Memory formation is significantly influenced by emotional peaks and ends of experiences, as explained by the peak-end rule. A study by Daniel Kahneman demonstrated that participants preferred experiences with a gentler ending, even if they involved longer discomfort. This underlines the importance of how experiences conclude over their overall duration. Common anecdotes in business, like the colonoscopy story, highlight this principle but can also lead to misconceptions when taken at face value. Overall, the narrative illustrates the power of conclusions in shaping customer satisfaction and memory.
Our memory of an event is shaped mostly by two key moments: the peak - the emotional high point, the most intense part - and the end - how the experience concluded.
Participants were asked to put their hand into very cold water. In one version, they held it there for 60 seconds... but with the water slightly warmer at the end.
Most participants preferred the longer version. Because the ending was gentler, it softened the memory of the whole experience.
If repeated often enough, stories start being treated as truth—and there's often a grain of truth in them, even with legends and lies.
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