-
pulses, recommendation by others, ideals of fash-
ion and of foreign origin, the promise of physical
beauty, and the avoidance of substitutes, are the
weakest appeals that could possibly be used. One

285

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

is amazed at the extent to which these feeble ap-
peals are relied on in current advertising and
selling, and is not surprised at the assertions of
experts that two-thirds of the money devoted to
securing publicity is wasted.

CHAPTER XV

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES OF INTEREST TO
BUSINESS MEN

I. SEX DIFFERENCES

It is not my purpose here to enter upon any
discussion of sex or class differences in general,
but rather to confine myself to such differences as
have been experimentally shown to be present in
the processes of purchasing goods, and particu-
larly in the processes of reacting to the appeals of
advertisements and of salesmen. Biologists have
had much to say concerning elemental differences
between the male and female reproductive cells,
and have often reasoned, by way of analogy, and
with insufficient caution, to similar or correspond-
ing differences between men and women in mature
life. The naturalists, in turn, have found charac-
teristic differences in the organization and activi-
ties of the sexes among lower animals, and these
differences have also been eagerly sought for in
human society. The anthropologist has, in his
own way, compared the activities and character-

287

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

istics of sex as these are reflected in primitive cul-
tures, and many have attempted to trace continui-
ties between these conditions and those of our
own complex social organizations, institutions and
activities. Finally, the experimental psycholo-
gist has investigated in great detail, but seldomi
with adequate accuracy or scope, the mental char-
acteristics of men and women, as shown by their
sensory acuity, their motor capacities, their im-
agery, memory, attention, associations, reasoning,
feelings and emotions, suggestibility, interests,"
general information, activity, inclination, etc.
Readers interested in the outcome of these stud-
ies may find them fully discussed in the books
enumerated in the appendix.

In the present connection we shall ask but two
questions, and shall seek to answ^er them in so
far as this is possible in terms of our present
knowledge. These questions are: Are there
any characteristic differences between men and
women, as we find them to-day, with respect to
the ways in which they behave as purchasers of
goods, or as readers of advertisements, or as au-
ditors of selling talks? If so, the second ques-
tion will then be: What are these differences,
and can they be in any way specified, demon-
strated and measured?

288

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

We may begin by inquiring whether or not
there are characteristic differences between the
things which men buy and those things of which'
women are purchasers? Clearly this is a ques-
tion on which the practical business man should
be able to speak with authority. But if he has
ever formulated an answer to the question, he has
either kept the data to himself or published them
in inaccessible places. At least I have failed to
find any account, in business literature, of what
men and women buy. We must rely, then, for
our information, on a preliminary study which I
have made on a group of 25 New York City fam-
ilies, and must, of course, bear in mind that these
results apply only to families of a similar type,
living under similar conditions. How far a
change in conditions effects a change in the role
of men and women as purchasers onlj^ further in-
vestigation can reveal. But the present results
are suggestive.

In this investigation members of the family
were requested to report, with respect to 80 com-
monly used articles, whether each article was pur-
chased (a) by the men of the household alone, or
(b) solely by the women, or (c) by either or by
both in consultation. Some information concern-
ing the character of the homes included may be af-

289

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

forded by the facts that 72 per cent, of the fam-
ilies live in apartments, 60 per cent, of them pos-
sess neither vehicles of conveyance, pets, nor mu-
sical instruments. The annual income ranged

TABLE XVTTT

Men and Women as Purchasers

Class of
Article

No. of
Specifi-
cations

Percen-
tage by
Men
Alone

Percen-
tage by
Women
Alone

Percen-
tage by
Both

Percen-
tage by
Neither

Men's clothing.

Women's cloth-

inc

6
6
3
4
3

65
1

10
2

19
0

0
3
6

48
89

5
96

87
79
22

41
8

15
4

13
14

1
0

Druggist's arti-
cles

Kitchen ware, . .
Pets

1
61

Dry Goods ....

Vehicles

House furnish-
ings

Musical instru-
ments

Raw and mar-
ket foods ....

Package foods. .

Miscellaneous. .

0
61

0
4
4

Totals...

146

580

279

195

from $2,000 to $5,000, with perhaps a few run^
ning higher than this. The commodities may be
classified under 12 chief headings, with a number
of specifications arranged under each. The fol-
lowing table gives these general headings, with

290

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

the number of specifications under each, and the
per cent, of the families which reported under the
respective columns.

