Category: Advanced Research Methods

Advanced research methods for market researchers | blog posts from Sentient Decision Science

Variety: The spice of life. Or is it?

People like to be given a choice. The desire to exercise one’s own free will and proclivity to act in one’s own interests might just be the last part of our consciousness that’s keeping us away from The Matrix, 1984, Brave New World, or whatever your favorite dystopian story is. But is there such a thing as “too many choices?” Sheena Iyengar, behavioral psychologist and choice expert, studies how people make decisions precisely to answer this question. And her research has revealed some startling implications!

A recent New York Times article highlighted Iyengar’s fascinating research in a review of her new book, The Art of Choosing. Iyengar, a Stanford grad, has been in the field of social psychology and decision theory for almost 15 years. Her most famous project: a jelly tasting.

When you find yourself in a danger zone doing in-home consumer ethnography

We’ve just concluded a lengthy ethnography study on foods and snacking. The field team has been de-briefing on our collective experiences across US markets and a story has emerged about a potentially risky ethno location one of our researchers encountered while in LA. While our recruiting partners make every effort to properly screen ethno participants, […]

New evidence of the impact of the unconscious @ SPSP

The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) had their 11th annual meeting from January 28 to January 30 in Las Vegas NV. This is the premier conference for social psychology and gives a glimpse into the cutting-edge research on a wide variety of topics in social psychology. There were a variety of symposia related […]

Psychology shows up more and more in business

Last week’s NYTimes Sunday Business section featured two articles on consumer irrationality (“Is There A Method In Cellphone Madness?”) and (“Paying A Price For the Thrill of the Hunt“) . As a firm that studies consumer psychology, and specifically the psychology of decision making, it’s interesting to see these topics making headlines. Part of our […]

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