This
is my brother Chris.
I really like this kid.
He
is 16 years old, attends a private school as a junior, and is breezing through
his pre-calculus and AP biology classes.
I
know this assignment works best with someone vastly different than myself, and
Chris and I are siblings. However, I have always said if I could get inside
anyone’s brain for just a little while it would be his, hands down. He is such
a stark contrast from most 16 year olds (including myself at his age) in the
way he thinks – he is very critical and analytical in his decision-making, and
thinks about things in a unique way.
So I plan to share some insight into
how he operates with this empathy map.
Empathy Map ~
1.
What
does he Think and Feel?
What
counts the most for Chris is people. He is very relational. On a positive note,
he is very preoccupied with how to serve people and make their lives easier- he
loves to encourage. However, he is often distracted and worried about people
who don’t seem to like him.
Some
of his other preoccupations, on a more material level, include movies and media
– he spends more time that your average person reading movie reviews, articles
about TV shows, and
blogs.
He loves to analyze the value in things, and think critically about them to
form his own opinions. Because of this fascination, he aspires to work in
journalism or another entertainment field, by first attending a prestigious university.
Even though he gets well above-average grades, he sometimes worries about the
pressures to be set apart academically.
2.
See?
His
primary environment (that most influences him) is his school. It is a small
private school, and he is very perceptive of things that happen there,
especially when it pertains to relationships. He is a very empathetic person,
especially for a 16 year old boy. He has a group of really close friends, and he
perceives this group as unique and setting themselves apart from whatever is
“trendy.” In that way, the market offers things that can set you apart from the
crowd, while still helping you to fit in (set apart from what he thinks is
common in the world around, but still fitting in with his personal group of
friends).
3.
Say
and Do?
I
know from personal experience (and from what Chris tells me, it’s still true)
that outward physical appearance is not as defining as it is in other high
school environments. However, Chris is at a stage in life where he is “redefining”
who he is. He used to be introverted, which has changed drastically as he has
matured in recent years.
So
take a look at his new hairstyle!
He’s
such a character.
I
think new hair shows that he wants to be noticed and stand out from the crowd. He even posted this online... kids these days.
Even
though that’s the case, he is not prideful in the way he talks to others- he is
very kind, down-to-earth, and quick to engage in conversation. For the most
part, that is. Some people who he decides would damage his “cool guy” image, he
somewhat-subconsciously avoids (although never being outwardly mean or
demeaning). This is a product of what I would consider a superficial, high
school environment.
4.
Hear?
Chris
hears a lot of approval from his friends- he would definitely consider himself
pretty popular (I will speak more to the approval he desires and receives in
the following two sections). He hears his friends being constantly interested
in gaining unique experiences, like concerts and parties. But they are also simultaneously
interested in being successful in school, because they are personally driven to
get into prestigious universities. Since his friends are his major influencers
in his life right now, he thinks a lot about fun experiences, but that does not
overshadow the importance of school.
His
teachers (both formal teachers and informal mentors) are of course speaking a
lot to him about being motivated and hard-working so he can get into the
college of his choice. One of his most respected teachers influenced him deeply
by also speaking to the importance of forming and maintaining deep
relationships.
A brief deviation from the empathy map:
I wanted to take a second to look at
these top four questions, and think about what they mean for my brother as a consumer:
First
of all, he is exposed to a lot of media, but direct attempts to influence him
to buy things don’t usually work. He does, however, often look for new products
to help him stay connected to media, movies, etc. And he really likes memorabilia
from old movie sets.
Secondly,
he wants to set himself apart from the “crowd,” and any product that can help
him do that is a good one in his book. Things like unique clothes, hair gel,
obscure brands…
Now
back to the final two sections:
5.
Pain
Points?
Chris
does definitely fear failure. Some of this is because of his personal drive to
succeed, but more often he is afraid to fail because of what other people will
think. He deeply values approval from his loved ones.
He
is most likely to be frustrated when someone doesn’t value something,
especially when he put a lot of effort into it. Naturally, this happens mostly
in his classes, when his teachers do not give him the grade he was expecting
for something he worked hard on. This is something that really discourages him.
6.
Hope
to Gain?
He
strives to be independent and self-motivated, but he knows that something he
desires deeply is to be approved of by people, as I mentioned in the previous
section. Those people include his friends, teachers, and even complete
strangers. Fortunately, he is surrounded by intellectual people for the most
part and so is influenced to be that as well. And of course his family and
authority figures give him approval for his dedication, hard work, and learning.
That
approval is a big measure of success for him. However, he strives to change
that, and be able to measure his success independent of what other’s think of
him.
As
far as his obstacles to success, they are tied closely to his fears from the
previous section: he doubts his own ability at times, which keeps him from
putting himself out there and taking risks. For example, he was discouraged
last year when he did not get accepted into an honors program. Although this
year he has improved his ability in many ways, he was almost too fearful of
rejection to apply again. He battles between his desire to be set apart and
successful, with his fear of failure.
These
last two sections take some more critical thinking about how they affect Chris
as a consumer. I am going to focus on approval:
Some
products position themselves in the mind of their target consumers as offering
status and acceptance. I believe these kinds of appeals would have an effect on
my brother. I can think of a lot of expensive clothing brands or luxury cars
that use these appeals.
Compounding
on that, I think a wider range of emotions that are connected to feeling
accepted would be valuable to him – loyalty, for example.
Maybe
something like this Subaru ad:
I really like this one, and I think based on his personality, Chris would really like it too.
So
that’s my expertise on who Chris is! He is a pretty intriguing character,
researchers would definitely have to dig deeper and ask more questions to get
further insight.
Here
is my summary Empathy Map for Chris:
