Changing Minds: It Takes More than Facts
When is the last time someone told you a fact that caused you to change your mind? It’s likely you can’t think of a verifiable example. And yet, when it comes to trying to persuade others, …
Psychology
Daniel Kahneman and Herbert Simon on Intuition
Why do experts seem to have better intuition than the rest of us when operating within their Circle of Competence? Are they doing something the rest of us are not? Or is there another explanation that …
The Science Of Habit Formation And Change
From The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Chunking — The Root of Habits The process—in which the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic routine—is known as …
Master of Influence Robert Cialdini Recommends Five Books
Psychologist Robert Cialdini wrote two of the the most important books on influence: Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive and The Psychology of Persuasion. Now he recommends five books …
The Principles of Influence
A great short video of psychology and marketing professor Robert Cialdini introducing the universal principles of influence. Cialdini has dedicated most of his life to figuring out why it was so easy …
The Best Books on The Psychology Behind Human Decision Making and Irrationality
**reader suggestions are at the bottom*** This is a great way to build your antilibrary. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely Mentioned by many others. Outstanding experimentally-driven analysis of …
Viktor Frankl — Why to Believe in Others
“If we take man as he is, we make him worse, but if we take him as he should be, we make him capable of becoming what he can be.” *** In this rare clip from 1972, legendary psychiatrist …
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think will change the way you think about your next meal. According to eating behavior expert Brian Wansink the mind makes food-related decisions, more than …
Situations Matter
“We’re easily seduced by the notion of stable character. So much of who we are, how we think, and what we do is driven by the situations we’re in, yet we remain blissfully unaware of it.” …
Herbert Simon on the Distinction Between What is Legal and What We Will Tolerate
You’d break the law. In fact most of us would. How can I say this with near certainty? Because if you were put in a position where the ends justified the means, the means would become …
3 Ways You’re Wrong in a Disagreement (Even if You’re Right)
Kathryn Schulz, the illuminating author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, gave an excellent talk at TED talk on being wrong. There is a moment in her talk when she summarizes what we …
Marshall McLuhan — The Man, The Mystery, The Life
Marshall McLuhan rocketed from an unknown academic to rockstar with the publication of Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man in 1964. Understanding Media contained the simple prophecy that …
Jeffrey Pfeffer: Why Performance Won’t Get You Promoted
If you’re going to play the game you should at least educate yourself on the unwritten rules. If you don’t, you’ll always be at a disadvantage. In an NPR interview (audio below), Stanford …
The Mask of Sanity
Last week I picked up a copy of Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work and found myself quickly immersed. On the surface psychopaths appear normal, sane, and in control; in fact, many are quite …
The Ikea Effect: Why Doing Things Ourselves Makes us Happier
The IKEA effect is a super-interesting part of our psychological wiring that has all sorts of implications. In short, basically, people who voluntarily undergo a great deal of pain, discomfort, or …
Behavioral Economics Reading List
Are you looking for good books to read on Behavioral Economics or Behavioral Psychology? This is a list of my best Behavioral Economics books of all time. If you only want to read a few, check out the …