Welcome to the Blog

The Jiminy Cricket Effect: Cognitive Dissonance and the Urge for Consistency Conscience is an inner voice that tells us what is right and what is wrong. When we are about to do something that is inconsistent with our conscience, we feel uneasy about. That feeling of unease is what psychologists call “cognitive dissonance”. I call

Getting Agreement by Slicing up the Pie It’s a thankless task trying to get an agreement from someone who disagrees with you. It is far easier to start from a base of agreement. It’s a bit like slicing up a pie. Watching this video is worth 1 Management Courses CPD Point*. 🔎 See below for

Use the Power of Scarcity with Integrity Have you ever wondered why special offers have deadlines, and countdown timers have become ubiquitous on internet shops? This is what I call the ‘sale-must-end-on-Sunday’ principle, which works on our fear of missing out, due to perceived scarcity. But, it’s easy to use scarcity in a manipulative way.

Peer Pressure: The Awesome Power of Social Proof Humans feel a deep need to fit in, to conform. The harder the choice we face, the more we defer to others. I call this the ‘eight-out-of-ten-cat-owners’ effect. Psychologists call it Social Proof. Watching this video is worth 2 Management Courses CPD Points*. 🔎 See below for