From the examination of the specific articles,
the following interesting facts emerge :

1. The only article of clothing bought by men
exclusively is their own collars. Only 80 per cent,
buy their own shoes and hats. In over 50 per
cent, of the cases the men's jewelry, handker-
chiefs, socks, and underwear are purchased either
by the women alone or in consultation with them.
In one-third of the cases the women help buy the
men's shirts. Only one-third of the men buy their
own handkerchiefs.

2. On the other hand, the men participate but
little in the purchase of the women's apparel.
Women buy men's things exclusively 11 times as
often as the men buy women's things exclusively.
Women cooperate with men twice as much as
men cooperate with women, in the purchase of
their respective apparel.

3. In 100 per cent, of the cases women are sole
purchasers of their own underwear, lace, thread,
and cooking utensils. In 80 per cent, of the cases
they are the sole purchasers of dresses, cloaks,
footwear, hats, parasols, gloves, fans, handker-
chiefs, clotheslines, chafing dishes, kitchen tables^

291

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

ribbons, cloth, flour, vegetables, eggs, butter,
bread, cereals, water and canned goods. In over
50 per cent, of the cases they are the sole pur-
chasers of curtains, mattresses, meats, ranges,
talcums and perfumes. Women buy 83 per cent,
of the food, but less than 50 per cent, of the house
furnishings, exclusively.

4. Women buy more of the magazines, men
more of the newspapers. Women buy many wed-
ding presents exclusively, but men participate
more largely in the purchase of Christmas gifts,
birthday gifts, and children's toys. Only 5 per
cent, of the pets are bought by women alone, 20
per cent, by men alone.

There are, then, considerable differences be-
tween the parts played by men and women as pur-
chasers of goods. If there are now any differ-
ences in manner of reacting to the appeals of ad-
vertisements and salesmen, these differences will
loe worth knowing, and such knowledge might be
effectively utilized in the direction and formation
of appeals, according as they are designed to
reach either or both classes. In the course of the
preceding chapters there has frequently been oc-
casion to refer to sex differences in one respect or
another. These differences, along with others
which have been brought out in experiments simi-

292

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

lar to those reported here, may now be brought
together and confirmed.

1. In so far as we may rely on experiments
which tend to show on the part of women a
greater sensitivity to sensory impressions, and a
more desultory and more permanent memory ca-
pacity, it is apparent that the mechanical in-
centives (intensity, magnitude, contrast, motion,
isolation and position) will be less effective and
more unnecessary when appealing to women than
when appealing to men. Further, that there will
be less need for devices calculated to fix impres-
sions in consciousness.

2. Gale finds that women are more attracted
by pictures than are men, and his curves of at-
tention values of cuts and reading matter show
genuine differences in this respect. Strong also
finds that women are more attracted by cuts than
are men. In discussing the results of a study of
50 advertisements for a well-known soap he re-
marks: ''Only one among the advertisements
preferred by women could be considered as ap-
proximating a 'copy-ad,' and there the main in-
terest, apparently small, I should judge, would lie
in the three small cuts." (p. 81.)

3. Much the same thing may be said for the use
of color. Darwin believed that among the lower

293

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

animals the female is strongly affected by color,
which the male consequently develops by the
process of sexual selection. Thompson found
that with the individuals studied by her, visual
experience was more important in the conscious-
ness of the women than in that of the men, and
that only the women showed prominent associa-
tions connected with the different colors. In dis-
cussing the matter of color preferences we have
already referred to Wissler's finding that the pre-
ferred color of an individual tends to shift toward
the violet end of the spectrum as he grows older,
and to the preference of men^ for blues and of
women for reds. Of course these preferences are
very dependent on the uses to which colors are to
be put, and a preferred color for a necktie may
not be agreeable to the same individual for the
interior decoration of a room, or for the back-
ground of a billboard.

4. Gale reports that irrelevant material,
whether in the reading matter or illustration of
an advertisement, attracts the attention and con-
sideration of women more easily than is the case
with men. The table in which his data are given
shows this to have been the case. Strong re-
marks, of his experimental results: ''The pref-
erence for the irrelevant among women confirms

294

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

the early work of Gale upon attention value."
(p. 80.)

