Have you ever wondered what shapes human behaviour? Discover the link between hypersensitive risk avoidance; and buying branded products. Plus, how businesses are using the ‘Red Queen Hypothesis’ to continue adapting for growth. Ogilvy Consulting’s Behavioural Science Practice explores how our evolutionary history has formed who we are, how we behave today and how you can leverage these insights to better understand your customers and grow your business.

1. What’s Next:
Behavioural Science:
A Brief History of You
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2. Welcome
José Arteaga
Creative Digital
Strategist
Ogilvy Consulting
Jordan Buck
Consultant
Ogilvy Consulting
Pete Dyson
Senior Consultant
Ogilvy Consulting
Dayoán Daumont
Consulting Partner
Ogilvy Consulting

3. Tell us
where you
are dialing in
from!
What’s the weather
like in your city?

4. Do you want
this deck?
It will be available for download
shortly after the webinar on:
slideshare.net/socialogilvy
And the recording up on
facebook.com/OgilvyConsulting

5. A BRIEF HISTORY
OF YOU
5 fundamentals of
human evolution
Jordan Buck & Pete Dyson

6. February 8, 2019 6
Why
are we
here
today?

7. What is
evolutionary biology?

8. All of us essentially want to understand
and influence why people behave the
way they do.
Changing how and what people…
• Think…
• Feel…
• Do…
• Buy…
• Like…
• Share…
Why
evolutionary biology?

9. Why
evolutionary biology?
Research
• Research describes what people are
doing…

10. • Research describes what people are
doing…
• …and psychology explains those
behaviours…
Why
evolutionary biology?
Research
Psychology

11. • Research describes what people are
doing…
• …and psychology explains those
behaviours…
• …biology allows us to understand
why people are behaving that way.
Research
Psychology
Biology
Why
evolutionary biology?

12. Question 1.

13. Question 1.
Roughly how much of
your DNA do you share
with… a mouse?
A. 25%
B. 55%
C. 85%
D. 95%

14. Question 2.
Roughly how much of
your DNA do you share
with… a banana?
A. 1%
B. 10%
C. 50%
D. 70%

15. Answer 1.
Roughly how much of
your DNA do you share
with… a mouse?
A. 25%
B. 55%
C. 85%
D. 95%

16. Answer 2.
Roughly how much of
your DNA do you share
with… a banana?
A. 1%
B. 10%
C. 50%
D. 70%

17. 10 billion
years of
Ø Chemistry
Ø Physics

18. 3.6 billion
years of
Ø Biology

19. Genetic variation
Survival of the fittest
Reproduction
1
2
3

20. Genetic variation
Survival of the fittest
Reproduction
1
2
3

21. Behaviour 1
Behaviour 2
Behaviour 3
Behaviour 1
Behaviour 1
Behaviour 1
Behaviour 1
Genetic variation
Survival of the fittest
Reproduction
1
2
3

22. “Here, you see, it takes all the running you
can do to stay in the same place”

23. Life
3.6 Bya - Present Animals
Animals
600 Mya - Present Mammals
Mammals
200 Mya - Present Human divergence from apes
Human divergence from apes
6 Mya - Present Behaviourally modern humans
Behaviourally modern humans
100,000 Ya - Present Common Era (AD)

24. Modern
humans are
really
modern…

25. If the whole of human history itself
spanned 24 hours from one midnight
to the next, 14 minutes represents the
time since Christ.
But modern society is
really, really, really
modern

27. Evolution acts over
a long timescale

30. 5 FUNDAMENTALS
OF HUMAN
EVOLUTION
Why:​
ü We’ve all got selfish genes…​
ü Hypersensitivity matters…​
ü You’re hardwired for protection…​
ü Adults are less impulsive…​
ü Social pain is real pain…

31. February 8, 2019 31
1. Selfish

32. Why would
Charles Darwin be
jealous you today?

33. Because we all know
more about genes and
DNA than he ever did

34. 08/02/2019 34
Theory of Evolution
Basic Genetics
DNA & Genetics
Epigenetics
1850 1900 1950 2000 Present Day

35. Genes don’t care
Genes are evolved to promote their own
replication, and also copies of themselves
that exist in relatives.
Genes are selfish
That’s what make organisms altruistic
DNA

36. 08/02/2019 36
Richard Dawkins invented
the ‘selfish gene’
AND
the ‘meme’

