Designer Psychology Paul Davies

Recorded live at the Etch Summer Summit 2019, this episode takes a quick look at how our own brains could be the hidden persuader when it comes to making decisions. Are you really in control over the choices you make, or has your brain just made you think you are? Five studies from psychology build on each other to make you doubt every decision you've ever made.

In this follow-up to the last episode on resolutions, I’m delighted to be joined by eminent psychologist and author of ‘Self-Help Without the Hype’, Dr Robert Epstein. We chat more about the idea of self-management, behaviourism and behavioural psychology and how it relates to today’s digital world.

Our chat moves through topics such as Epstein’s own experiences working alongside BF Skinner, the innovative (and quirky) practices which Skinner applied to himself, the relevance of behavioural psychology today and the association with behavioural economics. We also discuss Dr Epstein’s work on privacy online, his hypothesis of the Search Engine Manipulation Effect and how Google could be modifying our online environment to shape our behaviour.

A resolution isn’t just for January, we make them all the time. But not only do most of us find it hard to stick with our personal resolutions, designers and design teams are often now at the heart of creating self-improvement apps, websites and products. So it’s no longer just about changing ourselves, a designer can often help others change too.

We know about placebos when it comes to medication, but could there be an equivalent in design? Could the effects of design actually be an illusion and could processes like co-design compound the placebo effect?

When is it better to make something harder for people to read? The idea of purposefully making something difficult may go against our natural intuition, but there are times when our brain needs to slow down and design can help. I also talk to interaction designer, Matt Jackson, about applying disfluency into real-world projects.

What's this about then? Where did it come from and who's it for? This short episode explains the history of Designer Psychology and the transition from ¡Design Thinkers! Sorry for a rather self-indulgent opener, but it gave me the chance to practice getting the audio sounding sharp before we really get going.