5. With respect to the strength of special ap-
peals, certain clear and interesting differences
have been found. Thus in the table in the pre-
ceding chapter, giving the relative strength of a
large number of appeals, the men may be com-
pared with the women. The results of still other
investigations make possible further such com-
parisons. Chief among the differences found here
are the following :

(a) The appeal to civic pride, patriotism or
other form of clan feeling is stronger with women
than with men. In Table XVII the civic pride ap-
peal ranks about the same for both men and
women. But Strong found that advertisements
for breakfast foods, based on the slogan ''Patron-
ize home industries,'* were rated "considerably
higher by the women than by the men (11.1 as
compared with 14.6) and that of the nine who
ranked them above eighth place seven were
women." (p. 45.)

(b) Appeals to authority of others and to rec-
ommendation by others are uniformly found to
be rated higher by men than by women, although
fairly low for both. Thus in Table XVII the
''recommendation" appeals average position 38

295

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

in a series of 50, for men, and only 48th place in
the series, for women. Similarly Strong finds
that "authority advertisements appeal more to
men than to women." (p. 41.)

(c) Detailed examination of the relative merit
of the various appeals discloses the fact that the
women agree with each other more closely on
personal appeals (those based on such con-
ceptions as "style," "nobby," "sanitary," "ap-
petizing," "social standing," "time saved,"
"safety," "durability," etc.) than do the men.
They agree with each other about 25 per cent,
more closely than do the men. Furthermore, they
agree in placing these appeals higher than do the
men.

(d) On appeals made to the instincts and im-
pulses underlying social solidarity, such as the
recommendation, the reputation of the firm, fam-
ily affection, guarantee, union made, sympathy,
growth of the business, etc., the women disagree
more than do the men.

(e) Men disagree most of all on the strength
of purely personal appeals, such as those indi-
cated by the words: health, social standing, effi-
ciency, time saved, ambition, progress, competi-
tion, etc. Women disagree most of all among
themselves on the appeals indicated by such

296

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

words as popularity, recommendation, reputation,
family affection, guarantee, union made, sympa-
thy, growth of the firm, etc.

(f ) These facts lead to the further generaliza-
tion that the men are homogeneous, that is, tend to
resemble each other more closeh^, on their prefer-
ences, on appeals which are strong. Women, on
the contrary, tend to be alike with respect to their
dislikes, appeals which are weak. Whether this
difference bears in the direction of selection and
difference in sex experience and training, or
merely toward the temporary motives which
operate in reacting toward appeals made in the
interest of articles of commerce, the experiment
does not show. The fact that women have definite
and mutual aversions, with fewer common prefer-
ences, while men have fewer determinate dislikes,
but definite and mutual preferences, is an exceed-
ingly interesting discovery, and one which, if
verified, may be found to have countless applica-
tions in business and in other forms of daily ac-
tivity. Whether the difference be interpreted to
mean a fundamental and inherent sex difference,
or merely a difference which reflects our present
social organization (which is doubtless an ade-
quate explanation of all the facts) has nothing to
do with the present usefulness of the fact itself.

297

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

It should be further pointed out that these com-
parisons do not rest on the results of a single ex-
periment. Thus Strong finds that "when women
are given an equal opportunity with men to rate
appeals (advertisements) they are able to classify
their dislikes as well as their preferences, which
men do not. ... A careful analysis of the
data shows that women have more and greater
dislikes than men, and are surer of them." (p.
79.) Further evidence is afforded by Kuper's ex-
periments, described in one of the following sec-
tions of this chapter.

6. A final difference which is quite commonly
held to exist between the ways in which men and
women react to appeals has to do with the two
forms of appeal which we have characterized as
''the long circuit" and ''the short circuit."
Women are popularly supposed to react more
strongly to emotional situations than do men.
Since reaction to an emotional situation is w^hat
characterizes the "short circuit" process of ap-
peal and response, this would be equivalent to
saying that short circuit appeals, such as we have
previously described and illustrated, may be di-
rected to women more effectively than to men.
Thus Scott says, in a description of the various
ways of reaching a decision: "The woman's

298

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

method of decision ' ' has characteristics of its own.
''Insufficient time is given to the deliberation, or
difficulty is found in classifying the problem. The
deliberation is interrupted by a sudden extreme
feeling of value attaching itself to one or the
other contemplated alternative. The feelings
rush in and take the place of reason. In deciding
by the woman's method we are scarcely able to
see how we reached our conclusion and we often
speak of such decisions as being intuitive. . . .
Women are supposed to decide in this way more
often than men. They are supposed to have more
perfectly developed instincts or intuitions. Their
sentiment vanquishes attempts to utilize sophisti-
cated reasoning and the outcome is frequently
wise and in every way as worthy of respect as are
the results of more complete forms of delibera-
tion." (Scott, "Influencing Men in Business.")
The same writer then quite properly points out
that ' ' this method is not at all confined to women,
but is a very common method of deciding any
question in which feelings and emotions are prom-
inent." Indeed, the present w^riter is inclined to
go still further and to question the popular notion
that women are prone to react more strongly to
emotional situations than are men. The real dif-
ference, if any exists, is probably due rather to the

