A Psychologists thoughts about concerts
I went to the Nine Inch Nails / Janes Addiction concert last night. I had fun. I thought about a lot of things. I enjoyed the good music. I was glad that it wasn't raining like it was yesterday and the grass was pretty much dry and the weather was cool enough to wear my new leather jacket.
Do you want to know what a psychologist thinks about when they go to an event like this and have lots of time to think?
Well, this particular psychologist thinks things like
I also was thinking
As a psychologist I was also thinking about odds and corporate manipulation.
In terms of odds, I was thinking about the odds of meeting one of my students at the concert. Once I saw the crowds, I estimated the odds that one of my students was at the event at about 100%. Thanks to Facebook, I know for a fact that at least 2 of my students were at the event.
However, the same crowd also caused me to estimate the odds of one of my students both seeing me and recognizing me at about 5%.
My thoughts on corporate manipulation started out when I got a beer.
I ordered Budweiser draft because that is always a safe bet. Bud is a decent drinkable beer in its bottle, can, and draft manifestations. Once again the Budweiser here at the concert venue was incredibly bitter! I never can drink more than a couple of beers here, even if I want to (and I usually want to). Our friends' girlfriends were drinking mixed drinks and since a double was only a dollar more than the beer, I ordered a whiskey coke when I was finished with the beer. Once again, this is usually a safe bet for me. I have learned that no matter how cheap the bar brand whiskey is, it is never cheap enough or bad enough to ruin the taste of a whiskey coke. I found out that this wasn't true for this venue. The whiskey coke was also bitter.
Then I started wondering if this was intentional. Maybe the concert venues put something like quinine into the drinks to make sure that people don't drink too much. Because the drinks also make me feel thirstier than before I drank the drink, perhaps this was also intended as people buy highly overpriced water to quench their thirst. I was pretty sure the return on investment was higher for the water than for the alcohol here.
So this corporate paranoia was already present in my thoughts while we were watching the concert. I was surprised that the opening band was Nine Inch Nails. I expected them to headline, especially since the band is famous for its concert visuals which are totally ineffective when the concert occurs during the daylight hours. So I posted something about it to Facebook. I started thinking that if I was posting something then hundreds of others were probably doing the same.
That was when I started noticing all the people using their phones to text, take pictures and videos of the concert.
I know this is a poor picture (I don't own an iPhone) but you can see how many phones are being used to record Janes Addiction.
Then I started thinking about the massive web impact this was making. If you could monitor the satellite traffic at events such as these, you would see the massive bandwidth being used as large events such as these occur. You would see these hives of activity around the closest satellite/phone towers.
You could then check the posts/updates/comments/blogs being uploaded by the people in the area and get a sense of how the concert was being perceived and received. In a sense you could put your finger on the pulse of the group mind in real time.
The next logical step would be to make strategic changes from one concert to the next and monitor the results. How does the crowd enjoy the concert when it is played in the daylight? When a band opens compared to when it is the final act? What about these visuals? What about when you say the name of the city compared to when you don't?
One could use the raw data produced as the event occurs rather than rely on people's memory of the event after the fact or by their responses on a survey administered after the event. This would be a VERY powerful means of collecting data.
You know somebody has got to be collecting and using this kind of data. I can't be the only one to have thought of it and corporate sponsors have deep pockets.
Do you want to know what a psychologist thinks about when they go to an event like this and have lots of time to think?
Well, this particular psychologist thinks things like
- "OMG, there are a lot of people at this concert"
I also was thinking
- "I have NOTHING in common with Rich and Kevin's girlfriends. Small talk is going to be more difficult than usual"
- "Wow! She has a whole buffet in her purse"
- "Hmm, drunk dialing is bad enough. I wonder how many people have experienced drunk-posting-to-Facebook? The repercussions of that have got to be worse."
- "Note to self: No posting to Facebook, Twitter, or LJ while drinking or after drinking."
- "If a meteorite came flying through here and struck the amphitheater, it would look like an ant hill that just got stepped on."
As a psychologist I was also thinking about odds and corporate manipulation.
In terms of odds, I was thinking about the odds of meeting one of my students at the concert. Once I saw the crowds, I estimated the odds that one of my students was at the event at about 100%. Thanks to Facebook, I know for a fact that at least 2 of my students were at the event.
However, the same crowd also caused me to estimate the odds of one of my students both seeing me and recognizing me at about 5%.
My thoughts on corporate manipulation started out when I got a beer.
I ordered Budweiser draft because that is always a safe bet. Bud is a decent drinkable beer in its bottle, can, and draft manifestations. Once again the Budweiser here at the concert venue was incredibly bitter! I never can drink more than a couple of beers here, even if I want to (and I usually want to). Our friends' girlfriends were drinking mixed drinks and since a double was only a dollar more than the beer, I ordered a whiskey coke when I was finished with the beer. Once again, this is usually a safe bet for me. I have learned that no matter how cheap the bar brand whiskey is, it is never cheap enough or bad enough to ruin the taste of a whiskey coke. I found out that this wasn't true for this venue. The whiskey coke was also bitter.
Then I started wondering if this was intentional. Maybe the concert venues put something like quinine into the drinks to make sure that people don't drink too much. Because the drinks also make me feel thirstier than before I drank the drink, perhaps this was also intended as people buy highly overpriced water to quench their thirst. I was pretty sure the return on investment was higher for the water than for the alcohol here.
So this corporate paranoia was already present in my thoughts while we were watching the concert. I was surprised that the opening band was Nine Inch Nails. I expected them to headline, especially since the band is famous for its concert visuals which are totally ineffective when the concert occurs during the daylight hours. So I posted something about it to Facebook. I started thinking that if I was posting something then hundreds of others were probably doing the same.
That was when I started noticing all the people using their phones to text, take pictures and videos of the concert.
I know this is a poor picture (I don't own an iPhone) but you can see how many phones are being used to record Janes Addiction.
Then I started thinking about the massive web impact this was making. If you could monitor the satellite traffic at events such as these, you would see the massive bandwidth being used as large events such as these occur. You would see these hives of activity around the closest satellite/phone towers.
You could then check the posts/updates/comments/blogs being uploaded by the people in the area and get a sense of how the concert was being perceived and received. In a sense you could put your finger on the pulse of the group mind in real time.
The next logical step would be to make strategic changes from one concert to the next and monitor the results. How does the crowd enjoy the concert when it is played in the daylight? When a band opens compared to when it is the final act? What about these visuals? What about when you say the name of the city compared to when you don't?
One could use the raw data produced as the event occurs rather than rely on people's memory of the event after the fact or by their responses on a survey administered after the event. This would be a VERY powerful means of collecting data.
You know somebody has got to be collecting and using this kind of data. I can't be the only one to have thought of it and corporate sponsors have deep pockets.