The Elements of Choice: Why the Way We Decide Matters

This book is a masterclass in choice architecture; a must-read from a field leader.The way that our choices are framed influences the decisions that we make, and deciding how to portray these decisions is the nature of ‘choice architecture.’ Whether you know it or not, we're all choice architects. The Elements of Choice is a fantastic synopsis of decades of decision-making research, rich with fascinating and descriptive examples. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone (laypeople and practitioners alike) interested in the way that we make decisions.

Full disclosure: My preferred reading genre is novels. If you'd told me about a book about "choice" with plenty of statistics, I would probably have just yawned. But "The Elements of Choice" is a page-turner. The writing is clear and engaging, the statistics are presented in super-accessible graphics, and the supporting examples read like...novels! (Or at least short stories.) I was totally hooked. This book has stimulated and changed my awareness of what it means to choose.

Many practical example to illustrate the major points. A compelling read with a lot of insight of how choice decisions are made and can be influenced.

Eric Johnson is one of the top researchers and experts in choice architecture. If you’ve read anything about behavioral economics, you’ve probably heard of the famous study finding that organ donation rates across countries depended entirely on the default policy—opt-out or opt in. That was Johnson’s work, and it influenced policies around the world. In addition to running well-known academic studies, Johnson collaborated for years with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He’s the real deal.I teach in the behavioral economics exec ed program at Yale and meet a lot of practitioners who are excited about the field but struggling to apply the concepts. It’s not easy but this book will help! It’s an enjoyable read, practical, specific, and full of actionable advice. Highly recommend. (Also full of great examples for anyone else teaching in this field.)

This book is a must read for anyone interested in behavioral science. Eric Johnson is one of the most insightful and impactful researchers studying choice architecture, and this book is a tour de force.

Every day, we pose choices to your friends, colleagues, and families. The way that decision is presented can influence the decision - for good or bad. Eric Johnson, in his book, The Elements of Choice, shares some amazing insights about "choice architecture" - the design of how to present and influence (intentionally or not) what you will choose.Yes, it is a bit creepy. And scary. But engrossing to read as we are subject to good and bad choice architecture all the time...and we don't even know it! And, we are consciously or unconsciously subjecting others with our biases in the way that we are shaping their choices!The book is easy to follow (although Johnson rambles and repeats himself a bit), talking about:- Plausible Paths - the paths you take on autopilot, made quickly and without a lot of reasoning (however, they end up shaping the rest of your journey!). Some of these "assembled preferences" are quite predictable!- Decisions by Default - what happens when people don't make a decision (which, after all, IS a decision!).- How Many Options? - isn't about how many, but how to present the options more fluently and are most likely to produce an accurate choice.- Putting Things in Order - Yes, indeed, the order of options on a list can influence our decisions- Describing Options - including the way that they are described and compared- Building Choice Engines - ways to augment and react to the preferences of the chooser. Most common on websites, they are highly customizable to the user, they give control to the chooser to conform to the desired plausible path, and they help the chooser comprehend their choice.The book concludes with some ideas on how we can become better choice architects...which makes me feel more optimistic and in control of choices and decisions I will make.

This was a great overview of the choice architecture literature and is full of rich studies and examples to illustrate key points. This is a great read for both academics and industry practitioners and I find the insights from the book showing up in all consumer product focused settings in my life, from clicking to accept cookies on websites to browsing a menu and thinking about what to order at a restaurant. It’s a book I know I’ll come back to many times and I’m glad to have it as a reference on my bookshelf (plus the sky blue book jacket really pops).

You won’t find a book more clearly written and detailed on the design of choices and the consequences of those designs than this. Eric Johnson’s book is very well written with stories well told and presented in a way that brings an enormous field of research to light. If you knew nothing about this field ahead of time you would come out feeling satisfied on what this book gives you.If you know some of it or much of it — like me — you might find that the book is too long. The examples are many, but it felt at times as if I needed to be highly motivated to learn this topic to engage fully with the material. That’s more about me than the book. I’d recommend this highly to those interested in and new to the idea of choice architecture and what the psychology of decisions looks like in real, practical terms.