Human behavior

Cognitive Scripts

• Psychologists have discovered that people follow cognitive scripts that dictate behavior in specific situations.


• Anne-Laure Le Cunff illustrates this with an example of a dentist asking a patient to open their mouth in the waiting room, which feels strange because it violates the expected script.


• People have many such scripts in

The correct persuasive technique in situations like that was given by Ben Franklin. He said, “If you would persuade, appeal to interest, not to reason.” The self-serving bias of man is extreme, and should have been used in attaining the correct outcome. So the general counsel should have said, “Look, this is likely to erupt into something that will

One of my favorite concepts is the endowment effect. It means that once you own something, even if that’s just a feeling in your mind, you value it more than its objective value. As a result, you’ll be less inclined to give it up.

The Internet broke the private-public wall; impulsive and inelegant utterances that used to be kept private are now available for literal interpretation.

Highlight the sustainable stuff that’s “near” them

Ogilvy found that people are more likely to accept sustainable claims that are “near” to them. People are more motivated to act on sustainable claims that connect the sustainability of the product to the qualities the customer was looking for in the first place. Essentially, if “the wine tastes

The Housefly Effect

• Schiphol Airport reduced urinal splashback by painting small flies in the urinals, giving men a target.


• This simple nudge cut cleaning costs by 50%, demonstrating the power of subtle cues.

Instead of summoning a new dose of willpower whenever you want to do the right thing, your energy would be better spent optimizing your environment. This is the secret to self-control. Make the cues of your good habits obvious and the cues of your bad habits invisible.