Summary of Richard Shotton's The Choice Factory

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The classic experiment done by Darley and Batson in 1973 proved how seemingly incidental contextual factors have a significant, but under-appreciated, influence on behavior. The situation, not the person, determines the behavior.

#2 The truth is that consumers have not changed at all since 1973. The more agencies try to convince us that everything is changing, and that we need them to interpret the changes, the longer they will stay employed.

#3 The rushing students in the experiment were less helpful than those who had more time to spare. The Princeton psychologists thought one reason was a narrowing of the cognitive map, a phrase they borrowed from University of California - Berkeley psychologist, Edward Tolman.

#4 The most important finding from the Darley experiment is that context is more important than personality in determining behavior. This undermines one of advertising’s most deeply held beliefs: that brands must identify and then focus their communications on a core target audience.

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Release date

Ebook: 2 May 2022