Nudge

There's a pill on Amazon called Fukitol. 

It contains nothing. And yet people buy it, swear by it, and give it five stars. 

Today, Nir Eyal explains the remarkable science behind why placebos work.

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Listen to the bonus episode: https://nudge.kit.com/40414a1b44

Nir’s book Beyond Belief: geni.us/beyondbelief

Nir’s free belief change guide: nirandfar.com/belief-change

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

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Today’s sources: 

Ariel, G., & Saville, W. (1972). Anabolic steroids: The physiological effects of placebos. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 4(2), 124–126.

Branthwaite, A., & Cooper, P. (1981). Analgesic effects of branding in treatment of headaches. British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.), 282(6276), 1576–1578.

Dawkins, L., Shahzad, F. Z., Ahmed, S. S., & Edmonds, C. J. (2011). Expectation of having consumed caffeine can improve performance and mood. Appetite, 57(3), 597–600.

Draganich, C., & Erdal, K. (2014). Placebo sleep affects cognitive functioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(3), 857–864.

Kaptchuk, T. J. (2018). Open-label placebo: Reflections on a research agenda. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 61(3), 311–334.

Lee, C., Linkenauger, S. A., Bakdash, J. Z., Joy-Gaba, J. A., & Profitt, D. R. (2011). Putting like a pro: The role of positive contagion in golf performance and perception. PLoS One, 6(10), e26016.

Plassmann, H., O'Doherty, J., Shiv, B., & Rangel, A. (2008). Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(3), 1050–1054.

Richter, C. P. (1957). On the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19(3), 191–198.

Rozenkrantz, L., Mayo, A. E., Ilan, T., Hart, Y., Noy, L., & Alon, U. (2017). Placebo can enhance creativity. PLoS One, 12, e0182466.

Wager, T. D., Rilling, J. K., Smith, E. E., Sokolik, A., Casey, K. L., Davidson, R. J., et al. (2004). Placebo-induced changes in fMRI in the anticipation and experience of pain. Science, 303(5661), 1162–1167.

Professor Richard Wiseman wanted to discover the world’s #1 chat-up line. 

But in doing so, he discovered several secrets behind human psychology. 

On today’s Nudge he covers: 

1) Why councils shouldn’t pay people to sweep litter 

2) How a saleswoman doubled her likeability 

3) The picture Richard uses to never lose his wallet 

4) And the #1 chat-up line 

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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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Aronson, E., Willerman, B., & Floyd, J. (1966). The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness. Psychonomic Science, 4, 227–228.

Hornstein, H. A., Fisch, E., & Holmes, M. (1968). Influence of a model’s feeling about his behavior and his relevance as a comparison on other observers’ helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10(3), 222–226.

Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, praise, and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the “overjustification” hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129–137.

I get a lot of questions about pricing. 

Should I start with our most expensive item first?

Should I use precise prices instead of rounded ones when negotiating?

Should I name competitors when comparing prices?

Today, with pricing expert Dr Markus Husemann-Kopetzky we work through eight different psychological pricing tips in just 24 minutes.

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Listen to the bonus episode: https://nudge.kit.com/a737588e58 

Markus’ book: https://amzn.to/46Hetcg 

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

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Today’s sources:

Bertini, M., & Wathieu, L. (2008). Research note—Attention arousal through price partitioning. Marketing Science, 27(2), 236–246.

Bolton, L. E., Warlop, L., & Alba, J. W. (2003). Consumer perceptions of price (un)fairness. Journal of Consumer Research, 29(4), 474–491.

Janiszewski, C., & Uy, D. (2008). Precision of the anchor influences the amount of adjustment. Psychological Science, 19(2), 121–127.

Kim, H. M., & Kramer, T. (2006). The moderating effects of need for cognition and cognitive effort on responses to multi‐dimensional prices. Journal of Marketing Research.

Krishnan, B. C., Biswas, A., & Netemeyer, R. G. (2006). Semantic cues in reference price advertisements: The moderating role of cue concreteness. Journal of Retailing, 82(2), 95–104.

Suk, K., Lee, J., & Lichtenstein, D. R. (2012). The influence of price presentation order on consumer choice. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 708–717.

Thomas, M., Simon, D. H., & Kadiyali, V. (2010). The price precision effect: Evidence from laboratory and market data. Marketing Science, 29(1), 175–190.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124–1131.

Wansink, B., Kent, R. J., & Hoch, S. J. (1998). An anchoring and adjustment model of purchase quantity decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, 35(1), 71–81.

Most restaurants have a major problem. 

Paying the bill. 

Give the bill too early, and the customer feels rushed. Too late, and they feel ignored. 

To solve this problem (and many more), Will Guidara turned to behavioural science. 

And his solution helped his restaurant become the world’s best.

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Listen to the bonus episode: ⁠https://nudge.kit.com/aeea58886f⁠ 

Will’s book Unreasonable Hospitality: ⁠https://amzn.to/4tPrMl8⁠ 

Will’s new book The Field Guide: ⁠https://amzn.to/3Orq1u0⁠ 

Will’s newsletter, Pre-Meal: ⁠https://www.unreasonablehospitality.com/premeal⁠

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

Join 10,728 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:

Kahneman, D., Fredrickson, B. L., Schreiber, C. A., & Redelmeier, D. A. (1993). When more pain is preferred to less: Adding a better end. Psychological Science, 4(6), 401–405. 

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

Strohmetz, D. B., Rind, B., Fisher, R., & Lynn, M. (2002). Sweetening the till: The use of candy to increase restaurant tipping. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32(2), 300–309.

In 2015, the media became obsessed with one man’s attempts to grow tea in the Scottish Highlands. 

The BBC profiled him on the One Show. Radio reporters flocked to interview him. Even the Chinese national news agency reported his work. 

Tam O’Braan (as he was then known) was the first to ever sell Scottish tea, and the press went wild. 

Fornum and Mason bought his leaves. The Dorchester created a new Scottish tea-tasting menu. Barack Obama reportedly tried his tea, and the Queen loved it.

Tam’s business started bringing in hundreds of thousands of pounds. But soon his lies began to unravel.

Today, with Jaega Wise, we tell the story of the Scottish tea scandal. We explain how Tam O’Brann fooled the world and the psychology behind why so many customers believed him.

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Listen to the BBC Food Program’s show on the scandal: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002mn01

Learn more about Jaega: https://www.jaegawise.com/ 

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

Join 10,828 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: 

Koschate-Fischer, N., Diamantopoulos, A., & Oldenkotte, K. (2012). Are consumers really willing to pay more for a favorable country image? A study of country-of-origin effects on willingness to pay. Journal of International Marketing, 20(1), 19–41.

Langer, E. J., Blank, A., & Chanowitz, B. (1978). The mindlessness of ostensibly thoughtful action: The role of “placebic” information in interpersonal interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(6), 635–642.

Mackie, D. M., Worth, L. T., & Asuncion, A. G. (1990). Processing of persuasive in-group messages. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(5), 812–822.

Maier, L., Schreier, M., Baccarella, C. V., & Voigt, K.-I. (2023). University knowledge inside: How and when university–industry collaborations make new products more attractive to consumers. Journal of Marketing.

Peterson, R. A., Kim, Y., & Jeong, J. (2019). Out-of-stock, sold out, or unavailable? Framing a product outage in online retailing. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice.