As an Apple fan myself, I’ve always wondered why Apple tends to be much more successful than it’s competitors. Their competitors make products that are just as good with the same technology or perhaps even superior technology. There is one area though in which no other company comes close to Apple, the marketing. Apple has mastered the psychology behind marketing that has allowed them to be the face of technology. It is the same methods used by great leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr during the civil rights movement. People aren’t interested in simply what your product is, but actually why your doing it. First, let’s look at what a generic company’s marketing scheme might look like.

A typical technology company’s advertisement might be something as follows: Our computers run faster than most due to new cutting edge technology implemented within the computer. By one now for $499. According to Simon Sinek in his TED talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” this coincides with his “Golden Circle” theory. The inner circle is the why, the middle is the how, and the outer is the what. A generic marketing scheme goes from the outside of the circle to the inside. On the Contrary, companies like Apple communicate from the inside to the outside. They give their consumers a reason to believe in their product and make them think that they are on a mission to “change the world.” Consumers want a product they can believe in. Apple products have become practically a movement at this point. They execute this through advertisement that go as follows, according to Sinek: “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly. We just happen to make great computers” (Simon Sinek). The key word here is believe. It makes users feel like there’s a purpose to the product, something innovative about it. Simon later goes on to explain that it’s why we’re comfortable buying all sorts of technology from Apple such as ipods, compared to mp3 players sold by Samsung. People are more likely to act on emotion rather than information.

In conclusion, it’s not that Samsung or any other company can’t make more advanced products than something like the iPhone, they can and they have. The difference is Apple is able to connect with people through their advertisements, and emotion is more powerful than information in provoking action.

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Since the 4th grade, I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD. I’ve always been considered to be on the more “creative” side of the intelligence spectrum, being a very musical person as I’ve played both the guitar and alto sax nearly my whole life. I’ve always had a tendency to “think outside the box,” so from personal experience I can support the hypothesis of ADHD making kids more creative. Scientifically, creativity can be defined with divergent thinking concepts. Divergent thinking is being able to think spontaneously with unexpected ideas, also known as “thinking outside the box.” Convergent thinking is the opposite, and is just the ability to deduct incorrect answers with logical reasoning. Kids with ADHD divergent thinking abilities are usually off the charts, whereas their convergent thinking skills are sub-par. A study was conducted by Holly White of the University of Eckerd and Priti Shah of the University of Michigan in order to see if this hypothesis was indeed true.

The study included sixty college students. Half of the students were diagnosed with ADHD, and the other half didn’t have ADHD. Both groups were similar in GPA and other academic areas. Both groups answered questions about their achievements in creative areas. These areas included music, humor, writing, etc. The study found that students with ADHD were significantly more successful in these areas than those without ADHD. It also found in another series of questions that those with ADHD prefer to come up with ideas whereas those without mostly prefer to develop ideas. This relates back to divergent thinking and the ability to spontaneously come up with ideas. The ADHD kids appear to be stronger in this area. A double-blind study in 2009 found that those on Adderrall with ADHD and those that weren’t medicated showed no difference in divergent thinking by performing several tests. However, ADHD kids taking Adderrall were shown to have improvements in convergent thinking. Now only one question remains, why?

I have came up with several hypotheses about these findings within the studies. In individuals with ADHD, their thoughts are spontaneous and cluttered. They are impulsive and are more open to ideas that individuals without ADHD might dismiss as odd or weird. In order to come up with new innovative ideas, especially in music I’ve personally found, one must be very open-minded and experimental. When writing a song most people might reject certain chords within a song for sounding too out of the ordinary and not traditional. Musicians with ADHD are more impulsive with their ideas and in turn are more experimental leading to more creative sounding music. The is a plus side to individuals with ADHD as I’ve observed that individuals without ADHD, especially musicians, might rely on drugs to further expand their mind and be more creative in song writing. It is why many musicians tend to write there best work while under the influence of drugs. They become more experimental with things and in turn, more creative. Their brain doesn’t reject certain ideas as being weird or out of the ordinary. In terms of the Adderrall improving convergent thinking, I believe it is due to an increase in attentiveness to detail. Convergent thinking applies to traditional standardized test taking. When going through a multiple choice question individuals with ADHD, including myself, tend to skip over minor details that end up changing the context of the problem. They also tend to over-think the answers and drift off-task. When on a stimulant medication such as Adderrall, attentiveness is increased and these careless mistakes aren’t made as frequently.

