Nudge

The Enhanced Games, hosted in Las Vegas last Saturday, made a bold claim.

With the use of performance-enhancing drugs, enhanced athletes would break not just personal records but world records. 

And the end goal? To sell those same drugs to the masses. 

It’s arguably the biggest marketing stunt of the year so far, and today on Nudge I reveal the psychology behind it. 

Did the Enhanced Games succeed? Listen to find out. 

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Today’s sources 

Landy, D., & Sigall, H. (1974). Beauty is talent: Task evaluation as a function of the performer's physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29(3), 299–304.

Miller, A. G. (1970). Role of physical attractiveness in impression formation. Psychonomic Science, 19(4), 241–242.

Mujika, I., & Burke, L. M. (2019). Swimming fast when it counts: A 7-year analysis of Olympic and World Championships performance. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance.

Nicolau, J. L., Mellinas, J. P., & Martín-Fuentes, E. (2020). The halo effect: A longitudinal approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 83, 102938.

Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 250–256.

In this episode, I chat to Pete Miller, part of the co-founding team at Octopus Energy, who helped design one of the most recognisable new logos in Britain. 

Hear how Octopus used two proven psychological principles to build a logo people remember (and why those same principles are being ignored by most of the industry).

You'll learn:

- Why a distinct logo made one beer taste 5% better

- How a 1933 German study explains why Octopus stands out

- Why brands from McDonald's to KFC give their logos human faces

- And what happened when researchers asked people to turn off a robot 

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Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/ 

Read Aaron’s book: ⁠https://thethingswelove.com/⁠

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Today’s sources: 

Bartneck, C., Van Der Hoek, M., Mubin, O., & Al Mahmud, A. (2007). "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do!": Switching off a robot. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, 217–222.

Shotton, R. (2017). The choice factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy. Harriman House.

Shotton, R. (2023). The illusion of choice: 16½ psychological biases that influence what we buy. Harriman House.

Von Restorff, H. (1933). Über die Wirkung von Bereichsbildung im Spurenfeld. Psychologische Forschung, 18, 299–342.

In Singapore, a group of runners charge 50p per kilometre to run on strangers' Strava accounts. 

That's how far people will go to look fit online. 

This episode explains the psychology behind why being watched changes everything.

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Owain’s book: https://amzn.to/4smVtrP 

Owain’s company CogCo: https://cogco.co/ 

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Join 11,626 readers of my newsletter: ⁠https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list ⁠

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Today’s sources: 

Gerber, A. S., Green, D. P., & Larimer, C. W. (2008). Social pressure and voter turnout: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment. American Political Science Review, 102(1), 33–48.

Sallis, A., Harper, H., & Sanders, M. (2018). Effect of persuasive messages on National Health Service organ donor registrations: A pragmatic quasi-randomised controlled trial with one million UK road taxpayers. Trials, 19, 513.

Service, O., & Gallagher, R. (2017). Think small: The surprisingly simple ways to reach big goals. Michael O'Mara Books.Triplett, N. (1898). The dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. American Journal of Psychology, 9, 507–533.

Professor Richard Wiseman searched for the world’s funniest joke. 

He found it. 

But it wasn’t what he expected. 

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Richard’s book Quirkology: https://amzn.to/4shYOJ6 

Richard’s book 59 Seconds: https://amzn.to/3Pf9pWI 

Richard’s SubStack: https://richardwiseman.substack.com/ 

Join 11,934 readers of the Nudge Newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list

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Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/ 

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Today’s sources: 

Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193(5), 31–35.

Crum, A. J., & Langer, E. J. (2007). Mind-set matters: Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science, 18, 165–171.

Wiseman, R. (2009). 59 seconds: Think a little, change a lot. Knopf.

Wolff, H. A., Smith, C. E., & Murray, H. A. (1934). The psychology of humor: I. A study of responses to race-disparagement jokes. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28, 345–365.

Three thousand years ago, Odysseus tied himself to a mast to resist the Sirens. 

He didn't trust his willpower, so he removed the choice entirely. 

Today, Owain Service, co-founder of the Behavioural Insights Team and CEO at CogCo, calls that a commitment device. 

And modern evidence shows it works for everything from saving money to staying married.

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Owain’s book: https://amzn.to/4smVtrP 

Owain’s company CogCo: https://cogco.co/ 

Unlock the Nudge Vaults: ⁠https://www.nudgepodcast.com/vaults⁠

Join 11,626 readers of my newsletter: ⁠https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list ⁠

Connect on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/⁠

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Today’s sources: 

Asch, S. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In H. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, leadership and men (pp. 177–190). Carnegie Press.

Ashraf, N., Karlan, D., & Yin, W. (2006). Tying Odysseus to the mast: Evidence from a commitment savings product in the Philippines. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(2), 635–672.

Behavioural Insights Team. (2013). New BIT trial results: helping people back into work. https://www.bi.team/blogs/new-bit-trial-results-helping-people-back-into-work/

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstätter, V. (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 186–199.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.

Milkman, K. (2021). How to change: The science of getting from where you are to where you want to be. Portfolio/Penguin.

Olson, R. (2014, October 10). What makes for a stable marriage. http://www.randalolson.com/2014/10/10/what-makes-for-a-stable-marriage/

Read, D., Loewenstein, G., & Kalyanaraman, S. (1999). Mixing virtue and vice: Combining the immediacy effect and the diversification heuristic. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 12(4), 257–273.

Service, O., & Gallagher, R. (2017). Think small: The surprisingly simple ways to reach big goals. Michael O'Mara Books.