A selection of articles and essays on consumer behaviour, research, and decision-making.
While no longer updated regularly, this archive reflects some of the themes and thinking behind Philip’s work.
Psychological Product Enhancement
‘Psychological what?’ you may well ask. OK, I may have just made up a new phrase for the marketing lexicon, but stick with me, and you’ll discover how you might just be able to make people perceive your products in a completely different wa…
“Of Course the Research was Right!”
It’s more than a little ironic: as a consultant helping organisations understand the psychology of their customers better, my biggest challenge is navigating my own customers’ psychological heuristics and biases. Sometimes the work is done …
The Influence of Fast Food Images
Part One Recently I was in heading for a meeting with a company in a part of London I haven’t visited for several years. I arrived by tube and emerged from the station into a shopping centre. Since I had some time to spare I decided to have…
The Power Paradox
There is a potential paradox with being powerful: a powerful person is more likely to make a decision, but he or she is also more likely to be wrong! It’s easy to see how, in evolutionary terms, power was helpful: small nomadic groups benef…
How the Unconscious Mind’s Failings Makes the Best Runners
Psychology is a fundamental part of sport. Yesterday I was at a tennis training session with an astoundingly good tennis coach: he was pointing out the difference in the way most of us higher team players hit our returns of serve and next s…
Influencing the Wisdom of Crowds
Much has been written in recent times about the so-called wisdom of crowds. This is the theory that aggregating the information in groups from individuals will result in decisions that are better than would have been arrived at by any indi…
Experts, Consumers and Brains
I have believed for a long time that asking people what they think is a desperately unreliable way to go about understanding what they really think. Jessica Rabbit, the main love interest in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit famously compla…
Advertising: Context and Misattribution
The effect of advertising is starting to rumble in my house. My children, now aged 9 and 7, have finally been allowed to watch commercial television. It is illuminating to track the “I really want…” in light of this additional influence, th…
Panic at the Pumps: How Mention of a Shortage Sparks Panic Buying
In the past week there has been a fuel shortage in the UK. This wasn’t the result of any change to the supply of fuel, but by dramatically increased demand. That demand was triggered by government advice that people should fill up the…