The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy | Behavioral Economics

Today rounds out this miniseries of companies providing testing opportunities for businesses with a conversation about fast-choice and implicit testing with CloudArmy’s Dr. Keith Ewart.  During our conversation today, Keith starts by telling us all about testing and project work he did during his 24 years at Proctor and Gamble – the positives and the pitfalls – and the work he now does as VP of Insights at CloudArmy.  He will share about some of the issues in testing at large organizations, including being stuck executing projects that you know won’t work well because the testing took too long to come back and being too far down the track to implement something new. (So frustrating!) That’s why the super quick and incredibly effective fast-choice and implicit testing that CloudArmy does is such a great solution, which he will also give insight on. Listen now to learn all about it (and best next steps for starting your own project). Show Notes: [00:42] I am so excited to introduce you to Dr. Keith Ewart, partner and VP of insights at CloudArmy. [03:35] Keith shares about where he lives and his background.  [05:04] He actually started off in microbiology. After working in microbiology for about a year and a half he saw the wonderful world of insights and requested a move.  [06:38] A key part of his life at Proctor and Gamble was in packaging and developing better packaging solutions.  [07:47] The importance of understanding the packaging impact in the zero moment of truth all the way to the purchase in store.  [09:18] They were encouraged to think about multi-sensory signals.  [10:36] The third moment of truth is asking if that whole experience was so good that you want to tell your friends about it. It is important to have testimonials and brand advocates.  [12:46] The third moment of truth is not talked about in many companies.  [13:57] We want to drive the habits and at the same time we uncover what those barriers are. If we can uncover those barriers, we can put solutions in place.  [14:51] One of the biggest barriers to innovation is speed.  [16:05] Keith is a massive fan of fast cycle learning, rapid prototyping, bringing ideas to life very early on, and getting the voice of the consumer in the room as quickly as possible.  [18:15] What you really want is an individual's true response and ideally more than one or two focus groups.  [20:01] You can start to think about concepts, positioning, and using imagery to convey those brand positioning or benefits you want to get across.   [22:40] CloudArmy is a software company and programmers who have a background in the whole field.  [24:19] The beauty of a true implicit methodology is that consumers don’t even realize that they are being evaluated.  It is based solely on reaction times.  [26:28] They are using implicit tests for packaging, messaging, advertising, and across the board.  They are getting a true unconscious response to a set of stimulus.  [28:31] If you want to design your own test, it is not a problem.  The key thing is what is the objective of the client and what is the best tool to understand and utilize.  [31:03] Context is key. Defining what you are really trying to get at and what success looks like. Make sure your problem statement is defined and can be measured. Take the data and translate it to actionable insights.  [33:15] Keep things simple. People’s brains are tired and they can’t cope with so much information.  [34:00] How many people can truly say they know what their brand stands for? What does the consumer really think is the most important component of their brand? [36:27] Everyone should spend more time understanding the problem.    [38:20] The more constraints you put in place the longer time it will take. It is often beneficial to keep the sample broad.  [41:14] When you get everyone in the room together all trying to create and you get the toolkits around to help evaluate these things, you can make decisions quickly [44:21] Melina shares her closing thoughts.  [47:24] Shop at The Brainy Business shop for that perfect brainy gear. Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! More from The Brainy Business: 🎉🎉🎉 Buy Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia 🎉🎉🎉 Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Neuro design: Neuromarketing insights to boost engagement and profitability, by Darren Bridger Decoding the Irrational Consumer: How to Commission, Run and Generate Insights from Neuromarketing Research, by Darren Bridger Soul of the New Consumer: Authenticity-What We Buy and Why in the New Economy, by Darren Bridger How Brands Grow, by Byron Sharp Choice Hacking, by Jennifer Clinehens Connect with CloudArmy:  CloudArmy Website CloudArmy on Twitter CloudArmy on LinkedIn Top Recommended Next Episode: What Problem Are You Solving? (episode 126) Already Heard That One? Try These:  Sense of Smell (episode 25) Sense of Sound (episode 27) Sense of Touch (episode 28) Priming (episode 18) Habits (episode 21) Herding (episode 19) Inside the Texas A&M Human Behavior Lab (episode 33) iMotions (episode 182) The Power of Metaphors with Olson Zaltman’s Malcolm & Hannibal Brooks (episode 181) How To Set Up Your Own Experiments (episode 63) Where CX and Behavioral Science Meet, interview with Jennifer Clinehens, author of Choice Hacking (episode 141) Other Important Links:  CloudArmy Podcast CloudArmy Use Cases Nudgestock Project Implicit: Take a Test Check out What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

