Another way to attribute value is to massage the semantics of a product, situation, activity. His example, "downsizing" as a voluntary move from a no longer needed larger home into a smaller one can be perceived (or communicated) as a decision of preference rather than a settlement of financial need. Sutherland says, Create a name, and you've created a norm. This book first flipped my brain upside down, then it mashed my brain vigorously and I found that my brain became very pulpy and mushy after finished reading this book. Should be required reading for all the technocrats weaned at the altar of Logos. Question assumptions, ask silly questions, and remember that people (mostly) aren't Homo Econominus. In between, he explains why he is pro Trump (because the fact that his actions are impossible to predict makes him a good negotiator), why quotas for women are not useful (we just need to make STEM more attractive to women) and why racism isn't really about the colour of people's skin but about the strance accents of POCs.

The legendary advertising guru—Ogilvy UK’s vice chairman—and star of three massively popular TED Talks, blends the science of human behavior with his vast experience in the art of persuasion in this incomparable book that decodes successful branding and marketing in the vein of Freakonomics, Thinking Fast and Slow, and The Power of Habit. The greatest hope for a brighter future lies in adapting transport to more human wants and needs. Behavioural science has immense potential to improve the design of vehicles, roads, railways, planes and pavements– as well as the ways in which we use them – but only when we embrace the messier reality of how people travel.

Delightful read. Breezy and irreverent. The author talks about scenarios where a purely "logical" approach can lead to worse outcomes for business. This leads me to another problem: This book is plagued by selection bias. There are many times where rational ideas are in fact the best ones. There are plenty of times where logical thinking trumps emotional thinking. And there are also times where I questioned his evaluation of what constitutes an overreliance on logic and what constitutes, ahem, Alchemy. My word to describe the way we make decisions — to distinguish it from the artificial concepts of ‘logic’ and ‘rationality… I have chosen psycho-logic as a neutral and non-judgemental term. I have done this for a reason. When we do put a name to non-rational behaviour, it is usually a word like ‘emotion’, which makes it sound like logic’s evil twin.”- Rory Sutherland 1. Competence before confidence Pete Dyson was a founding member of the Ogilvy Behavioural Science Practice in 2013. In 2020 he joined the UK Department for Transport as its first Principal Behavioural Scientist. He is currently at the University of Bath undertaking a PhD researching policies designed to promote sustainable travel habits in UK towns and cities.

By removing the record function from the Walkman, Sony clarified what the device was for. Technical design term for this is "affordance". Our behavior is sometimes unpredictable as evolution is way smarter than we are. We have evolved for uncertain surroundings than we are today. Some things can be valuable without being valuable all the time. E.g. human Appendix, which earlier thought to be vestigial organ after all has some function.

Retailers:

Satisficing is the observation that when people make decisions in an uncertain setting, they care not only about the expected outcome but also the possible variance. They are prepared to pay a premium not only for something better, but to ensure that it is not terrible. This is the reason people buy brands. Brands are just products with no price tag… People don’t buy images or messages; they buy better versions of themselves.” 6. Think like a designer Pete Dyson & Rory Sutherland present a bold, people-friendly approach to improving travel and transport.

Sutherland, the legendary Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, uses his decades of experience to dissect human spending behavior in an insanely entertaining way. Alchemy combines scientific research with hilarious stories and case studies of campaigns for AmEx, Microsoft and the like. This is a must-read." —Entrepreneur ("Best Books of the Year")The best thinkers are those able to cross disciplines, deploying theories from one area into others. One man who does this exceptionally well is Rory Sutherland. As Vice Chairman of Ogilvy in the UK he is an ad-man. But he is also a student of behavioural economics, evolutionary psychology and complexity economics, which he prospects for ideas to help him understand consumer behaviour. Two amounts one is prepared to spend in a store : "zero" or "a lot". Purchasing expensive treats or finding bargains both have a dopamine rush.

Why is Red Bull so popular, though everyone— everyone!—hates the taste? Humans are, in a word, irrational, basing decisions as much on subtle external signals (that little blue can) as on objective qualities (flavor, price, quality). The surrounding world, meanwhile, is irreducibly complex and random. This means future success can’t be projected on any accounting spreadsheet. To strike gold, you must master the dark art and curious science of conjuring irresistible ideas: alchemy. He questions whether people use toothpaste for dental hygiene, or whether they really use it to maintain fresh breath – the reason why the vast majority of the toothpaste sold in the world is mint-flavoured. JP Morgan once said, ‘A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.’ Rory Sutherland extrapolates that huge social benefits can be garnered by appealing to people’s selfish instincts. The widespread adoption of soap hundreds of years ago fostered all the benefits of public hygiene and cleanliness but at the individual level it was adopted by people because it made them smell nice. By the same token concern about polar bears today may cut it for 10% of the population, but the majority want to see some personal upside from adopting more environmentally conscious behaviours. A really thought-provoking book that makes a powerful case for why we should realise that the emotional and psychological aspects of why we do the things we do should be treated with as much seriousness as the logical aspects.Loss of power and control can create far stronger feelings of annoyance than loss of punctuality. However we cannot distinguish between the two causes, and are more likely to say "I'm angry cuz my bloody plane's late" rather than "I'm angry because inadequate information has left me powerless".