The SCARF model describes five domains considered important in explaining, for a social setting, a key organising principle of the brain – minimise danger, maximise reward. Denoting status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness, SCARF brings to sharp relief the findings from social cognitive neuroscience that social needs are just as paramount as the physical.
It was January 2000 and McDonald’s Singapore had just launched 6 pairs of Hello Kitty dolls together with her boyfriend, Daniel. Dressed in different costumes they were to be sold in low-priced Happy Meal combinations across their 114 outlets. So began what became known as the “Hello Kitty Wars”. At its peak, almost 300,000 Singaporeans […]
Game Theory was popularised by the 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind”. Status, being a relative concept, makes for an interesting game theory candidate. If you take N people in a closed system all vying to improve their social status ranking you have the makings of a zero-sum-game. One person’s gain can only come at another’s […]