Since last year I have been discussing the idea of "System 3" - a set of mental capabilities and processes involved in imagination and mental simulation. These capabilities appear to be used for several mental activities, notably:
Recently some other writers in the market research industry and elsewhere have been discussing System 3. Here are some of their thoughts:
- planning and thinking about the future
- counterfactual reasoning
- daydreaming and mind-wandering
- consumption of fiction
- mental replay of past experiences
- and in empathetically considering how other people experience an event
Recently some other writers in the market research industry and elsewhere have been discussing System 3. Here are some of their thoughts:
- Kathryn Ambroze at HCD with a detailed writeup of a System 3 approach including examples
- Ambroze also takes an in-depth look at different models of thought, contextualising System 3 as a way to model future thinking or prospection
- Thomas George of DoWell Research, on using System 3 to build brands
- Brian Carruthers of WARC, reviewing my System 3 talk at IIeX Amsterdam
- ESOMAR Director-General Finn Raben writes about System 3 as one of the "key things that marketers need to know about innovations in data"
- Northstar's Dipesh Mistry reviewing System 3 as a highlight of last year's IIeX Behaviour conference
- Karen Lynch of InsightsNow discusses System 3, and her PlayFull Insights approach to researching it through consumer play, in an interview by HappyMR
- Lynch and PFI are also mentioned by ResearchLive in this announcement
- Ali Fenwick discusses using System 3 in sales training and influencing buying behaviour (on LinkedIn)
System 3 has also been mentioned in a couple of recent books: Betty Adamou's Games and Gamification in Market Research, and Richard Chataway's forthcoming The Behaviour Business.
So the industry is enthusiastically taking up System 3. The science is progressing too - I will post separately on some of the latest psychology and neuroscience research that relates to this topic.