Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention

by Ben Parr

LEARN THE SECRET TO CAPTIVATING YOUR AUDIENCE.
In Captivology , award-winning journalist, author, entrepreneur and investor Ben Parr ( Forbes 30 Under 30 ) presents a new understanding of attention -- how it works, why it matters, and how we leverage psychological triggers to draw and retain attention for our passions, projects, and ideas.

Parr combines the latest research on attention with interviews with more than fifty scientists and visionaries--Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, film director Steven Soderbergh, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, magician David Copperfield, New York Times bestselling author Susan Cain, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, and more--who have successfully brought their ideas, projects, companies, and products to the forefront of cultural consciousness. 
The result is an insightful and practical book that will change how you assign jobs to your kids or staff, craft a multi-million dollar ad campaign, deliver your next presentation, attract users to your product, or convince the world to support your cause.

AS FEATURED MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, CNBC, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, New York Post, Washington Post, Business Insider, Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, NPR and more.
"Throughout the book, Parr keeps readers engaged, amused and focused, proving that the science of Captivology works." - Success Magazine

"Sensible... Spryly written... [Captivology] is a worthwhile read, if you can concentrate your mind." - Financial Times

"Parr gets To succeed in a world where attention is scarce, captivating audiences at every level is a skill that everyone needs. Captivology will show you how to capture other people's attention, whether you are teacher, entrepreneur, musician, or simply a dreamer with a big idea." - Adam Braun , New York Times bestselling author of The Promise of a Pencil )

"The Internet has made it easier to communicate but also more challenging to be heard. Ben Parr's Captivology applies recent discoveries in psychology and neuroscience to the attention economy so that anyone can rise over the crowd and stand out." - Craig Newmark , founder, Craigslist)

Genres: Psychology, Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Communication, Leadership, Design

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2015

About the author

Ben Parr is an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, investor, and expert on attention. He is the author of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention . He is Co-founder and Managing Partner of DominateFund, an early-stage venture capital firm. Previously, he was Co-Editor and Editor-at-Large of Mashable and served as columnist for CNET.

Parr was named one of the top ten tech journalists in the world by Say Media and named to the Forbes “30 Under 30.” He lives in San Francisco.

Reviews

[Rachel Blom · Rating 4 out of 5]

We live in a world where getting noticed is getting harder and harder. Whether we’re launching a start-up, trying to promote a book, or convincing people to read our blog, our targeted audience is bombarded with messages and information.
How do you stand out from the crowds?
Captivology (clever title by the way) is all about the science of capturing people’s attention, whatever you may need it for. It discusses seven ‘attention triggers’, more or less scientifically proven methods of getting noticed:
Automacity trigger
Framing trigger
Disruption trigger
Reward trigger
Reputation trigger
Mystery trigger
Acknowledgment trigger
Some of these are well known—companies have applied the reward trigger for instance to draw new talent, with various results—others not so much. Captivology discusses these seven triggers in details, including many studies to prove their value, and offers practical suggestions for applying it to your efforts.
The automacity trigger for instance relies on contrast and association. It’s why the ‘buy now’ buttons on websites are so often orange; it makes them stand out. Experiments have shown that a bigger ‘download now’ button in a different color can boost sales tremendously.
Some of this is counterintuitive—which makes it all the more interesting. The acknowledgment trigger explains for instance why instant cake mixes when they came out weren’t all that successful. All you had to do was add water, and yet women didn’t buy them. Until the geniuses behind Betty Crocker discovered women wanted to contribute something themselves, to participate in the process. So they took out the powdered eggs and made you add your own eggs. Sales took off like a rocket.
I’m always fascinated by how much our brains do and decide subconsciously and this book shares some fascinating research. Did you know that the color red makes people appear more attractive? A simple red frame around a photo made the person in the photo appear more attractive to strangers. Stuff like that; I can’t get enough of it.
The info in this book is of interest to anyone trying to get people’s attention, for a product, a service, a message, or anything else. It’s a quick and easy read that will make you shake your head at times over the simplicity of some aspects, the counter-intuitiveness of others, and the blunders of folks who got it wrong. Captivology has the right mix of solid info backed by research, entertaining and helpful stories to drive the points home, and practical advice to help you apply what you’ve learned. I would have loved to see a few more case studies and stories of companies and brands who either got it wrong or right though; that would have made the book even better.

