Irrationality: The Enemy Within

In terms of making a great breadth of research easy to understand with a variety of examples and applications, Stuart Sutherland’s Irrationality (Published 1994 by Penguin, reprinted 2007 by Pinter & Martin) is still the best non-technical introduction to the topic of cognitive biases. There are books covering newer research (such as Cordelia Fine’s A [...]

50 secrets from the science of persuasion

I recently read “Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion” by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini (Profile books, 2007). Written by a USA/UK team, it summarises a wide range of published scientific experiments, some of which are very recent, and draws out lessons for managers and workers in marketing/sales. It’s similar in its themes to [...]

Motivating Other People

Notes from a talk I gave in the ILRT research seminar series, 21 August 2003:
We tend to see the motivation of other people as simply a task of correctly applying the “carrot” and the “stick”. Surprisingly though, cognitive psychology has shown that the “common sense” view of motivation is often counterproductive. The implications are important [...]