How often does your business run tests?  Testing is so important. You don’t need to do fancy stuff every time and there are so many types of testing. If you don’t take the time to test, you can’t know what is working and there is a good chance you are wasting time on stuff that isn’t going to help you reach your goals.  Today, I am so excited to introduce you to Dr. Jessica Wilson, technical director at iMotions who got her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Northwestern University. As you will hear in the episode, she and I have been working together on a project for quite some time now and I am very excited to have results to share with you now. This episode will talk about that study we did together for The Brainy Business as well as some of the other awesome work iMotions is doing. Show Notes: [00:40] Today, I am so excited to introduce you to Dr. Jessica Wilson, technical director at iMotions who got her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Northwestern University. [03:31] Jessica shares more about who she is and what she does. Her background is in research and neuroscience.  [03:58] iMotions is a software company that provides a platform that can integrate and synchronize different neuroscience tools.  [05:28] There are so many different applications; iMotions does product testing, ads testing, sensory work, and more.  [08:23] The most basic setup includes eye-tracking, facial expression analysis, and skin conductance. Those three work really well together and they are also very easy to get started with.  [10:23] These tools are really helpful in certain ways, but at the end of the day the research question is king and it will help dictate what tools you use.  [12:10] Jessica shares details about video testing and applying test results.  [14:54] The data to help you make the best design decisions at the time when it counts.  [15:16] Jessica shares a study using video testing from the University of South Florida.  [16:52] The common theme in all these methods is that the most effective projects have a distinct research question and distinct variables.  [19:01] For the first phase of The Brainy Business website project, we looked at where people naturally gravitated to on the website. For the second phase of the study we adopted more of a task-based approach.  [20:47] Melina was doing a redesign of the website so she did a study with iMotions that she talked about in her book. They did two tests.  [23:21] The first thing they had people do was just a free one-minute navigation. They wanted to see if there were things they attended to more than others, if things got ignored, or if they were scattered all over the place with their attention. Just looking at the one-minute navigation both sites did pretty well.  [24:23] The differences started to happen when the task components were introduced.  [26:23] There were two tasks for the study, each with its own scenario.  [28:39] One of the best things about running a test like this is that you are really forced to narrow it down to one thing.  [31:03] The best research looks at one or two things.  [33:21] With the old website there was a 12% success rate of actually clicking on the pricing course and the success rate went up to 70% with the new website design. [35:38] For the corporate page, it was found that it was giving too much information, reducing the effectiveness. [36:48] Melina was able to use insights from the two tests to help with the full redesign and integrate it into other areas of the site as well.  [38:51] You don’t have to use the whole testimonial. It can be much more impactful if you call out the little highlights that can get buried in a paragraph.  [39:48] In the second test, the difference between the two prototypes was how they framed the testimonials.  [41:30] People will start at the very top of web pages and you will see a lot of aggregation from the left to the right on the top and on the left side going down and slowly fading over time as people start skipping past things.  [43:23] Across most of the different measures of eye-tracking it looked like less was more in this case. Just taking the highlights from the testimonials goes a long way in being able to direct attention to the area and people will spend more time looking there. [45:40] Melina will be including pictures and other information about the test on the Apply It page.  [46:38] Once the pandemic hit, people weren’t collecting data anymore because you can’t bring people into a physical lab space. They started looking at online data collection and remote options. [48:03] You get research unrestricted by the bounds of geography. There are now more possibilities than ever for how we can collect this data.  [50:07] Melina shares her closing thoughts.  [52:37] Shop at The Brainy Business shop for that perfect brainy gear. Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! More from The Brainy Business: 🎉🎉🎉 Buy Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia 🎉🎉🎉 Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Ripple, by Jez Groom and April Vellacott Engaged, by Amy Bucher Marketing to Mindstates, by Will Leach Designing for Behavior Change, by Stephen Wendell What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You, by Melina Palmer     Connect with iMotions:  iMotions Website iMotions on Twitter iMotions on LinkedIn Top Recommended Next Episode: What Problem Are You Solving? (episode 126) Already Heard That One? Try These:  Inside the Texas A&M Human Behavior Lab (episode 33) Social Proof (episode 87) The Power of Metaphors with Olson Zaltman’s Malcolm & Hannibal Brooks (episode 181) Cloud Army (episode 183) How To Set Up Your Own Experiments (episode 63) Priming (episode 18) What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: All About Melina’s First Book (episode 147) What is Behavioral Baking? (episode 155) How Businesses Can Design for Behavior Change, with Dr. Amy Bucher (episode 164) Designing for Behavior Change, Interview with Dr. Steve Wendel (episode 116) Planning Fallacy (episode 114) Time Discounting (episode 51) Framing (episode 16) Other Important Links:  Human Behavior Lab Certificate Program Innovative neuroeconomics research at Texas A&M Check out What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

Associates from Olson Zaltman, Malcolm and Hannibal Brooks, discuss the power of metaphors in understanding consumer behavior. They share insights on the ZMET process, deep metaphors, and its application in branding strategies for companies like Harvard and Tropicana.

If you’re a human person with any access to the internet, you are likely familiar with unboxing videos. Maybe you like and watch them yourself, maybe your kids love to watch other people open up boxes of toys, or maybe you avoid them at all costs. Whatever camp you are in, at one point or another, you probably thought something like, “Why do so many people watch these?” or “Why do these work?” Today’s episode is dedicated to talking through the brain science of what is going on behind the scenes of an unboxing video. In this episode I talk about why they work, what to keep in mind if you ever decide to make your own, and some insights on the various types of “unboxings” out there (anything with a reveal pretty much counts). We will dig in on mirror neurons, anticipation/dopamine, priming, the senses, and more!  Listen now to get the scoop on unboxing videos.  Show Notes: [00:06] Ever wondered why unboxing videos are a thing? That’s what we’re focusing on in today’s episode. [03:19] There are countless ways to do these unboxing or reveal videos. [04:01] In this episode, I am going to talk about four main things that are happening with unboxing videos, or that you should keep in mind when you create these yourself. We are going to talk about mirror neurons, dopamine created by anticipation, priming, the senses, and more. [04:35] Mirror neurons are the key to empathy and our ability to learn from observing others instead of only by doing things ourselves. [06:20] Mirror neurons greatly impact our lives every day. They have done some amazing things for all of humanity, the first of which is our ability to learn by observation and the second is our ability to empathize. [07:31] In an unboxing video, when someone else is opening the box, it is like we are doing it ourselves. We are able to live vicariously through that experience. Because of the dopamine release, it is very exciting for our brains even if we can’t have and will never have the item that is being opened or revealed. [08:50] Dopamine is tied to anticipation, and so when there is a moment where you aren’t sure what is going to happen -- where you are waiting for that reveal and don’t know what is coming out of the box -- you are getting a kick of dopamine. [10:24] Once you know what is in the box (or how the movie ends), the joy for your brain is over. It is about savoring the anticipation that the brain loves. [10:50] Our brains love that uncertainty and expectation. [11:38] If you want someone to be excited about the unboxing process, you should prime them for that excitement. [13:07] Your excitement breeds more excitement in the viewer. [13:43] If you have too much of a lull, people might get bored and leave. You can play the B-side for a while, but you need to mix in some hits here and there to keep it interesting. [14:15] When you create an unboxing video, it is important to try and incorporate all five of the senses whenever you can to help get those mirror neurons firing. [16:31] Descriptive priming words that evoke the senses are critical when doing any video, and in an unboxing, they can get people excited. [17:54] The internet is full of unboxing videos for a reason, find some and take notes. Be sure to watch good ones, sure, but also find and watch some bad ones. What did they do wrong? When did your attention wane? How can you apply that to your future videos? [18:43] If you have never done an unboxing or reveal video before, what could you do one of? Plan in advance how you might incorporate all our main aspects from this episode: mirror neurons, anticipation, priming, and all five senses...and hit record! [20:33] As it is the holidays, it is a perfect time to pick up some Brainy Gear for you or a friend at The Brainy Business shop.  Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You, by Melina Palmer The Experience Maker, by Dan Gingiss The Hype Handbook, by Michael Schein The Life-Saving Skill of Story, by Michelle Auerbach Marketing Mess to Brand Success, by Scott Miller Top recommended next episode: Mirror Neurons (episode 31) Already heard that one? Try these:  Priming (episode 18) Get Your D.O.S.E. of Brain Chemicals (episode 123) Sense of Smell (episode 25) Sense of Taste (episode 26) Sense of Touch (episode 28) Sense of Hearing (episode 27) Sense of Sight (episode 24) Familiarity Bias (episode 149) Surprise and Delight (episode 60) Scarcity (episode 14) Novelty and Stories (episode 54) Herding (episode 19) Other Important Links:  The Neurons That Shaped Civilization The Mind’s Mirror Shopping, Dopamine, and Anticipation Check out Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

The internationally acclaimed book, Nudge, has shaped a lot of the field of behavioral economics. It has also spurred a whole other area which one of its co-authors, Cass Sunstein, has written a new book about, called Sludge: What Stops Us From Getting Things Done and What To Do About It, which released in fall 2021.  Sludge is everywhere in our lives. So what is it and how do we reduce it? This episode of The Brainy Business podcast is dedicated to all things sludge to help you identify and reduce it in your business. In this episode you will learn about: what sludge is and isn’t; a customer facing example of sludge; a back-office example of sludge; how to quantify sludge; and how to get others on your team on board with finding and removing sludge. No matter your size or industry, I guarantee sludge is a problem in your business. Find it, remove it, and enjoy the benefits. Listen to learn more about sludge... Show Notes: [00:06] Today’s behavioral economics foundations episode is all about sludge. [02:23] Context and the way choices are presented make a huge difference in what we find to be most appealing. When the choices are presented in a different order we might choose something else entirely. [03:32] When you use a tactic to influence choice, we call that a nudge. [05:45] “Sludge is built into the human condition, and we need to start to remove it, piece by piece.” [07:02] “Sludge hurts all of us, but if you are sick, old, disabled, or poor, or if you don't have a lot of education, sludge is a curse.” [08:07] Sludge is everywhere in our lives. Melina shares examples of sludge.  [10:34] “If sludge is understood to consist of frictions that separate people from what they want to get, the concept is not entirely mysterious.” [11:16] Much sludge involves confusing administrative burdens requiring people to obtain information, to figure out whom to call, to find out exactly what they're supposed to do. [13:01] Sometimes it is good for people to be confronted with a little sludge to prove they qualify for a benefit or that they care enough to earn whatever is presented, or that they are a good fit for a position. [13:30] In this episode I’m going to give you a back-office example, a customer-facing example, and some ways to think about quantifying the problem of sludge so you can know its real impact [13:50] When it comes to customer-facing examples, I like to start with the “buy now” button from Amazon. [15:12] In the buying process, questions like “Are you sure?” or extra fields or steps can act as partitions. Each new partition is a point where someone will evaluate if this is worth it or if they should bail completely or plan to “come back later.” Unfortunately, later often never comes. [17:09] Removing the sludge so you only ask what is absolutely necessary can help a lot more people get over that first hurdle. Focus on each micro moment as it exists and what is absolutely necessary.  [18:23] You can turn the sludge up or down as needed, but again I want to stress that most companies have way too much sludge in the way of people doing business with you. [19:41] My main piece of advice: find the least amount of items you need to get someone to move forward in this singular situation. [20:21] Melina shares back office examples including expense reports, checking tools in and out, and signing off on a change. [21:55] Melina shares her experience when she first started at the credit union and changes required a physical form to be completed by hand. (So sludgy!) [24:15] In the back office, when you trust your employees, you can reduce the sludge and things get done faster, for a lot less money than if you don’t have trust. Work on trust and get rid of that sludge. [24:47] Because people get stuck in the status quo, they often don’t feel like they can give up sludge. [25:11] Sunstein gives an example of quantifying sludge with TSA Precheck and shares how quickly the value can add up. [26:40] When you take a minute to quantify the lost sales or the minutes wasted by key staff members, the initiatives that couldn’t be completed because of wasted time, or anything else. It can add up incredibly quickly. [27:21] Sludge is a huge problem in your business, I promise, no matter your size or industry. Find it, remove it, and enjoy the benefits. Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Sludge, by Cass Sunstein Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein Friction, by Roger Dooley The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M.R. Covey The Paradox of Choice, by Barry Schwartz Top recommended next episode: Friction, an interview with Roger Dooley (episode 72) Already heard that one? Try these:  Introduction to NUDGES and Choice Architecture (episode 35) iNcentives: the “N” in NUDGES (episode 36) Understanding Mapping: the “U” in NUDGES (episode 37) Defaults: the “D” in NUDGES (episode 38) Give Feedback: the “G” in NUDGES (episode 40) Expect Error: the “E” in NUDGES (episode 39) Structure Complex Choices: the “S” in NUDGES (episode 41) Amazon: a Behavioral Economics Analysis (episode 159) The Speed of Trust, with Stephen M.R. Covey (episode 148) Partitioning (episode 58) Paradox of Choice (episode 171) Status Quo Bias (episode 142) Change Management (episode 7) Framing (episode 16) Interview with Dr. Robert Cialdini (episode 157) Check out Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

It’s November – a month where many begin to reflect on the year and (at least here in the states) consider the things we are thankful for. It kicks off the holiday season and we may begin to think about those around us whom we may see in person or virtually this holiday. Because of that, it seemed like the perfect time to discuss The Power of Us, a new book from coauthors Dr. Jay Van Bavel and Dr. Dominic Packer.  Today, Dr. Dominic Packer is here to talk about this fantastic book and their years of research together. The insights in the book come together to help people harness their shared identities to improve performance, increase cooperation and promote social harmony. I’m guessing you can see why I chose to have this episode come out now, even though it is a couple of months after we recorded and when the book was officially released. It just seemed like the perfect time to share and help everyone to reflect upon the power of “us.” Listen to the episode now to see how this can be leveraged in your life and business... Show Notes: [00:07] In today’s episode I’m excited to introduce you to Dr. Dominic Packer, coauthor of The Power of Us. [03:10] Dominic shares about himself and his background. He is a social psychologist and professor.  [06:01] The book is about group identities. The groups we belong to can become part of who we are.  [06:56] When we take on a group identity, we are very likely to be influenced by the norms of that group.  [07:59] There is a second kind of influence which is informational influence. We look to other people to see what is a sensible thing to do. The norms through those groups become a way we express those identities.  [09:36] Dominic shares about the 20 statements task.  [11:22] For many of us, some really key aspects of ourselves come from these groups. They drive a lot of the way we think of the world, the emotions we feel, and the decisions we end up making.  [13:02] During the course of a single day different aspects of a single person’s identity will come in and out of focus. Our behaviors are not exactly the same at different parts of the day when we operate through these different identities. [14:52] One of the fascinating things about identity is that it is flexible, malleable, and adaptive to current circumstances.  [17:08] Group-based divisions might arise by politics, fights over resources, or major political differences.  [18:26] Groups are a tremendously useful tool for human beings. They are fundamental to our survival. Humans have succeeded by getting together.  [21:35] In many corporate situations you have different divisions and units and people confirm identities at that subgroup level. People can get a lot of sense of connection and be very motivated to do well on behalf of their subgroup.  [22:25] Identities are often multi-leveled. If you shift their focus from their lower-level identity to their higher level and especially if you create conditions where they need to work together it can bring them together.  [23:50] You need to create the conditions by which people can see themselves as part of something larger than their immediate sub-group. People need to see that there is an organizational identity.  [25:11] We need to incentivize collective identity instead of individual identities. Setting universal goals can also help.  [28:07] “Dissent is quite hard and people only do it because they care deeply about a group.”  [29:59] Both the people who are the most likely to conform to group norms most of the time are also the most likely to dissent when they see something as problematic or needing change in their group. This is because they care a lot.  [30:50] To speak out is to take a risk and to take that risk is that you need to have some level of identification and care about the group. [32:24] You do want a culture where the people that are strongly identified with the group do feel like they can speak up when they see something as problematic or see something that has the possibility of change or improvement.  [32:53] A psychologically safe environment is one where people feel comfortable speaking up and speaking out, being critical, and being divergent. They feel comfortable because they know it will be okay.  [34:03] You want an organization where your people are identified and they really value the collective goals but they are engaging with them creatively.  [35:24] If you are trying to cultivate a group where people can share their ideas and can have better ideas than you, it is really important that you don’t squash them even when they are not good ideas.  [36:49] As a boss, take time to reflect on what you are good at. Validating yourself and the contributions you make to free you up to be less threatened with other people bring good things to the table as well.  [38:27] A fundamental task of a leader is to manage the social identities of the people they are leading. [39:37] As a boss you have to be careful to not engage in behaviors that differentiate you too much from the group because then you no longer seem like one of us and you are not going to be followed as energetically or enthusiastically.  [41:24] Consider how to manage this group’s identity so people understand what we are collectively trying to achieve and create a level of solidarity.  [42:39] As you rise up in leadership positions it does oftentimes require a total shift in orientation.  [45:23] Melina shares her closing thoughts.  [46:02] Dissenters care so much that they are unwilling to let the little things slide that they think are reflecting badly on the whole group. They care so much that they will stand up against the herd and encourage change. [47:50] Check out Melina’s Setting Brainy Goals course and shop at The Brainy Business shop for that perfect brainy gift. Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! More from The Brainy Business: 🎉🎉🎉 Buy Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia 🎉🎉🎉 Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony by Jay Van Bavel & Dominic Packer Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger Connect with Dominic:  Power of Us Website Dominic on Twitter Power of Us Book on Twitter Top recommended next episode: Biases Toward Others – Including Group (episode 46) Already heard that one? Try one of these:  Overview of Personal Biases (episode 45) Herding (episode 19) Social Proof (episode 87) The Science of Opinions, with Dr. Andy Luttrell (episode 173) Dr. Robert Cialdini and the (Now!) 7 Principles of Persuasion (episode 157) Incentives – The “N” In NUDGES (episode 36) Only 1% of People Blow the Whistle at Work—How to Fix That, with Nuala Walsh (episode 153) Priming (episode 18) Other important links:  The Power of Us Newsletter Check out What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

A company's success nowadays is so reliant upon pitching and getting media coverage. Having a credible source say positive things about you and your company can be pivotal when it comes to whether your brand is going to be seen or not. That is exactly why this episode of The Brainy Business is dedicated to giving you some concise tips on how to use behavioral economics to pitch your brand. I know pitching yourself can feel awkward, but when you understand the brain science it doesn't have to be, especially if you follow my tips! I discuss different brain biases such as social proof, authority bias, familiarity bias, and really focus on availability bias. Availability bias is critical to pitching success. You can take advantage of it by predicting and paying attention to trends and finding a way to offer people a fresh perspective on them. We close with three key points to keep in mind when pitching: (1) keep it short (2) be happy with your language and (3) follow directions. This and so much more in this episode, which will help you use behavioral economics to successfully pitch yourself and your business, so listen now... Show Notes: [00:06] In today’s episode, I talk about using brain science to successfully pitch to media. [02:22] Pitching yourself can be awkward and uncomfortable, and there are brain biases that can explain why that is. Understanding them can help you turn them around and use them to your advantage. [05:05] There is good news – pitching doesn't have to be so hard if you use my tips! [07:20] I explain why media coverage and pitching are so important, beginning with social proof. [08:43] Authority bias leads us to believing that anything that the news or media reports is true or else it wouldn't be featured. [09:32] Familiarity bias makes us lean toward things that we already know or know of. [10:26] The final (and I would argue, most important) brain bias that is to your benefit when pitching is availability bias. [12:48] One of my favorite examples of availability bias is how travel to Norway drastically increased following the release of Disney's movie Frozen! [14:20] In order to take advantage of availability bias, you need to predict trends and offer something unique in relation to them. [16:30] Pitching to reporters can be stressful, but remember that reporters are people doing a job. You can be a resource to them they are thankful for if you connect with them properly. [19:06] A simple and easy habit you can create to make you a master at pitching by taking advantage of availability bias. [21:55] Recognize where you fit and where you can fill in gaps. [24:23] Remember to take advantage of familiarity bias! Get people to know who you are and like you before you ask for anything [25:41] I recommend signing up for HARO (Help a Reporter Out). [27:10] It's important to remember that not all of your pitches will land, but that only makes it that much more rewarding when they do. [27:43] I give you some key tips to keep in mind: (1) keep your pitch short and sweet, (2) be sure that you're satisfied with how your pitch is worded, and (3) follow directions that reporters put into their requests and do what they ask. [29:30] A quick and simple summary of all the tips in the episode. [31:03] Registration is now open for my Setting Brainy Goals course! Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show. I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert B Cialdini PhD Presuasion, by Robert B. Cialdini, PhD You’re Invited, by Jon Levy The Hype Handbook, by Michael F. Schein The Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey Top recommended next episode: Availability Bias (episode 15) Already heard that one? Try these: Familiarity Bias (episode 149) Confirmation Bias (episode 102) Framing (episode 16) Priming (episode 18) Optimism Bias (episode 34) Social Proof (episode 87) Reciprocity (episode 23) Herding (episode 19) Focusing Illusion (episode 89) Prefactual Thinking (episode 71) Bikeshedding (episode 99) Survivorship Bias (episode 110) Dr. Robert Cialdini and the (Now!) 7 Principles of Persuasion (episode 157) Other Important Links: HARO - Help A Reporter Out Certificate in Applied Behavioral Economics at Texas A&M Check out Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia. Also, be sure to register for her upcoming Setting Brainy Goals course!