[Shannon Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

First - full disclosure Ben Parr is friend and we share many mutual friends and colleagues. So I’m far from unbiased (and also sorry it took me so long to give his book my full attention). That out of the way - I highly suggest that everyone but especially anyone seeking to sell (themselves, an idea, a product, or a company) read his book.

It is an excellent and thought provoking book that dives deeply into how and importantly why we give things our attention (and what helps us sustain that attention). His examples delve deeply back into history and research - they aren’t just recent social media based examples though he includes some of those.

As I am an entrepreneur the insights from this book will help me as raise money and as I seek to build my team, sell, and sustain my business. Some of the insights he offers suggest that my own personal tendencies (Long posts full of detail) may not always be the most effective. And that there are other approaches I can try to both tell the same story and help spark more and more sustained responses.

But importantly as well he doesn’t shirk from also showing the hard and ongoing work that this takes - there is no single magic way to capture and sustain attention.

[Cody Faldyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his book Parr reveals his latest research on the psychology and neuroscience on what attracts consumers and convinces them to support certain areas of a business product or service. The goal of the book is to help you create effective advertising campaigns, deliver high quality presentations, delegate the right jobs to the right people, and bring your product to the attention of millions of prospects.

For your convenience, we had Ben Parr on our podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on Captivology. With Ben’s experience he gives amazing insight on how to master the art of attracting consumers. If you would like to get a more in-depth look from the author himself check out episode 204 on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

It held my attention. :D That speaks for itself.

[Karen JEC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overview: Parr has collected together a tidy summary of research studies, triggers, and motivations that have an affect on people's attention. Without attention, we can't convey anything. The seven triggers are clearly explained with lots of examples and tips. I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by an even-toned American accented young male speaker and is suitable for x2 speed and commuting.

Favourite quotes:

"First you need to elicit a reaction by being distinctive or disruptive. Once you have your audience's immediate attention, you need something unique, novel, and useful to keep their working memory focused on your message. Having secured their short attention, you must create value for your audience to capture their long term attention."

"It's not what you say, it's what people hear."

"Attention is the conduit through which we experience our world. If you don't have somebody's attention, no amount of effort you put into your product, music, art, lesson plan, or project will matter."

[Christi Winkelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dry so I increased the speed so I could listen more comfortably. Good examples that illustrates his key points. Even though I knew much of these concepts from previous books it served as a nice review. I like that he explains why certain strategies worked or failed. I am currently struggling with rewards/incentives and intrinsic motivation. This book helped me to understand why without superfluous explanations. If you are in management, a business owner, or a blogger I highly recommend this book.

[Amal Halawani · Rating 5 out of 5]

The concept of Captivology is very interesting in the current world of technology, where much information is directed and communicated to us intensively every day. Framing the concept in 3 stages, along with 7 triggers only, makes it smooth to understand and related to in our daily life. To signify its importance, the author explains how our brains unconsciously ignore unnecessary data to our goals to avoid DAF (Direct Attention Fatigue) phenomenon while being exposed to excessive stimuli (page 37).

In terms of the framing trigger, the use of the commodity theory can be intensively seen online with the exclusive glowing offers of products and services. In my opinion, Snapchat resembles the best application of commodity theory and the fear of missing out, as its algorithm of limiting duration to see the content of a story to 24 – hours only, makes followers committed to watching the content soon unlike YouTube. Accordingly, this is the key factor that put Snapchat at the top of the popular and indispensable social medial applications.

With regards to the rewards trigger, the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations principle are the key drivers of my experience at this course. Initially, I was reading Captivology book out of extrinsic motivation because of the course requirement. However, by the time I read a significant portion of the book and got exposed to the fun stories and smooth style, I became intrinsically motivated to know the rest of the examples at the following triggers enjoyably.

When it comes to the mystery trigger, I notice several websites or media companies use this trigger effectively by offering the part of their media freely, like a book. Then, they offer the remaining of it at payment as membership or monthly subscription fees or direct purchase.

Overall, the book uses light language to convey messages and explain notions. The content is rich in several examples to demonstrate the different dimensions of each trigger and stage of attention. It refers to many high-quality pieces of research by well-accredited institutes and universities, that include deep experiments on validating behaviors. For example, to validate that attention is the first defense line against any danger or risk, it demonstrates the founded evidence in the study conducted by the researchers Santa Barbara at the University of California. This experiment mimics the human responsive rate to recognize threatening figures by flipping pictures automatically and quickly (page 18).

