Pat's pick for fascinating read: Nudge, by Thaler and Sunstein. It's all about choice architecture, or the research of how individuals' decisions are affected by the framing of the choice. We use less electricity if our utility bill shows us how our usage ranks relative to our neighbors. We eat more popcorn from a big bowl than a small bowl. We will choose surgery if told we have a 90% chance of survival; we will reject it if told we have a 10% chance of being killed.

Of course marketers have known for a long time the difference between how knowledge and reason should lead us to act and how real people actually behave. What makes “Nudge” so exciting is that it offers research-based examples of how behavioral psychology and economics can be used for the social good. The authors have a blog where you can learn more: Nudge blog.