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Published: Dec. 31, 2023, 4:16 p.m.

What drives the choices we make, and how can we influence the choices that others make?
On this episode, I\u2019m speaking to an expert in human decision-making. Richard Shotton is a behavioural science practitioner who has written two best-selling books, \u2018 The Choice Factory\u2019 and \u2018The Illusion of Choice\u2019.

Having begun his career in marketing, Richard now helps companies apply behavioural science to solve problems, particularly, as the titles of his books imply, when it comes to influencing the choices people make.

During our discussion, we talk about:

• Richard\u2019s career that led him to found Astroten, his own behavioural science practice;
• the wonderful story of how the company got its name
• how the appliance of behavioural science can help solve business
• Examples of Richard\u2019s approach to doing research and how those can be applied in any context;
• how companies can efficiently run experiments to see what works and what doesn\u2019t
• some of the critical behavioural dynamics relevant to Richard\u2019s work, which he explores in his books.

And much, much more.

What I love about listening to Richard is that he\u2019s not just sharing his deep technical knowledge in ways that are easy to digest; he\u2019s also very good at coming up with practical ideas for how to deploy Behavioural Science to meet objectives. And he\u2019s great fun to talk to.

Links
Richard and his company Astroten- https://www.astroten.co.uk/

Find him on Twitter/X - https://x.com/rshotton?
and on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-shotton/

Richard\u2019s first book \u2018The Choice Factory\u2019 - https://www.astroten.co.uk/the-choice-factory

His latest book \u2018The Illusion of Choice\u2019 - https://www.harriman-house.com/illusionofchoice

The \u2018Astroten\u2019 Hofling Hospital Experiment - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofling_hospital_experiment

The \u2018Stolen Thunder Effect\u2019 - https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/effects-stealing-thunder-criminal-and-civil-trials

An example of Zanussi\u2019s Appliance Of Science ad campaign - https://youtu.be/DWbnxCe9xFc?si=wnaabpZrzMUA8kNc

The Keat\u2019s heuristic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme-as-reason_effect

The McGlone & Tofighbaksh Experiment - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304422X99000030

Monadic Testing - https://conjointly.com/blog/what-is-monadic-testing/

Professor Robert Cialdini\u2019s research on the Petrified Wood Forest in Arizona - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15534510500181459