What is sense influencing?

Sense influencing is the influencing of senses in order to bring about a positive change in public behavior.

Senses

Aristotle marked five senses, also referred to as the classical senses. These are sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Nevertheless, there are more senses. The perception of pain (nociception), balance, bodily consciousness (proprioception) and the perception of movement.

Our senses enable us to perceive and give meaning to our surroundings. Every day our senses are awash in information. Information through natural sources like the sun, animals, temperature, moisture, but also through artificial sources. For instance, many of the stimulants traded between people, consciously and subconsciously. In this day and age the amount of information generated by human interaction, coming to us through our senses, is staggering.

Influencing perception

Add companies have been influencing the senses in order to generate sales for many years now. Governments also employ sense influencing applications to bring about certain changes in public behavior. For instance, the so called “nudge”. A gental push. A good example is a smiley face, depicted on a digital traffic sign, that appears when a driver observes the speed limit. Another example is a fly-sticker, sitting on the bottom of a urinal, proven to prevent misses when one is relieving himself. Different kinds of subtle hints in physical surroundings employed to influence choice and behavior.