Facial and body language analysis are hot right now. Major companies are offering software that can record and analyze emotional expressions. And they can do it real time. Market researchers now have an incredible amount of data at their fingertips about how people react to stimuli such as advertisements and product ideas.

Many providers of these services are suggesting that emotional expressions and other body language are giving the real picture of what people are actually feeling and that we can uncover more insights when we delve into this reality. But is that true? Are we actually just adding a lot more data to analyze, or are we truly finding something new and different in our research? Using current theories and research on emotions from the field of psychology can help us to make sense of all this information.

There’s been a lot of coverage in the popular press in recent years about how thinking comprises two different modes — one mode that is very conscious and slow, and another one that occurs quickly, without conscious attention (Kahneman, 2011). The idea of “two modes of thinking” is not really a new idea,[1] but it may actually be of critical importance for market researchers.

Why? Because if there are two modes of thinking, which one are consumers using when they participate in market research? And which ones are they using when they shop and purchase? And does it vary by category? If these modes really do affect how people think, market researchers who pay attention to them will be able to generate even more powerful insights into consumer behavior. 

A Director of Marketing at a major consumer-goods company calls a research supplier and explains that she needs to do a project on potential customers. She wants to conduct several focus groups with people within a specific age range who spend a certain dollar amount on competitor’s products. She says she wants these groups done in three major cities in the U.S., and, after asking if the research supplier has any questions, ends the call. The supplier hangs up the phone and starts to get together costs for the study. The research that is then conducted conforms exactly to these specifications, and the final report is delivered on time. Nice story, right?