We All are Europe - AESAEC

Unit 5.3.
Unit in a nutshell
Achievements
Advertising psychology meets application writing
Considering some basic elements of advertising psychology
Becoming acquainted with the interrelation between advertising and an
application
After this unit you will be able to:
consider some psychological elements of advertising when writing an application
identify which motives are important for an EU application and which are
not
differentiate between topics which are in and those which are out in the
EU project application world.
The bait must be tasty for the fish and not for the angler. (Advertising saying)
Warming up:
One of the most common concepts attempting to explain
the structure that man’s behavior follows is Maslow’s Pyramid,
named after the famous American psychologist. It
was always controversially discussed and today it seems to
be somewhat out of date - nevertheless have a close look
at the diagram on the left and discuss whether or not you
can draw helpful conclusions from it.
Listen / Read / Discuss / Exercise
5.3.1. Basic considerations and their link to application writing
Why do we buy And why do we opt for product A and not for B, or for idea X and not for Z
These psychological decision making components are also relevant during the writing of an application,
as they sell our product (the application) to a potential customer (the European Commission or
rather the evaluator), with the aim of it being preferred above other products (other applications).
Therefore, it might be worth thinking about this once or twice before deciding upon your project
concept.
Motivation and incentives: Although the reasons and drivers for human behaviour is an extremely
complex field and far away from being researched in depth, one can very generally say that man
acts (= either doing something or not doing something – from a psychological point of view, both are
acting!) because of one or more internal motives meets one or more external incentives – together
they result in the level of motivation to act.
If we want to estimate whether somebody’s level of motivation to act, e.g. of an evaluator to approve
or not approve a project application, is high or low, we need to consider that the following
basic rules can be drawn up:
• the lower the motive is developed, the higher the incentive must be
• the higher the motive is developed, the lower the incentive can be
For example, when a person has satisfied his / her thirst then a drink must appear very appetising
for the person to want to drink it. However, when someone is really thirsty, then the he / she will
drink almost anything without needing much convincing. Generally, the following basic motives are
considered to determine human behaviour:
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