That is the reason why, in the 3-hour “culture code” discovery sessions he facilitates, he is so eager to break down the experiment in 3 1-hour sections:

1. the 1st hour is dedicated to having people speak consciously about their thoughts. That’s when the “rational mind” speaks

2. the 2nd hour is when Rapaille takes out the chairs off the room. People feel uncomfortable and as a result they speak freely of their emotions. That is when the “limbic” brain speaks, the one which is supposed to control emotions.

3. in the 3rd hour instead, Rapaille asks people to lay down on the floor, and to move backwards in time to find out memories associated with the product/experience under scrutiny. At this point in the discovery process, people are prone to let their “reptilian” or “lizard” brain speak. That’s when he expects to see the “culture code” bubble up.

Another interesting aspect regarding Rapaille’s method is that he does not care about the content of the message. Only the “structure” is of interest for him. And the structure is, according to him, how the individual describes his/her relationship with the product/experience; not what he/she says about it.