The sound of a train whistle is so ingrained in us. We hear it in songs, at railway stations and on silent nights, somewhere far, far away. With a chug-chug-chug as background music, it would be a long whistle, followed by another, almost drone-like and monotonous. But soon, you may hear a different sort of whistle when the train passes by, not long, but short, repetitive bursts of sound, in staccato mode; honks which will attract your attention quicker and tell you that a train is coming, so don’t cross the railway line. When this happens, thank Biju Dominic, 47, behaviour architect, for it. Biju was born in Nedumkunnam, Changanacherry, did his schooling in Sacred Heart, engineering in Engineering College, Thiruvananthapuram and later his MBA in Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubhaneshwar. After an enviable innings in the best ad concerns of the country, he started his own pioneering concern, FinalMile Consulting, now a multinational company, in Mumbai, four years ago.
Studying the brain
Says this CEO, “It’s the only kind of consulting company in the world, which uses cognitive neuroscience and ethnographic research (watching human behaviour in simpler terms), to find solutions for whatever purposes, be it for marketing, or public good.” Cognitive neuroscience is the interdisciplinary study of the brain and its processes. It involves neuroscience, psychology and incorporates eastern philosophy into it.
For instance, staccato honking was part of the solution arrived at after a study into why so many people are killed in suburban railway stations in Mumbai, as they crossed the tracks to get home earlier. They knew the danger, yet they did it and many got killed. Biju, who was in Kochi recently for a lecture session, goes into the details of this project and explains, “We just observed the commuters on the tracks, for six months. No questions were asked. There was just observation. Overconfidence and misjudgement of the time taken for the train to reach a spot were the sole reasons for deaths on the tracks, we found out. Solutions are not complicated or expensive. We recommended that a few sleepers be painted yellow at regular intervals near the area so that as the train moved, the speed of the train is judged more correctly by people from a distance. Together with staccato honking that will hold your attention, we suggested that life-size pictures of a man (three stages) about to be hit by a train be put up at strategic locations, near places where people are likely to cross. The raw fear in his eyes and face communicates the danger to others. People relate to pictures better. It looks real and is not just a warning signage in lines or words. This and staccato honking actually worked and the number of deaths came down, from 23 to nine in the next six-month period.” This project got noticed in the international scene and was presented as a case study at the Dublin World Social Marketing Conference.
Biju says the Railways have accepted the staccato model whistle in principle and sent a directive asking train whistles in new locomotives manufactured to have this type of horn.
Simple solutions
The staccato method of honking has a deeper meaning. Staccato horn is based on the scientific fact that our ears are most attentive during the small silence between two musical notes. Many music composers use this effectively in their musical compositions. Here goes another instance of a simple solution. A brand of pillows which was selling just 5,000 a month moved to 2.2 lakh in two months. How? “People’s behaviour is always irrational, contrary to what we assume, when they buy something. We watched people at the store and recommended that a pillow be put up on a pedestal for people to feel it. The finger tips are the most sensitive part of the human body. And work it did!
There is no data collection as is conventionally understood in Biju’s scheme of things. “We watch people or situations for hours every day and learn the reasons for certain types of behaviour. Using cognitive neuroscience, the behaviour architecture is analysed and solutions found,” Biju explains. He has a staff strength of just 17, all highly qualified behaviour architects. “My staff members read a lot. They have flexi timings and 50 per cent of their work is just reading. The best ideas emerge when you are relaxed. Whatever is new in the field of cognitive neuroscience is immediately detected, studied and shared. We have a huge library.”
Mind and matter
Biju is self taught in this field and his idol is V.S. Ramachandran, a neuroscientist and Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, San Diego, who uses unconventional, but simple methods as remedies. He is best known for his pioneering work in the area of autism and phantom limbs, that is psychological problems of people with artificial limbs.
Studying the working of the mind and applying it to solve issues is a challenge that Biju loves and is developing.
Biju is today one of the most highly paid consultants in the world, but projects for social good are taken up with no eye on profit.
“Even while in S.B. College and later Engineering College, I had this questioning nature. I knew that I was not cut out to be an engineer though I got good marks. In college, I took part in debates and elocution contests and almost always got the first prize. I was dead against college politics. I always wondered why kids were ready to die for politicians and how Godmen collected so many followers. It was after I joined the advertising sector that I got interested in how the brain functions and realised there were ways in which people could be influenced to make certain decisions that you wanted them to make.”
Neuroscience became a passion. Apart from giving lectures in prestigious institutions like London School of Economics and University College, London, Biju keeps thinking totally out-of –the-box where solutions are concerned, purely based on research and observation. Biju lives with his wife Sajitha Joseph and daughter Rhea Ann Joseph in Mumbai, though the ‘Malayali’ tag is all over him.
Biju certainly dreams big. Next on his agenda is to curb the ever increasing number of road accidents in the country and bigger still, is the urge to delve into why youngsters take to terrorism and how to curb it, all via cognitive neuroscience. He is already on the job, studying the behaviour of such people. Another is a study in communicable diseases like TB, which is very much around still and why we cannot eliminate it.
On a more mundane level, Biju has had experimental successes in stopping people from spitting pan and littering in public places, in Mumbai. The anti-littering experiment is on in Sanjay Gandhi colony, a slum in New Delhi. “If people think no one is looking, they do this. We had pictures of faces put up at these locations and the spitting was considerably curbed,” he says.