37. “Let us understand what our own selfish
genes are up to, because we may then at
least have the chance to upset their
designs, something that no other species
has ever aspired to do.”
Richard Dawkins, 1976
The
Selfish Immortal
Gene

38. February 8, 2019 38
2. Protective

39. 08/02/2019 39
Anything which benefits
our family also
ultimately benefits the
genes which we share
with them

40. Kin altruism

42. “Would I lay down my life
to save my brother? No,
but I would to save two
brothers or eight
cousins.”
- J.B.S. Haldane

43. The
Cinderella
Effect

44. February 8, 2019 44

45. February 8, 2019 45
Ø More attentive
Ø Primed to help
Ø Especially in
females!

46. February 8, 2019 46

47. February 8, 2019 47
Ø More attentive
Ø Boosts affection
Ø Even the smell!

48. What about groups?
Yes, our close family may
share our genes
But often groups compete
against other groups
This leads to multilevel
selection

49. February 8, 2019 49

50. February 8, 2019 50
3. Hypersocial

52. February 8, 2019 52

53. February 8, 2019 53
Let’s talk about
LANGUAGE

54. February 8, 2019 54
Grooming
Feels
Gooooooood

55. February 8, 2019 55
Now for a demonstration….

56. February 8, 2019 56

57. February 8, 2019 57
Average size of Neolithic villages
(6500-500BC) in Mesopotamia
Average size of tribal ‘bands’ (often those
who can be called upon in case of attack)
in modern hunter-gatherer societies
Basic unit size in the
Classical Roman army
Average number of
Facebook friends
Average size of Hutterite
communities
Average company size (the smallest
independent unit) in modern armies
175
187107150
125148

58. February 8, 2019 58
Words
will
never
hurt
me?
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, J. B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS medicine, 7(7), e1000316.

59. February 8, 2019 59
1. Seek similar people
- 'Liking’ and conforming
- Ingroup bias & Out group homogeneity
2. Maintain social bonds
- Reciprocity
- Fairness
3. Follow others
- Mirroring & mirror neurons
- Conformity (normative social influence)
- Social copying (informational social influence)
- Follow leaders (authority bias)
- Customs & ceremonial practices

60. February 8, 2019 60
4. Hypersensitive

61. Each year, more than 13 times the
number of people die in road
traffic accidents than are killed by
snakes.
(In fact, road traffic accidents kill
twice the number of people each
year than war, crime and
terrorism combined)
What are you scared of?

62. ØAmygdala releases adrenaline
ØRapid heart rate
ØIncreased blood pressure
ØQuick breathing
ØFlushed skin
ØDilated pupils
Fight, flight or freeze

63. February 8, 2019 63
“It’s the proverbial rustle in the
long grass: it’s probably not a
leopard, but if it is, you’re for it…
Seeing agency where there isn’t
any is something that has been
programmed into our brains.”
- Richard Dawkins

64. February 8, 2019 64
ØLoss aversion
ØStatus quo bias
ØSunk costs
Hypersensitive
to loss

65. February 8, 2019
Our ‘behavioural immune system’ is
naturally disgusted by:
Ø Body products (faeces, vomit, etc)
Ø Death (dead bodies, open wounds, etc)
Ø Signs of infection
Ø Disease-carriers (rats, maggots, etc)
Ø Poor hygiene
Ø Decaying or toxic-tasting foods (rotting
meat & fish, etc)
Hypersensitive to
pathogen threat

66. February 8, 2019 66
5. Intelligence

67. February 8, 2019 67

68. February 8, 2019 68
7 billion now
100billion ever

69. INTELLIGENCE
The ability to perceive or
infer information, and to retain it
as knowledge to be applied
towards adaptive behaviors
within an environment or
context.

70. February 8, 2019 70
PHRENOLOGY

71. February 8, 2019 71
Childhood Adolescence Adulthood
Prefrontalcortex
development
Humans
Chimps, macaques, rhesus monkeys
Prefrontal cortex
Rats

72. February 8, 2019 72
Childhood Adolescence Adulthood
Braindevelopment Prefrontal cortex
Limbic system
Prefrontal cortex
vs Limbic system

73. February 8, 2019 73

74. THE 5
FUNDAMENTALS
We’ve learnt why:​
ü We’ve all got selfish genes…​
ü Hypersensitivity matters…​
ü You’re hardwired for protection…​
ü Adults are less impulsive…​
ü Social pain is real pain…

75. Q&A

76. Thank you.