14 books on behavioural science that marketers should read

1. The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson [1972]

First, make sure you buy the right book – confusingly there are two psychology books called The Social Animal, one by David Brooks the other by Elliot Aronson. Aronson’s book is out of print and currently second had copies cost ￡40 on Amazon. However, if you’re patient you should be able to get your hands on one for ￡20.

Aronson’s own research covered cognitive dissonance and the pratfall effect but this book covers a far broader range of biases.

2. Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy by Phil Barden [2013]

Most books on behavioural science talk about the subject in general terms, relying on the reader to figure out how they’ll apply it to marketing. Decoded was one of the first books to address that gap. It covers a broad range of experiments and suggests how they can be applied to marketing.

3. Influence by Robert Cialdini [1984]

This is one of the classics of social psychology. Robert Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, outlines six biases that shape human behaviour, namely: reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity.

4. The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli [2013]

Dobelli’s book has 99 chapters, each dedicated to a specific bias. Since his chapters are only three to four pages long it makes for a remarkably easy read. It’s not as authoritative as the other books listed here but what it lacks in depth it makes up for in breadth.

Dobelli’s other strength is an eye for a good anecdote.

5. Inside the Nudge Unit by David Halpern [2015]

This is an excellent book written by the CEO of the Behavioural Insight Team, the organisation set up to apply behavioural science to government policy. It outlines four broad approaches to: make it easy, attractive, social and timely. These themes are just as applicable to commercial advertising as government advertising.

Many books on nudges and biases just recount the results of academic experiments. This stands out as it provides lots of details about real world tests that government departments have run.

6. Consumer.ology: The Truth About Consumers and the Psychology of Shopping by Philip Graves [2010]

David Ogilvy famously said “People don’t think how they feel. They don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.” Graves prove this is true and outlines the implications for market research.

7. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman [2011]

Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002 for his work on behavioural economics with Amos Tversky. This book gives an overview of his major ideas.

It’s not as easy a read as the other titles I’ve listed. Jordan Ellenberg, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, analysed data from Amazon’s Kindle to estimate how much of a book was read by the average reader. By looking at how the top highlighted passages were spread through the book he calculated when people had stopped reading. By his estimate readers only got 6.8% through Thinking, Fast and Slow. That’s a shame as it’s well worth persevering.

8. Priceless: The Hidden Psychology of Value by William Poundstone [2010]

Priceless focusses on the psychology of value. The benefit of this angle is that it covers fresh areas that other books ignore.  My favourite part was his discussion of how restaurants design menus to decrease price sensitivity.

9. The Person and the Situation by Lee Ross and Richard Nisbett [1991]

Malcolm Gladwell admitted that: “All of my books have been, in some sense, intellectual godchildren of The Person and the Situation.” What more do you need from a recommendation?

10. Behavioural Insights Team Reports

This is a fascinating collection of government experiments conducted by the Behavioural Insight Team. Their annual report is full of examples of behavioural principles being applied and the results.

One of the unique elements of the reports is that it discusses what didn’t work as well as what did. Another strength is the analysis of what makes for a robust test.

The 2015-16 report can be downloaded for free here: https://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/publications/the-behavioural-insights-teams-update-report-2015-16/  

11. Copy, Copy, Copy: How to Do Smarter Marketing by Using Other People's Ideas by Mark Earls [2015]

Most of the books I have recommended cover a broad range of biases. This book is different as it focusses on just one bias: social proof. It shows that people don’t make decisions in isolation but are strongly influenced by their peers. 

The strength of the book is that it’s full of practical recommendations and lots of interesting examples of how brands have harnessed the social nature of their customers.

12. The Wiki Man by Rory Sutherland [2011]

 This is probably my favourite book on behavioural science and certainly the only one I have read three times. It’s also the funniest.

Many of the advertising applications for behavioural science are pretty straight-forward. The brilliance of this book is that Rory takes the same biases that everyone else knows about and applies then in wonderfully unique ways.

Rory also writes a fortnightly blog for The Spectator. It’s ostensibly a technology column but it often covers behavioural science. If you prefer videos to the written word then watch his many TED talks, starting with “Life Lessons from an Ad Man”.

13. Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland [1992]

If I had to recommend just one pure psychology book, it’d be this. It was written by Sutherland, the Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex, a full 16 years before Nudge.

Somehow, in the early 2000s, it went out of print. Before it was re-issued second hand copies were so sought after that they traded for a hundred quid. It’s a wide-ranging book, covering a huge range of biases. Whatever brief you’re working on there’ll be a relevant experiment in here. Best of all it’s a joy to read. 

14. Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink [2006]

After a while psychology books can become a little repetitive. You need to wade through a lot of familiar experiments until you find a fresh one.

However, this book by Wansink, a psychologist at Cornell University, is strikingly different as it focuses on one specific area: the psychology of food. The other strength of the book is the creativity that Wansink shows in creating tests to prove his hypotheses.

If you still want one more recommendation then how about my book, The Choice Factory, on applying behavioral science to advertising. It's available at most book stores, including Waterstones and Amazon.

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