299

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

kind of reaction which is made, and to the ti/pe
of situation which experientially or convention-
ally has come to have emotional value. It may,
indeed, be said that all of us reach our most im-
portant decisions through feelings of value,
rather than by manipulation of logical premises.

II. AGE AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

On these points there is even less to be said
than on the preceding topic. This is not because
the differences are smaller, for none of the sex
differences found are enormous, nor are they true
of all individuals — they are differences between
averages, and hold, when present at all, only of
men and women in the long run. But the chief
reason for the lack of material on age and class
differences in reactions to appeals lies in the fact
that the topic has seldom been investigated by
precise and quantitative methods. An interesting
study of the interests of children has been made
by Miss Gertrude M. Kuper, who studied the
reactions and preferences of 200 children of five
nationalities, there being in the group 10 boys and
10 girls for each age from 6.5 to 16.5 years. The
following results are quoted from a report of her
investigation {Jour, of Phil., July 4, 1912, pp.
376-379).

300

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

' ' The formal experiment consisted in asking an
individual child to arrange nine pictures in the
order in which he liked them best. The nine pic-
tures were chosen to represent nine specific ap-
peals: landscape, children, animals, religion,
pathos, sentiment, patriotism, heroism and action.
(They were Cosmos prints and therefore of uni-
form size and finish.) In all there were three
series of these pictures each parallel so far as
possible with the other two in their appeals.

''The results were tabulated according to age
differences, broad social distinctions, and nation-
ality, but in the last named case the number of
subjects was so limited (10 boys and 10 girls to
each of the following nationalities : Irish, French,
German, and Italian, and only 9 girls and 8 beys
to the Spanish) that the results are not held as
significant.

"The positive data showed a sex difference in
the order of preference for these several appeals.
The girls' order was:

Religion

Patriotism

Children ^ ^^

Pathos

Animals

301

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

Sentiment
Landscape
The Heroic
Action

*'The last two were decidedly lowest in the
scale and the first three were quite clearly high-
est for all ages ; but the picture representing these
nine curves was one of bewildering intersections
as the values changed from year to year.

**The boys' order was:

Religion

Patriotism

Action

The Heroic

Pathos

Animals

Sentiment

Landscape

Children

"The boys' chart representing the curves for
these appeals showed greater agreement from
year to year. Religion and patriotism, the heroic
and action, and landscape and children, kept
rather parallel courses all along the age scale,
and no very decided tendencies appeared with

302

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

progressive age differences. Girls seemed to lose
somewhat in interest in children and animals and
to take greater interest in the heroic and action
pictures. The latter change is explained by the
fact that as the girls increased in school knowl-
edge they read an historical background into
chese morie or less warlike scenes.

"Another sex difference noted was the number
of positive dislikes expressed by each sex. The
girls gave 161 dislikes as against the boys' 65.
Boys seemed to entertain relative indifference to-
ward the appeals at the bottom of the list.

"In all their comments the girls were far more
personal than the boys. The personal pronoun
and references to their individual experiences
were the usual preface to their statements. With
the boys it was quite otherwise; they discussed
the picture as an objective thing . . ."

These results are particularly interesting as in-
dicating the early age at which appear the differ-
ences already discussed in the case of adult men
and women.

"With respect to class differences, the only ex-
perimental data known to me are those se-
cured by Strong, who studied {!) a group of 101
educated business men, students and teachers,
(2) a grouf of 95 educated women, and (3) a

303

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

miscellaneous group of 97 men selected at ran-
dom, and including business men, doctors, black-
smiths, storekeepers, saloonkeepers, policemen,
bakers, lawyers, postmasters, etc. His report
gives separate results for the groups men stu-
dents, women students, farmers, business men,
doctors, and miscellaneous men.

