Nudge

I think Sam Altman of OpenAI has deliberately tried to build his fame.

While other CEOs keep a low profile, he spends 95% of his time evangelising.

In this episode of Nudge, I explain why.

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Today’s sources:

Smith, R. K., & Newman, G. E. (2014). When multiple creators are worse than one: The bias toward single authors in the evaluation of art. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8(3).

Wiebe Wakker spent three years driving from the Netherlands to Australia.

Today on Nudge, we learn why.

And we study the psychology of dedication.

Listen to the bonus episode: https://nudge.kit.com/7ec0a99ab3

Warning, today’s episode contains explicit language.

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Listen to the bonus episode: https://nudge.kit.com/7ec0a99ab3

Wiebe’s website: https://wiebewakker.com/en/

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Today’s sources:

Kruger, J., Wirtz, D., Van Boven, L., & Altermatt, T. W. (2004). The effort heuristic. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(1), 91–98.

Söderlund, M.Söderlund, M., & Sagfossen, S. (2017). The consumer experience: The impact of supplier effort and consumer effort on customer satisfaction. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 39, 219–229.

Are men who are insecure about their manhood more likely to buy sports cars?

Do memes work for government communication?

Does brand colour change the products we buy?

And will an AI ever replace a police interrogator?

These are some of the questions Jo Evershed, a psychological scientist and CEO, helps me answer on today’s episode of Nudge.

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Connect with Jo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-evershed-36bba9/

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Today’s sources:

CX Lab. (n.d.). CX Lab case study [Blog post]. Gorilla Experiment Builder. https://gorilla.sc/blog/cx-lab-case-study

Shang, J., Reed, A., & Croson, R. (2008). Identity congruency effects on donations. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(3), 351–361.

Tasnim, A., Kwan, C., Chahboub, M., Liu, A., & Humairah, A. (n.d.). Saving trees one meme at a time: An investigation into how meme-style posts influence behavioural intentions to water street trees [Unpublished manuscript]. University College London.

Every weekend, thousands of Brits order takeaways from independent restaurants.

Or do they?

Because these independent restaurants aren’t actually what they seem.

Pizza Hut, Prezzo, Frankie & Benny’s, Las Iguanas and many more chains are rebranding their food on delivery apps to appear like an independent restaurant.

They’re exploiting our psychological bias for independent brands and fooling millions of diners.

Find out how in today’s episode of Nudge.

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Watch the Birdbox vs Frankie & Benny's Taste Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqcZ_5NixfM

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Today’s sources:

Chen, S. [@StanYM]. (2024, December 22). I served McDonald's at a luxury food convention [Video]. YouTube.

Hoskin, R. (2026, January 17). Big chains accused of masquerading as independent restaurants on delivery apps. BBC News.

Lin, M. S., Sharma, A., & Ouyang, Y. (2020). Role of signals in consumers' economic valuation of restaurant choices. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 44(7), 1080–1100.

Zhang, Y., Fishbach, A., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2007). The dilution model: How additional goals undermine the perceived instrumentality of a shared path. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology*, *92*(3), 389–401.

Nine months ago, I started to apply one of Rory Sutherland’s most common bits of business advice.

Today on Nudge, I share what happened and if I think it works.

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Watch Veritasim’s video: https://youtu.be/HBluLfX2F_k?si=_M2NqN4KPbBabDoI

Warning, this episode contains some explicit language.