The Brain Sell: How the new mind sciences and the persuasion industry are reading our thoughts, influencing our emotions, and stimulating us to shop

In both cases, we don’t look at the true, absolute value presented to us: $20 for a five-minute drive. Instead, we consider $20 compared to $60 and to $1,060 respectively. We compare the relative advantage of $40 shoes to $60 shoes, and decide the money is worth the time. Then we compare the relative advantage of a $1,040 patio set to a $1,060 one

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

Ninety-five per cent of buying decisions are driven by the emotional areas of our brain (the limbic system).13 In almost no cases is a purchase driven by low-vibe emotions or solely logic. We all have things we want to be better at, have more of, do more efficiently or by using less personal resource.

The startling findings were that people made better choices when not thinking at all, especially in complex consumer settings.

The researchers argued that this is because our unconscious processes are less constrained than conscious processes, which make huge demands on our cognitive system. Unconscious processes, such as intuition, function in ways