The only significant class difference revealed is
to be found when educated classes are compared
with uneducated classes. The difference then dis-
closed is suggested in the remark: *'It may be
that this is a characteristic of such a group of un-
educated persons — that they are unable to differ-
entiate complex appeals. That is to say, that on
the whole any one of these appeals is as strong
as any other . . ." Strong further shows that
in experiments intended to measure the relative
strength of these appeals, whether for psycho-
logical or for practical purposes, "A group of 50
college students will represent very closely the
judgment of groups of educated men and women,
of young business men, such as attend evening
school, etc. They will not represent at all the
judgment of groups from small towns and farming
sections such as regions around Garrison, N. Y.,
from which the data were obtained." (p. 62.)

304

SEX AND CLASS DIFFERENCES

By way of conclusion it may be remarked that,
although most of the results presented in this
treatment of the principles of appeal and re-
sponse have been demonstrated to be completely
valid, many of them must be held to be rather
suggestive than proved. They should be sugges-
tive in the first place of the kind of information
that may be secured when human nature is sub-
mitted to experiment for the purpose of securing
more knowledge for the concrete purposes of
practical living. They should be further sugges-
tive of at least some of the methods which may
be profitably adopted in such experiments. At
most, it is not so much the possession of psycho-
logical data which will prove of practical service
in daily life, but rather the acquisition of the
psychological attitude of inquiry, observation and
interpretation. In the opinion of the writer the
actual content of this book will prove of less ulti-
mate service than the method which it advocates
— that method being in the long run the method
which must be adopted by any psychological in-
quiry which aspires to be fruitful, the method of
systematically observing, analysing and formu-
lating tJie way in which the mind works, rather
than what is in the mind as its work proceeds.

305

BOOKS AND ARTICLES REFERRED TO IN THE

TEXT OR RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER

READING

CHAPTER I

Advertising Magazines. Advertising and Selling,
Judicious Advertising, Printer's Ink, etc. Articles on
Replies, Sales, Keying Copy, etc.

HoLLiNGWORTH. Judgments of Persuasiveness.
(Psych. Rev., 1911.)

Strong, E. K., Jr. The Relative Merits of Advertis-
ing. (Arch. Psychol.)

Yerkes. Article in Jour. Ed. Psychol., 1911.

CHAPTER II

James. Principles of Psychology.
Ladd and Woodworth. Physiological Psychology.
PiLLSBURY. Essentials of Psychology.
Thorndike. Elements of Psychology.

CHAPTER III

Calkins and Holden. Modern Advertising. (Apple-
tons. )

Deweese. Practical Publicity.

French. Science and Art of Advertising.

Kennedy. Intensive Advertising. Reason- Why Ad-
vertising.

Lew^is. Financial Advertising.

Mataja. Die Reklame.

Starch. Principles of Advertising.

306

HEFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING

CHAPTER IV

Arnold. Attention and Interest.
PiLLSBUBY. Attention.
RiBQT. Diseases of Attention.
TiTCHENEB. Text Book of Psychology.

CHAPTER V

HuEY. Physiology and Psychology of Reading.

MiJNSTERBERG. Psychology and Industrial Efficiency.

RoETHLEiN. Article in Amer. Jour. Psychol., 1912.

Scott. Psychology of Advertising. Theory of Ad-
vertising.

Strong. Research Bulletins of New York Advertising
Men's League.

CHAPTERS VI AND VII

Allen. Physiological Esthetics.

Gale. Psychology of Advertising, (Minnesota Stud-
ies.)

HoLLiNGw^ORTH. Judgments of the Comic. (Psych.
Rev., 1911.)

Le Conte. Sight.

Rice. Visual Acuity with Lights of Different Colors,
(Arch. Psychol.)

Strong. Relative Merits of Advertisements. (Arch.
Psychol.)

CHAPTERS VIII AND IX

Allen. Physiological Esthetics.
Gordon. Esthetics.

HoLLiNGwoRTH. ObUvisccnce of the Disagreeable.
(Jour. Phil., 1910.)

307

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

Parsons. Principles of Advertising Arrangement.
(Published by the Prang Co. for the New York Adver-
tising Men's League.)

Puffer. Psychology of Beauty.

CHAPTER X

Galton. Inquiries into Human Faculty.
Gordon. J^lsthetics.

Parsons. Principles of Advertising Arrangement.
Scott. Psychology of Advertising. Theory of Ad-
vertising.

Sherman. Elements of Literature.
TiTCHENER. Text Book of Psychology.