In conclusion, I believe it’s true that ADHD individuals have a strong advantage in creativity. They have the advantage in divergent thinking, whereas non-ADHD individuals are stronger in convergent thinking. Their strength in convergent thinking leads them to be better logical reasoners.

Sources:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201106/is-the-adhd-brain-more-creative

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/08/adhds-upside-is-creativity-says-new-study.html

http://old.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110311153543.htm

Greg F. was a man that was part of the hippie movement after separating from his family. An incredibly large brain tumor had grown and completely destroyed his frontal lobe and other parts of the brain, especially those responsible for memory. In addition, he had also become blind and unable to engage in conversation or function properly. His parents visited the hospital to see their son that had been absent for so many years, and were greatly disheartened by what they had seen. He had very seldom response to any form of therapy, making him what the doctors thought was a hopeless case. It wasn’t until Oliver Sack’s performed a case study on this patient where the power of music was discovered. The therapy Greg truly needed, was the Grateful Dead.

Being completely unresponsive to any form of communication, and only having memories of earlier stages in life, doctors turned to one last resort. Greg, being part of the hippie movement, was a passionate Grateful Dead fan. It had been reported from studies that music can help the brain to recollect certain memories in patients similar to Greg, while also giving them the ability to become more functional. According to Sacks’ study, Greg became alive and full of enthusiasm whenever they would play his favorite Grateful Dead songs. He became more responsive and was able to carry on small conversation. He became more of the person his parents remembered him as. The music also allowed Greg to remember memories that were connected/associated with the songs in someway. Oliver Sacks decided to give Greg the experience of a lifetime. He brought him to a concert of his favorite band, The Grateful Dead. The next morning, Greg had absolutely no recollection of the event, due to his inability to form new memories. However, when Sacks played him Grateful Dead songs that morning, he was able to recall certain moments. This is a clear observational study, however it holds strong evidence that music really does aid the brains of patients with impaired brain functions. This study was perfectly adapted into a heartfelt hollywood movie called “The Music Never Stopped.”

In “The Music Never Stopped,” which I saw a few months ago, the main character Gabriel is an exact model of Greg. Gabriel was part of the hippie movement and lived on the streets away form his parents. He formed a tumor just like Greg that made him unable to form new memories, also leaving him unable to hold a conversation or do everyday things. His father, a war veteran, was very against Gabriel’s rebellious nature and his favorite band “The Grateful Dead.” As he begins to notice the impact it has on his son’s brains functions, he begins to become accepting of Gabriel’s hippie culture. As the movie progresses, not only did the music help Gabriel when it was being played to him, but he began to show improved brain functions when he was on his own. He was still unable to form memories, but became a much more functional individual. Perhaps it was just brain plasticity, but it makes me think that if music can actually repair the brain long-term, which isn’t noted in Sacks’ study.

In conclusion, I’m definitely a believer in the theory that music can help heal the brain and encourage further practice of this revolutionary therapeutic method.

Sources:

http://journals.lww.com/neurotodayonline/Fulltext/2011/05050/Movie_Review__Anterograde_Amnesia_and_a_Family.15.aspx

http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2009/04/anthropologist-on-mars-by-oliver-sacks.html

My name is Michael Martinez and I’m from Westchester, NY right outside Manhattan. I am a student in the Smeal College of Business majoring in management. Throughout high school I grew a strong distaste for science courses such as biology; finding it to be a struggle to get through those classes. For this reason, along with my interest in business, I am not a science major. I took this course because I like to think and observe things critically, but am not into the hardcore sciences such as biology or chemistry. I also heard many positive things about this course. Being from New York I’m a huge Knicks, Yankees and Jets fan. I am also a big Montreal Canadiens fan due to many friends I have from that city.