Another enthusiastic aspect of the book is the narration of the author’s stories of direct interaction and conversations with the experts. For an instance, Ben express his talk with one of the world’s most successful masters of attention – Shigeru Miyamoto, and how he built the legend of Mario. The story of how a chubby plumber with a thick mustache and an endearing Italian accent had become one of the most recognized and popular characters in the fiction world, simply implies the several years of focusing on details in order to address the fulfillment of the three stages of attention.

Besides the multiple informative and eye-opening principles and arguments, there are some areas of improvement in this insightful book that can make it more enjoyable, illustrative and understandable. Primarily, the book is printed in Black and White formatting strictly, which contradicts the Automaticity trigger. Having some colors, iconic pictograms, or contracts in font to emphasize points, would enhance the reading experience significantly and make the book more visually appealing to continue reading. Similarly, as pictures demonstrate thousands of words, using photos, diagrams, and figures in illustrating some of the studies would convey findings swiftly. For example, at the demonstration of the eye-movement experiment on page 36, the use of pictures would modify understanding the procedure meaningfully.

With regards to the disruption trigger, it is not difficult to interrupt the status quo, but it might backfire as applying the 3Ss model is risky in reality. It is critical to measure the just-right dose of surprise, simplicity and significance without annoying the target subject while maintaining the effecting delivery of the message. In reality, using the idiom, DON’T BUY THIS JACKET, might result in repulsive and warning rumors in some cultures. The book could have further addressed the critical points to put the disruptive trigger in practice in an effective manner extensively.

Reputation trigger can be considered as a double-edged sword. The book addressed the pessimistic and positive aspects, yet the other side could be harmful. In reality, the stamp “made in China” has a negative reputation of bad quality, despite the major improvement of performance. So, one shall be vigilant while addressing the reputation.

Another development point is at the acknowledgment trigger, where this ultimate trigger for the long-time attention would vanish with time gradually. In my view, most of the mentioned attention examples, like The Voice show or Kpop fandom, shall be continuously renewed and reintroduced to retain this attention through the use of the previous triggers such as disruption and reputation.

Finally, throughout the narration of explaining a concept, elongated descriptions, repetitive points and some redundant examples were stated, such as the Albino Animals' lack of surviving in the wild at page 43.

[Catherine Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on navigating the attention economy. Well known behavioral research is used to support his points and very recent examples are given that are very relatable. It's a practical guide on the best investment of time, resources and creative efforts when trying to influence people and outcomes.

[Andrew Orange · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too technocratic.
I don't recommend this book.

[Rokas Golcas · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention" is a compelling exploration of the psychology and science behind capturing people's attention. The book is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand how to capture and hold attention in our increasingly distracted world effectively.

Main Ideas:

The book delves into seven key "captivation triggers" that can be used to capture people's attention:

1. Automaticity: Using specific sensory cues like colors, symbols, and sounds to capture attention based on automatic reaction to certain stimuli.

2. Framing: Adapting to or changing somebody's view of the world so they pay more attention to you.

3. Disruption: Violating people's expectations to change what they pay attention to.

4. Reward: Leveraging people's motivations for intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

5. Reputation: Using the reputations of experts, authorities, and the crowd to instill trust and captivate audiences.

6. Mystery: Creating mystery, uncertainty, and suspense to keep an audience intrigued until the very end.

7. Acknowledgement: Fostering a deeper connection because people tend to pay attention to those who provide them with validation and understanding.

Pros:

1. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the principles of capturing attention, making it a valuable resource for marketers, educators, politicians, and anyone else who needs to capture and hold people's attention.

2. It offers practical applications of these principles, backed by numerous examples and case studies, making the concepts more relatable and actionable.

3. The book is engaging and hard to put down, effectively demonstrating its own principles of capturing attention.

Cons:

1. The book can occasionally become a bit academic, which might not appeal to all readers.

2. While it provides a strategic overview of attention-getting concepts, it could benefit from more practical, step-by-step guidance on how to put these concepts into practice.

Additional Insights:

The book underscores the importance of understanding the science of attention in our modern economy, where attention is a scarce and valuable resource. It provides a valuable guide to navigating the complex landscape of attention and persuasion in various aspects of life, from business to education to politics.

"Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention" is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the psychological and scientific phenomena that capture our attention and how to leverage them effectively.

