Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
The 25 Biases
1. The Fundamental Attribution Error
2, Social Proof
3. Negative Social Proof
4. Distinctiveness
5. Habit
6. The Pain of Payment
7. The Danger of Claimed Data
8. Mood
9. Price Relativity
10. Primacy Effect
11. Expectancy Theory
12. Confirmation Bias
13. Overconfidence
14. Wishful Seeing
15. Media Context
16. The Curse of Knowledge
17. Goodhart's Law
18. The Pratfall Effect
19. Winner's Curse
20. The Power of the Group
21. Veblen goods
22. The Replicability Crisis
23. Variability
24. Cocktail Party Effect
25. Scarcity

Ethics
Conclusion

References
Further reading

Index

About the Author

Richard is the Founder of Astroten, a consultancy that applies findings from behavioural science to marketing.Richard was Deputy Head of Evidence at Manning Gottlieb OMD, the most awarded media agency in the history of the IPA Effectiveness awards.He started his career as a media planner 17 years ago, working on accounts such as Coke, 118 118 and comparethemarket.com, before moving into research.Richard is interested in how findings from behavioural science can be applied to advertising. He writes about the behavioural experiments he runs for titles such as The Drum, Campaign, WARC, Admap and Mediatel. He tweets about the latest social psychology findings from the handle @rshotton.

Reviews

A guide to your own mind, a roadmap of your blind spots, a toolkit for better advertising. The Choice Factory employs robust behavioral science in an approachable manner to demonstrate how you make and influence decisions. Synthesizing a vast body of research, live experiments and numerous examples, he shows that there is a bias for every occasion and how to use them as tools to craft better communications.
*Faris Yakob, author of Paid Attention*

If you're a marketer, understanding what really makes people tick - as opposed to what they might tell you - is vital. This book takes us on an elegant, witty and digestible tour of the 25 main principles of behavioural science. Richard Shotton has read widely so that you don t have to, but he gives full credit to his many sources should you wish to pursue any of the topics further. This is a delightful and indispensable read for anyone in marketing, particularly those early in their careers.
*Tess Alps, Chair of Thinkbox, the UK's marketing body for commercial broadcasters*

Actionable, memorable and powerful... Shotton has taken the jewels of behavioral economics and made them practical.
*Seth Godin, author of 'All Marketers are Liars'*

Comprehensive, compelling and immensely practical, the Choice Factory brings the building blocks of behaviour change together in one place.
*Richard Huntington, Chairman & Chief Strategy Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi*

This book is a Haynes Manual for understanding consumer behaviour. You should buy a copy - and then buy another copy to give to one of the 97% of people in marketing who are too young to remember what a Haynes Manual is.
*Rory Sutherland, columnist for The Spectator and Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy One*

A top class guide for those who want to put BE to work, rather than just illuminate their journey to work.
*Mark Earls, author of 'Herd'*

In a cacophony of overstatement, Richard Shotton possesses a melodious and balanced voice. In this short but powerful tome you can learn about how marketing actually does influence consumers. Or, for the more prosaic among us, how to get people to re-use towels, buy wine when German Oompah music is playing and select a broadband supplier by mentioning Charing Cross Station. The book also mentions me (all too briefly) which I also find enticing.
*Mark Ritson, weekly columnist for Marketing Week and Professor at Melbourne business school*

Most books in this area are academic and dry as dust. If you want to know how research and sociology can impact on real life in the real world, Richard's book will show you - using simple words and examples that real people can understand.
*Dave Trott - ex-creative director, weekly columnist in trade journal, Campaign, and author of three books on advertising (Predatory Thinking, Creative Mischief, 1+1=3)*

Richard delivers a wealth of cases proving the efficacy of working with, rather than against, the grain of human nature. This is catnip for the industry.
*Phil Barden, author of 'Decoded. The Science Behind Why We Buy'*

Richard Shotton's application of behavioural economics is bang on the button. This book is timely, insightful, fascinating and entertaining.
*Dominic Mills, ex-editor of Campaign*

The Choice Factory is a delightful anatomy of the biased brain that will help you understand and influence consumer decisions - including your own
*Ian Leslie, author of 'Born Liars and Curious'*