Signaling

Let’s talk about signaling. A peacock’s feather, a sports car, spending an hour and half getting ready before going out for dinner. Packaging on consumer goods. Things in the real world at first glimpse that seem frivolous and extravagant, like evolution somehow missed a detail in natural selection. If it tastes the same, the package shouldn’t matter right? Wrong! Words impact taste and menus with dishes named after exotic locations sell more than those that don’t.

In different contexts, things you wouldn’t think matter actually matter a great deal because of how they make us feel about ourselves, shape our identities or signal status and reproductive viability.

If you see something that seems unneeded, change the context. A $100k sports car spending most it’s time in traffic from A to B isn’t rational. Just buy a less expensive car to get you from A to B. But a $100k sport car is an asset when parked next to a rival owner’s car.

We’re social creatures - status is wired into our DNA and fine tuned through natural selection. That context changes the picture. Plus there’s identity: how the sports car makes the driver feel about himself, as one who appreciates craftsmanship and sport.