Have you ever had a disruption in your routine – moving to a new house, taking a new route to work – and found yourself exhausted every day?  This is common when our habits are upended (the subconscious can’t use its rules anymore so your conscious is having to do a lot more work!). And while it may feel annoying, this is also a great opportunity to innovate and change your life for the better.  Today, I’m joined by Adam Hansen, VP of behavioral innovation at Ideas To Go and coauthor of Outsmart Your Instincts who happened to be in the midst of a move, so we talk about how to reframe an annoying disruption in habits to make it work for you. We also discuss the curse of knowledge and how it impacts businesses, risks of omission versus risks of commission, and other fun behavioral goodness sprinkled throughout (including my new favorite term of being an “omnivore of information”). Listen now... Show Notes: [00:07] In today’s episode, I’m excited to introduce you to Adam Hansen, VP of behavioral innovation at Ideas To Go and coauthor of Outsmart Your Instincts. [03:18] Adam shares about himself and his background. He always knew that innovation would be part of his career.  [05:18] When working on the book, they started looking at all the cognitive biases to figure out which ones were causing most of the mayhem in innovation.  [06:16] If you adopt the behavioral innovation approach, you can see three to four times improvement in performance and quality of ideas very early on in innovation. You can get to better ideas faster.  [09:01] All of the thousands of small decisions we make every day that have been automated are lost when you move. Each little thing is so minor that we don’t realize what the cumulative effect of all those small decisions is.  [10:02] It is important for us to automate everything we can.  [12:19] It is impossible for us to place ourselves fully back in the shoes of our first-time clients. Our version of dumbing things down to meet them where they are is still going to be more advanced than where we need to get to. We can work on this by following up with first-time clients and asking what you could have done better.  [13:46] There is so much more jargon in your business than you think there is. [16:10] Our need for tangibility is much greater than we assume. Most people need help to break down abstraction. The more tangible you can be the better.  [18:13] The curse of knowledge is the idea that once you become knowledgeable in a given area, you can't unknow what you know and you can’t fully place yourself back in the shoes of the subject.  [23:27] Negativity Bias is the idea from our ancestors of thinking of all novelty as threat and not opportunity.  [25:12] Especially in innovation, we need to be as opportunity minded as possible. We need to be aware of threats and take smart action to minimize and mitigate those threats.  [27:43] When we are in moments of threat, to still be able to take swift decisive action is fantastic (and sometimes life-saving!)  [28:29] The research shows that negativity can appear super profound. Too often we are shooting down ideas and not coming up with alternatives. That is not progress.  [30:31] We are predisposed to go toward the negative any time a new idea comes up.  [31:38] The more you can value ideas early on for their provocative value rather than for their immediate merits the better. Then you are in a better frame of mind to take on the negatives.  [33:54] When you approach challenges to problems in this way, there is real value. The language is brilliant, priming to get people to deal with problems and concerns in a much better way.  [35:10] If you are an optimistic person it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a negativity bias and pessimistic people still have optimism bias.  [36:44] Go in understanding that there will be some differences and then the task becomes “How do we get the most out of the differences?” The more you can approach differences with curiosity than defensiveness...the better.  [37:48] Curiosity is very smart and super adaptive. Be curious even when it is hard to be curious.  [39:07] Curiosity kills the cat, satisfaction brought it back. (Did you know there was more to that saying?!) [41:49] It is hard to gather data on what you don’t do.  [43:42] Every year to 18 months every person should “fire themselves.” If you fire yourself and come into your job as if you had new eyes...what would you do differently? When you start a new job you are looking for all these opportunities of growth and then you become stagnant.  [45:07] We need to be more intentional and realize we can choose better because we have all these nonconscious instincts so we can choose otherwise.  [46:49] Meaning is created dialogically not monologically.  [47:35] Melina shares her closing thoughts.  [47:42] One of Melina’s favorite things is this idea of being an “omnivore of information.” It’s such a great way to think about learning and essentially devouring all kinds of topics from various origins. [50:07] Melina’s award-winning first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You is available on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia.  Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Outsmart Your Instincts: How The Behavioral Innovation Approach Drives Your Company Forward, by Adam Hansen Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick, by Wendy Wood How To Change, by Katy Milkman Connect with Adam:  Ideas To Go Adam on Twitter Past Episodes & Other Important Links:  Top recommended next episode: Good Habits, Bad Habits: an Interview with Wendy Wood (episode 127) Already heard that one? Try these:  Availability Bias (episode 15) Familiarity Bias (episode 149)   Status Quo Bias (episode 142) Confirmation Bias (episode 102) Framing (episode 16) Stressed and Overcommitted? Tips to Tackle Planning Fallacy (episode 114) 95% Of Decisions Are Habitual – Which Side Is Your Business On? (episode 21) Priming (episode 18) How To Change, an Interview with Katy Milkman (episode 151) Curse of Knowledge - coming soon! Negativity Bias - coming soon! Risk of Omission vs. Risk of Commission - coming soon! Check out Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

