Nudge

Every weekend, thousands of Brits order takeaways from independent restaurants.

Or do they?

Because these independent restaurants aren’t actually what they seem.

Pizza Hut, Prezzo, Frankie & Benny’s, Las Iguanas and many more chains are rebranding their food on delivery apps to appear like an independent restaurant.

They’re exploiting our psychological bias for independent brands and fooling millions of diners.

Find out how in today’s episode of Nudge.

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Today’s sources:

Chen, S. [@StanYM]. (2024, December 22). I served McDonald's at a luxury food convention [Video]. YouTube.

Hoskin, R. (2026, January 17). Big chains accused of masquerading as independent restaurants on delivery apps. BBC News.

Lin, M. S., Sharma, A., & Ouyang, Y. (2020). Role of signals in consumers' economic valuation of restaurant choices. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 44(7), 1080–1100.

Zhang, Y., Fishbach, A., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2007). The dilution model: How additional goals undermine the perceived instrumentality of a shared path. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology*, *92*(3), 389–401.

Nine months ago, I started to apply one of Rory Sutherland’s most common bits of business advice.

Today on Nudge, I share what happened and if I think it works.

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Watch Veritasim’s video: https://youtu.be/HBluLfX2F_k?si=_M2NqN4KPbBabDoI

Warning, this episode contains some explicit language.

There’s one simple tactic that makes entrepreneurs 6x more likely to get funding.

At least that’s according to today’s guest on Nudge, Harvard Professor Leslie John.

She’s spent her career studying decision-making and reveals why:

- Flawed leaders inspire more trust

- Authenticity gets you job offers

- And how crying at work is perceived

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Leslie’s book Revealing: https://amzn.to/3RkFTAq

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Today’s sources:

Jiang, L., John, L. K., Boghrati, R., & Kouchaki, M. (2022). Fostering perceptions of authenticity via sensitive self-disclosure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28(4), 898–915.

John, L. (2026). Revealing: The underrated power of oversharing. Riverhead Books.

John, L. K., Jeong, M., Gino, F., & Huang, L. (2019). The self-presentational consequences of upholding one's stance in spite of the evidence. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 154, 1–14.

Moore, C., Lee, S. Y., Kim, K., & Cable, D. M. (2017). The advantage of being oneself: The role of applicant self-verification in organisational hiring decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(11), 1493–1513.

Wolf, E. B., Lee, J. J., Sah, S., & Brooks, A. W. (2016). Managing perceptions of distress at work: Reframing emotion as passion. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 137, 1–12.

Have you ever finished a book you dislike just to say you’ve finished it?

Have you loaded up Duolingo at 11:55pm to keep the streak alive?

Have you felt the crushing disappointment of realising you forgot to record your run for Strava?

If so, metrics might be controlling your life. And philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, my guest on today’s episode of Nudge, thinks that’s a problem.

Nguyen believes that our lives are increasingly organised around metrics and that these rankings don’t just track what we value. They replace it.

This episode contains some explicit language.

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Get Thi’s book The Score: https://amzn.to/4fsqxTD

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Today’s sources:

Nguyen, C. T. (2026). The Score: How to stop playing somebody else's game. Penguin Press.

On April 26th, 2026, Sebastian Sawe did what many thought was impossible.

Running the marathon in under two hours.

Today on Nudge, I explain the psychological tricks Sawe may have used to break the record.

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Buy Alex’s book Endure: https://amzn.to/3TdJv7P

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Today’s sources:

Blanchfield, A. W., Hardy, J., & Marcora, S. M. (2014). Non-conscious visual cues related to affect and action alter perception of effort and endurance performance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, Article 967.

Carter, J. M., Jeukendrup, A. E., & Jones, D. A. (2004). The effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on 1-h cycle time trial performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(12), 2107–2111.

Damisch, L., Stoberock, B., & Mussweiler, T. (2010). Keep your fingers crossed! How superstition improves performance. Psychological Science, 21(7), 1014–1020.

de Morree, H. M., & Marcora, S. M. (2010). The face of effort: Frowning muscle activity reflects effort during a physical task. Biological Psychology, 85(3), 377–382.

Gray, K. (2010). Moral transformation: Good and evil turn the weak into the mighty. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1(3), 253–258.

Huang, D.-H., Chou, S.-W., Chen, Y.-L., & Chiou, W.-K. (2014). Frowning and jaw clenching muscle activity reflects the perception of effort during incremental workload cycling. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 13(4), 921–928.

McCormick, A., Meijen, C., & Marcora, S. (2018). Effects of a motivational self-talk intervention for endurance athletes completing an ultramarathon. The Sport Psychologist, 32(1), 42–50.

Stoate, I., Wulf, G., & Lewthwaite, R. (2012). Enhanced expectancies improve movement efficiency in runners. Journal of Sports Sciences, 30(8), 815–823.

Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(5), 768–777.

Williams, E. L., Jones, H. S., Sparks, S., Marchant, D. C., Midgley, A. W., & McNaughton, L. R. (2014). Deception studies manipulating centrally acting performance modifiers: A review. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 46(7), 1441–1451.