It’s called the McGurk effect, after the psychologist who released a paper on this human oddity in 1976.
What is proves is, that seeing isn’t always believing.
The human brain does a pretty good job of making sense out of a lot of complex stimulii.
But, what happens when there is a conflict in the messages? Which sense takes over? Which one wins?
It turns out that what we see can change what we hear, even when we know that what we’re seeing isn’t accurate.
Try it. This video from a BBC2 Horizon documentary shows a very simple example of the McGurk Effect in action. Even when you know what’s going on, you cannot over ride what your eyes are telling you to hear.
So, with this understanding, it is important to note this one thing: People believe what they see.
What does that mean for your business?
It means this: your customers will believe what they can see.
No matter what you may tell your customers, it’s what they see that will be believed.
You can tell them what your brand is meant to be, what your products are supposed to do. But, if they can’t see it, then it won’t be believed. If what they hear, doesn’t align with what they see then, you guessed it – it’s what they see that they will believe.
The McGurk Effect – Is seeing believing?
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