CHAPTER XI
Bean. The Curve of Forgetting. (Arch. Psychol.)
Calkins. Association. (Psych. Rev. Mon.)
Dewey, How We Think.
Ebbinghaus. On Memory.

Ladd and Woodworth. Physiological Psychology.
Miller. Psychology of Thinking.
MtJNSTERBERG. On the Witness Stand.
Scott. Theory of Advertising.
Watt. Economy and Training of Memory.

CHAPTER XII
James. Principles of Psychology.
MiJNSTERBERG. Psychotherapy. Psychology and the
Market Place. (McClure's.)
Ross. Social Psychology.
Scott. Influencing Men in Business.
SiDis. Suggestion.
Tarde. Imitation.

308

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING
CHAPTER XIII

McDouGALL. Social Psychology.

Scott. Psychology of Advertising. Theory of Adver-
tising.

Strong. Relative Merits of Advertisements. (Arch.
Psychol. )

Thorndike. Elements of Psychology.

CHAPTER XIV

HoLLiNGWORTH. Judgments of Persuasiveness.
(Psych. Rev., 1911.)

Strong. Relative Merits of Advertisements, (Arch.
Psychol.)

Wells. On the Variability of Individual Judgment.
(In Essays in Honor of Williwm James.)

CHAPTER XV

Boas. The Mind of Primitive Man.

Ellis. Man and "Woman.

Hall. Adolescence.

KuPER. Interests of Children. (Jour. Phil., 1912.)

Ross. Social Control.

Strong. Relative Merits of Advertisements. (Arch.
Psychol.)

Thompson. Mental Traits of Sex.

Thorndike. Educational Psychology.

"WooDWORTH. Race Differences in Mental Traits
(Science, 1910.)

309

PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL AND RESPONSE

Abbeeviations Used in Bibliogeapht

Am. Jour. Psychol. — American Journal of Psychology. (Worces-
ter, Mass.)

Arch. Psychol. — Archives of Psychology. (Columbia University,
E. S. Woodworth, Editor.)

Jour. Ed. Psychol. — Journal of Educational Psychology.

Jour. Phil. — Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific
Methods. (Columbia University.)

Psych. Eev. — Psychological Eeview. (Baltimore, Md.)

INDEX

Abbreviations, 310

Acti\'ity, 114

Adaptation, 48, 120

Age differences, 300

Appeal, measurements of,
253; nervous basis of, 18;
varieties of, 261

Association, feeling tone and,
172; laws of, 191; mean-
ing and basis of, 190

Atmosphere, 176

Attention, causes of, 51 ; defi-
nition of, 46; fluctuation
of, 133; holding the, 132;
laws of, 56, 133; results of,
52; suggestion and, 232

Attention value of: activity,
114 ; arrangement, 152 ;
black and white, 77; color,
96; the comic, 119; com-
plexity, 135; feeling tone,
138; forms, 149; instinct
and habit, 125; intensity,
61 ; irrelevant material,
110; isolation, 78; lines,
142; magnitude, 64; media,
37; motion, 74; novelty,
92; pages, 83; pictures,
106; pointers and bordei*s,
137; position, 80; trade
marks, 213; type, 72;
unity, 136; white space, 77

Backgrounds, 77, 187
Balance, 153, 164
Breakfast foods, 249

Children, interests of, 300

Chromatic aberration, 104

Circulars. 41

Class differences, 303

Classified advertisements, 32

Color, attention value of, 96;
balance of, 194; combina-
tions of, 162; feeling tone
of, 158; influence of, 97;
preferences in, 98; third
dimension and, 103; uses
of, 102

Comic appeals, adaptation to,
120; attention value of,
119; defects of, 120; ex-
periments on, 125; varie-
ties of, 121

Complexity, 135

Congruity, 198

Content, feeling tone of, 158

Contiguity, 197

Contrast, 76

Correlation of judgments, 281

Con-espondence, 45

Cur\-es, 147

Cuts, attention value of, 106;
relevant and irrelevant,
110

311

INDEX

Design, 152

Devices for aiding memory,

205
Diagonal lines, 147
Differences, age, 300; class,

303; sex, 287
Diminishing returns, 67
Directories, 44
Disagreeable, obliviseence of

the, 140
Disagreeable words, 171
Display advertisements, 35
Distance of colors, 103
Distribution of appeals, 203

Effective conceptions, 242

Electric light advertisements,
14

Equipment of store, 42

Error, sources of, 274

Experiments, with advertise-
ments, 5, 210, 247, 258;
with advertising men, 280;
on attention, 57; on bal-
ance, 164; with children,
300; on class differences,
303; on color preferences,
98; on the comic, 120;
with elements of design,
151, 156; on imagery, 168;
on legibility, 72, 186; on
magnitude, 64; with me-
chanical and interest in-
centives, 127; with pic-
tures, 109; on prefeiTed
positions, 81; on pulling
power, 247, 257; on pur-
chasers, 289; on relevant
and irrelevant material,
113; on suggested activity.