[Roaa Al Dafas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Ben Parr’s book Captivology a good book. It goes in-depth on how and why people respond to something in certain way. The range of the research used in Parr’s examples enhances the book’s authority and credibility, which is what I applaud Parr for most. In his writing, Parr addresses his most recent research on the neurology and psychology of the market, as well as what attracts customers and influences them to support specific goods and services. The book seeks to help readers create effective marketing strategies, which is important in this day of abundant information. Parr tries to explain how marketers should approach not just grabbing but also holding audiences’ attention in the long term. In my view, the book leans more towards neurology than business while discussing the three basic types of attention: immediate, short-term, and long-term, and one may feel as though they are going through a textbook. Overall, Captivology was a decent book to read and offers insightful knowledge that can be used to address a range of issues.

[Yanal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attention is the scare resources. On average people are exposed to a 100 newspapers per day right now whereas a few decades ago it was only 50. Lasting attention must be built up over time. Capture immediate attention and then transfer toward long term attention. Use contrast to make things stand out which helps grab attention. Adapt your message to audience's frame of reference. We release dopamine when we discover new things. Intrinsic rewards give you long term loyalty. Give a crowd the power of participation which will draw attention to your cause. We have an innate desire to be recognized, validated, and understood.

[Christian Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Parr's book about getting attention is an easy to read (actually a breeze) self-help that should benefit anyone who is into business, learning and development, communication, marketing and PR, and media.

There are many concepts, theories and research findings which he made very simple so you can understand and appreciate them easily. He writes like he is just giving you pointers and advise.

I have read several books with similar topics. This one ranks as one of the most satisfying read I have in years.

[Elliot Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d rate it a 4.5 if I could. Very solid book with lots of solid information, and it keeps moving forward. I also like how he summarizes each point and gives concrete, very easy to understand ideas that can be thought about and remembered. Examples he uses also fortify positions made and are interesting which is awesome. All-in-all, it was a cool book talking about the three types of attention (immediate, short, and long) and how different captivating triggers like how you frame an idea or product can result in gaining the desired attention.

[Sevim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attention, in any form, is at the root of our motivations and behavior. There are triggers that activate our attention and they are: Automaticity, Framing, Disruption, Reward, Reputation, Mystery, and the most crucial one - Acknowledgement. By knowing how to use the attentin triggers - combined or in isolation - you can take a product, or idea, not only attract people to your cause but retain their attention, too. Attention is the 'conduit through which we experience our world'.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living in an "extroverted" world is challenging, especially if you are not naturally the "look at me" kind of person; however, the science of attention may help you figure out how to stay true to yourself and still get your point across. Captivology is written in an easy to follow style, most definitely a good read for those interested on attention triggers 101.

[Katherine Coble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided a really good overview of various triggers we can use to get people's attention. Some triggers work for immediate attention, some for short term and some for long term. Some of them work together to create sustained attention from your audience. Lots of great stuff in here for marketers who want to think about the why behind capturing people's attention.

[John Kenrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating treatment of an essential topic

Well written, with clear and compelling data and memorable examples for every point. If getting and keeping the public's attention matters to you or your professional life, this is a must-read.

[Boston Bostian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched. Clear and concise.

[Marleah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book. A quick read.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about how to captivate an audience.

[Mark Bieraugel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A long article expanded into book length. Some interesting ideas on getting the attention of an audience, but too much reliance on brain science to shore up Parr's lightweight prose.

[Taylor Newill · Rating 3 out of 5]

What makes things interesting to people, I don't recall much

[Dionne Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I found the captivation triggers compelling, I felt many of the examples didn't jive with the explanations.

[Kate]

not sure yet

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. It was a very insightful book made simple with lots of captivating examples and explanations.
10/10 would recommend 👍🏻

[Leandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good !

[Youssef Fotouh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended if you have good ideas that can change the world and you want to get people's attention.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reminders and more detailed thoughts on communication techniques I take for granted. Some tools to employ them more intentionally.

[Sung Yee Poon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really captured my attention and I found it very informative in understanding more about the American millennial generation. Some of his examples are extremely interesting, for instance a new start up actually organized a product event like a wedding. Though his basic principles in capturing attention may not be new, his examples engaged me to read the book word for word. That is rare, normally I only read the sections that interest me because there are so many books to read. The author deserves high rating for his thorough research in particular on his examples given his background mainly as a journalist and venture capitalist yet his easy and friendly writing style would not bore or alienate reader.