8 Psychology Hacks Behind The World’s Biggest Businesses - Richard Shotton

Richard Shotton is a behavioural scientist, Founder of Astroten and an author. Humans are predictably irrational. By studying these behaviours through clever techniques, advertisers and marketers have been able to boost sales and influence you in ways you might not realise or expect. So it's pretty important to discover how you're being manipulated. Expect to learn what are the most powerful words in persuasion, which human biases are over tested & overrated, how a small commitment can be the beginning of a huge commitment, which hacks make advertising campaigns stick in people’s minds, how to overcome the problem of analysis paralysis, how to change everything someone believes whilst changing nothing they experience and much more... Sponsors: Get the Whoop 4.0 for free and get your first month for free at http://join.whoop.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get up to 55% discount on your Babbel subscription https://babbel.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Extra Stuff: Buy The Illusion Of Choice - https://amzn.to/3XDakP7 Follow Richard on Twitter - https://twitter.com/rshotton Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #advertising #psychology #biases - 00:00 Intro 01:03 How Businesses Use Discounts to Trick You 07:36 Extremeness Aversion 18:17 Our Naive Reaction to Numbers & Fonts 25:19 Christian Aid’s Engagement Experiment 31:53 The Importance of Framing in Marketing 42:14 How Marketers Manipulate Our Desire for Fairness 52:30 Triggering Consumers’ Righteous Indignation 1:04:05 The Red Sneaker Effect 1:08:54 The Halo Effect 1:17:54 Making the End of an Experience Great 1:27:53 Where to Find Richard - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Richard ShottonguestChris Williamsonhost

May 11, 20231h 28mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: May 11, 2023
Duration: 1h 28m
Channel: Modern Wisdom
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Richard Shotton is a behavioural scientist, Founder of Astroten and an author. Humans are predictably irrational. By studying these behaviours through clever techniques, advertisers and marketers have been able to boost sales and influence you in ways you might not realise or expect. So it's pretty important to discover how you're being manipulated. Expect to learn what are the most powerful words in persuasion, which human biases are over tested & overrated, how a small commitment can be the beginning of a huge commitment, which hacks make advertising campaigns stick in people’s minds, how to overcome the problem of analysis paralysis, how to change everything someone believes whilst changing nothing they experience and much more... Sponsors: Get the Whoop 4.0 for free and get your first month for free at http://join.whoop.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get up to 55% discount on your Babbel subscription https://babbel.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Extra Stuff: Buy The Illusion Of Choice - https://amzn.to/3XDakP7 Follow Richard on Twitter - https://twitter.com/rshotton Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #advertising #psychology #biases - 00:00 Intro 01:03 How Businesses Use Discounts to Trick You 07:36 Extremeness Aversion 18:17 Our Naive Reaction to Numbers & Fonts 25:19 Christian Aid’s Engagement Experiment 31:53 The Importance of Framing in Marketing 42:14 How Marketers Manipulate Our Desire for Fairness 52:30 Triggering Consumers’ Righteous Indignation 1:04:05 The Red Sneaker Effect 1:08:54 The Halo Effect 1:17:54 Making the End of an Experience Great 1:27:53 Where to Find Richard - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

SPEAKERS

Richard Shotton
guest
Chris Williamson
host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Richard Shotton and Chris Williamson, 8 Psychology Hacks Behind The World’s Biggest Businesses - Richard Shotton explores psychology Hacks Businesses Use To Shape Choices, Prices, And Perception Richard Shotton and Chris Williamson explore how subtle psychological biases drive everyday commercial decisions, often without consumers realizing it. They unpack effects like framing, extremeness aversion, fairness, the halo effect, and the peak‑end rule, showing how wording, pricing structure, and experience design can radically shift behavior. Throughout, they stress that people react to descriptions, context, and feelings—not pure logic or math—so brands should test small, evidence‑based tweaks rather than rely on intuition. The conversation also touches on personal applications, like reframing fear and understanding why perfection, authoritarianism, or unfairness can backfire.

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