Back on episode 111, I was joined by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts discussing his book “Never Go With Your Gut.” When Gleb reached out to let me know that he has a new book on helping companies think through and prepare for returning to the office, including the cognitive biases that can impact this decision-making process for people in business, I knew I had to have him back for another conversation. This specific topic is incredibly relevant right now, but there is also an incredible amount of insight Gleb provides about leadership’s collective cognitive biases that absolutely relate to other big strategic decisions as well. As you’ll hear in the conversation today, beyond his background knowledge of behavioral science and those concepts, Gleb interviewed and has done work with more than a dozen companies and helped them with their plans to return to the office. His insights can help you to learn from their mistakes and best practices as you work on your own plan. Whether you are looking to keep a fully remote workforce, have everyone back in the office, a hybrid approach, or if you aren’t sure yet, this episode is for you.  Show Notes: [00:07] In today’s episode I’m delighted to have Dr. Gleb Tsipursky back with us to share about how to avoid disasters when returning to the office. [01:45] His insights can help you to learn from their mistakes and best practices as you work on your own plan. [03:40] Gleb shares about himself and his background. His background is in decision-making and risk management.  [06:02] Most recently he has been helping companies return to the office most effectively and prepare for the future of work.  [08:37] People are your main source of competitive advantage. What do your current people want? What do your potential hires want? [10:34] If your people are your main source of competitive advantage, wouldn’t you think you would want to know what kind of things they want to do in returning to the office? It is their future after all.  [11:12] The surveys tell us that the future is very much hybrid: 85% of people in various surveys want a hybrid or full-time remote option.  [14:13] People report higher productivity as well as much higher happiness and well-being when they are working from home.  [16:08] There are a lot of advantages to having substantial remote work and disadvantages to forcing people back into the office.  [17:28] Your primary consideration should be your people. Then you can look at how many usages you are having of your location.  [20:14] Once you decide on occupancy, you can get rid of some of your unused space.  [21:25] You need to transform much of your existing space into a collaborative space.  [22:52] Status quo bias is one of the biggest problems here. The status quo bias refers to the fact that we prefer things to remain stable, as they were, and the right way.  [24:20] Never go with your gut (learn more about this in Gleb’s book of the same name, link below).  [26:21] Another related bias to this problem is anchoring. We tend to be anchored to the initial information that we have.  [28:08] Confirmation bias is one of the biggest problems that we have in terms of the information we gather.   [30:50] You want to make sure to plan for the possibilities of other variants down the road.  [32:26] You want to strategically adapt to the virtual format.  [35:38] Two dynamics for creating serendipitous conversions in virtual settings are innovation and collaboration.  [37:40] Companies need to have a channel for serendipitous idea generation for each team. Then other people see the comment and then they comment back and then that transforms into a really great conversation that you can take into brainstorming.  [39:48] Traditional brainstorming has a number of advantages and some problems.  [41:31] It helps to have virtual brainstorming instead. Virtual brainstorming involves people separately typing into a digital spreadsheet anonymously.  [43:30] This has been shown to greatly improve the number and quality of ideas generated.  [44:51] How can we make this something amazing versus something we are stuck with?  [46:42] When you are able to look at the opportunity, you are able to beat out your competitors.  [47:58] We can actually successfully work remotely. It is a fundamental transition in how we think and approach the world.  [49:18] You need to adopt best practices for hybrid and remote settings.  [50:52] Melina shares her closing thoughts. [53:50] The important thing to keep in mind, much like Gleb’s advice for recreating serendipitous moments online or doing virtual brainstorming, is that you can’t allow yourself to be stuck by the constraints of how the benefit was generated before. [55:41] Melina’s award-winning first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You is available on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia.  Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! More from The Brainy Business: 🎉🎉🎉 Buy Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia 🎉🎉🎉 Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters (Avoid Terrible Advice, Cognitive Biases, and Poor Decisions) By Gleb Tsipursky You're Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence By Jon Levy A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas By Warren Berger Connect with Gleb:  Disaster Avoidance Experts Returning to the Office and Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams: A Manual on Benchmarking to Best Practices for Competitive Advantage Past Episodes & Other Important Links:  Episode 126: The Most Important Step in Applying Behavioral Economics: Understanding the Problem Episode 111: Avoiding Everyday Work Disasters, an Interview with Dr. Gleb Tsipursky Episode 16: Framing: How You Say Things Matter More Than What You’re Saying: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 107: How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race & Inequality: Interview with Kwame Christian Episode 142: Status Quo Bias: Why Change Feels Terrifying, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 11: Anchoring & Adjustment: The 1 Word That Increased Sales 38%: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 102: Confirmation Bias: How Your Subconscious Beliefs Shape Your Experiences (A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode)Confirmation Bias Episode 114: Stressed and Overcommitted? Tips to Tackle Planning Fallacy, a behavioral economics foundations episode Episode 150: Using Behavioral Science to Build Connections, an interview with Jon Levy, author of You’re Invited Episode 169: The Science of Cool, with Dr. Troy Campbell Functional Fixedness - coming soon! False Consensus Effect - coming soon! Illusion of Control - coming soon! Not Invented Here Syndrome - coming soon! Ostrich Effect - coming soon! Normalcy Bias - coming soon! Check out What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

A few months ago, in episode 162 you got to hear from Leidy Klotz about his fantastic new book Subtract, which is based on this question of why we humans look to add first when often subtracting can be a better option. It is a little bit of minimalism/essentialism and a really great episode to help people overcome loss aversion and see that, as he says, “less is not a loss,” such a cool insight. Anyway, while he and I were doing our pre and post-interview chat, he mentioned that his friend and colleague Eric Johnson had a book coming out soon called The Elements of Choice and that I should talk with him about it, so here we are. Dr. Johnson is not a newbie to the space by any means, as you will hear in the interview. He has had the opportunity to work and train with some of the most notable names in the field, including Herbert Simon, Amos Tversky, as well as his friends Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. He is the Norman Eig Professor of Business and the Director of the Center for Decision Sciences at Columbia Business School. He has been the president of both the Society for Judgment and Decision Making and the Society for Neuroeconomics. He has decades of experience and definitely knows his stuff, which is one of the many reasons I was so honored to chat with him and share the conversation with you.  Show Notes: [00:07] In today’s episode I’m introducing you to Dr. Eric J. Johnson, author of the brand new book, The Elements of Choice. [03:57] Eric shares his background and how he got into the field. His research has always been about helping people make choices and how the way we present information to them affects their choices.  [05:40] He was fascinated with the choices he observed people making.  [07:06] Eric shares research from a former student of his. She implemented the health records systems at a major New York hospital.  [09:18] Memory played an important role in the doctor’s behavior in her research. [11:31] When you put in the time to plan the architecture upfront, the actual intention itself can be very small. Designers often have more influence than they realize. [12:42] He shares his research about taking different doors at the Copenhagen airport. [14:06] Little bits of effort at the beginning of the decision have an influence throughout the course of the decision. Choice architecture usually works by favoring one path over another.  [16:10] If I know exactly what you want I would give you just one option, but the person making the choice knows a lot about themselves so they often know more about what they want.   [18:10] There is a trade-off between how much you are asking of people (in terms of deciding) and how much variety you need to give them so they can find the option that is best for them.  [20:45] Choice is not determined by myself and my preferences alone.  [21:38] We are all designers all the time.  [23:14] Order will have an influence depending on your medium. There are many other things as a designer to think about also.  [24:50] Defaults are powerful. Eric and Dan Goldstein researched defaults in organ donations.  [27:07] Not all situations are the same, so you really need to look across all the studies and understand your own situation and context.  [28:44] Our preferences aren’t written in stone. We have many preferences. Depending on what comes to mind, I might make different choices.  [29:36] Eric shares one of his favorite studies where they ask people about climate change and would they pay a carbon tax (or carbon offset) to fight climate change.  [32:26] One study is not enough to actually build a science. We need to do cross studies. [35:16] Eric shares how choice architecture can affect COVID vaccinations.  [38:00] Defaults work because they endow you with the option. You think less about the disadvantages. [39:26] The decisions of our privacy and cookies are decisions we make multiple times a day.  [40:32] Choice architecture and designers have amazing influence. Hopefully, people will design in ways they want to be designed to.  [41:46] Melina shares a study about trying to influence people to take the stairs instead of riding the elevator.  [43:31] Defaults are everywhere. They save us effort by not having to make a decision every time.   [46:16] Melina shares her closing thoughts. [47:44] The more you know about someone, the fewer choices you can provide to them. When you have no idea who your customer is – what they like, what the context is of them finding you, why they are there, what needs they are looking to fill or problems they need to solve, you then have to present a whole bunch of choices, which can make it harder for them to make a decision. [50:33] Melina’s award-winning first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You is available on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia. Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let’s connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! More from The Brainy Business: 🎉🎉🎉 Buy Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia 🎉🎉🎉 Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode:   The Elements of Choice: Why the Way We Decide Matters By Eric J. Johnson Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less By Leidy Klotz How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be By Katy Milkman Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness By Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less By Barry Schwartz Connect with Eric:  Eric’s Website Eric on Twitter Past Episodes & Other Important Links:  Episode 162: Do You Subtract Enough? An interview with Dr. Leidy Klotz Episode 151: How To Change, an interview Dr. Katy Milkman Episode 35: NUDGES & Choice Architecture: Introducing Nobel-Winning Concepts: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 171: Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 38: Defaults: The “D” in NUDGES: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 20: Defaults: Why The Pre-Selected Choice Wins More Often Than Not: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 61: Color Theory: When It Comes To Color, This 1 Thing Matters More Than Anything Else Episode 18: Priming: Why You Should Never Have A Difficult Conversation With Someone Holding An Iced Coffee: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 16: Framing: How You Say Things Matter More Than What You’re Saying: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 36: Incentives – The “N” In NUDGES: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode: A Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Episode 139: Endowment Effect: Why We Like Our Stuff More, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Functional Fixedness - coming soon! False Consensus Effect - coming soon! Illusion of Control - coming soon! Not Invented Here Syndrome - coming soon! Ostrich Effect - coming soon! Normalcy Bias - coming soon! Check out What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia