In his book Quirkology, Professor Richard Wiseman posits that behaviour can be influenced by seemingly minor events and experiences, including music, headlines and even our own name.
One application of this is studies into the psychology behind why and how much people tip hospitality staff, and in a broader sense, how much they spend.
Wiseman suggests it would be easy to think the size of a tip depends on factors such as the quality of food, drinks or service, but secret studies have revealed the hidden factors that really determine our behaviour.
Mood plays a large part in the process. Happy customers are bigger tippers.
In one study staff were told to give customers a small card with the bill. Half of the cards contained an advertisement while the other half contained a joke. Those receiving the joke showed a higher level of tipping.
This relationship has been replicated time and again.
Waitstaff reportedly enjoy bigger tips when they draw happy faces or write ‘thank you’ on the bill, or give a big smile. People tip more when the sun is shining – and even just when the waiter tells them the sun is shining.
Other studies have shown tipping is dramatically increased when waitstaff introduce themselves using their first name, or refer to customers by their surname.
Wiseman also references the ‘power of touch’.
Two waitresses were trained to touch the diners’ palm or shoulder for 1.5 seconds as they gave them the bill. Both touches produced more tipping than the hands-off approach in the control group, with palm touching faring slightly better than the shoulder.
Researchers from Texas Tech University studied the use of music in a wine store. Half of customers were subjected to classical music (for example: Mozart, Mendelssohn and Chopin) while the other half heard pop songs.
The experimenters subtly observed behaviour, notably including the number of wine bottles considered, how carefully they were examined, and most importantly, how much was bought.
The results were impressive, finding the music did not affect how long people stayed in the store, the number of bottles examined or even the number of bottles purchased.
However, the music was found to have a dramatic effect on the cost of the purchase; those hearing the classical music bought wine averaging three times as much as the other group.