118; on suggestion, 229;
with trade marks, 213;
with weights, 253
Eye, acuity of, 97; chromatic
aberration of, 104; move-
ments of, 80, 148, 180

Feeling of value, 300

Feeling tone, basis of, 138;
of colors, 158; of content,
158; of form, 142; imagi-
nation and, 168; of lines,
142; of pictures, 173; of
words, 171

Fixing the impression, 189

Forgetting, curve of, 202; the
disagreeable, 140

Form, feeling tone of, 142

Forward law, 192

Frequency, association and,
200; suggestion and, 234

Golden section, 150
Graphite advertisements, 69,
114

Habits and instincts, 241
Headlines, 58
Holding attention, 132
Horizontal lines, 145

Ideo-motor action, 219

Illustrations, 106

Imagination, 108, 108

Incentives, comparison of
mechanical and interest,
127; interest, 91; mechani-
cal, 60

Instincts, as basis of appeal,
25, 239; nature and orig:in.

312

INDEX

of, 237; relative strength
of, 253

Intensity, 61

Interest devices, 138

Interest incentives, 70, 90,
127

Interest, individual differ-
ences in, 293, 300; memory
and, 235; varieties of, 50

Laws, of adaptation, 120; of
association, 191; of atten-
tion, 56, 133; of balance,
154, 164; of color combi-
nation, 162; of feeling
tone, 139; of psyehophys-
ics, 67; of reading, 80, 117,
137, 180; of resting point,
114; of suggestion, 218,
224
Legibility of type, 72, 77, 180
Lines, feeling tone of, 142
Long circuit appeals, 23, 246

Machinery advertisements, 6

Magazines, 40

Magnitude, 64

Measurement of appeals, 1, 5,
253

Mechanical devices, 60, 89,
127, 135

Media, 38

Memory, devices for aiding,
205; for different kinds of
facts, 208; experiments on,
208, 210, 212, 235; loss of,
203

Men and women, as pur-
chasers, 289; interests of,
293, 300

Methods of investigation, 85,

253, 305
Motion, 74, 114

Nervous system, 17, 20
News interest, 39, 225
Newspapers, 38
Novelties, 43
Novelty, 92

Oblongs, 150

Order of merit method, 254

Pages, value of, 83
Persuasion, 132
Persuasiveness, measure-

ments of, 258; table of,

277
Pictures, 106, 110, 173, 294
Pleasantness, 139, 199
Pointers, 137
Position, 80
Preferences, for colors, 98;

for position, 80
Principles, of arrangement,

140 ; of connection, 191 ; of

revival, 200
Provoking the response, 216
Psychophysical law, 67
Publicity advertisements, 33
Pulling power, 2, 5, 127, 247

Quality, ■ of advertisements,
65; and balance, 165; of
colors, 158; of lines, 142

Reading habits, 80, 137, 180
Reading matter, 112, 211
Reasoning, 22, 27, 224, 278,

284

313

INDEX

References for further read-
ing, 306
Relaxation, 177
Repetition, 204, 235
Response, 18, 216
Rhythm, 152, 206

Selling points, 120, 278

Sex differences, 287

Short circuit appeals, 24, 218,

245
Similarity, 197
Soap advertising, 13
Space, 64, 78
Spacing, 181
Squares, 150
Stability, 156
Strain, 177

Strength of instincts, 253
Substitutes, 174
Suggested activity, 114
Suggestion, 218, 224, 229
SjTnmetry, 153
Synaesthesia, 176

Tasks of an appeal, 28
Third dimension, 103
Trade marks, 212
Triangles, 149
Type, legibility of, 72, 180;

appropriate use of, 166
Types of imagination, 108,

169

Unity, of advertisements,
136; complexity and, 135;
methods of seturing, 137;
of sentences, 58

Verticals, 144

Vicarious sacrifices in adver-
tising, 213
Vividness, 201

White space, 78
Words, 171

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