12 Business Psychology Books to read in 2024
12 Business Psychology Books to read in 2024.
such as Thinking, Fast and Slow, Redirect, Drive, The Invisible Gorilla, Strangers to Ourselves
The 12 best books on business psychology you should read in 2024.
Books on the psychology of doing business include Consumer Psychology, Consumer Behavior, Organizational Behaviour, and Bizarre Consumption.
I would like to say about business psychology books for newcomers, first, read books on business psychology, and think more about why the other party chooses you? Give yourself a reason for the other person to choose you.
A good manager will formulate a five-year plan for sustainable development for the nation and practice it seriously.
A good company will formulate short-term and long-term goals for the company's development, and plan ahead to ensure the core competitiveness of the company.
12 Business Psychology Books to Read in 2024
Doing business requires some knowledge of psychology. Read more about the business psychology books. Business psychology has been a very hot research field in recent years. Let's learn below.
We will recommend the 12 best business psychology books that you must read in business. Welcome to read!
1. Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Hey, when this book first came out, I felt like I had to read it. After I started reading it, it wasn't a pleasant reading experience.
In the end, I finally finished reading it patiently and jumping, and the latter was almost simply driven by the need for closure, rather than being attracted by the book itself.
My biggest question is, who is this book intended for?
For those who do decision-making, the content in it should be quite familiar. The writing style of this book is like a long literature review on Psychological Bulletin (he actually attached two papers at the back of the book!)
In terms of review, I don't think this book provides a good The overall framework provides a high-level summary and grasp of thinking fast and slow. Although the last chapter briefly discusses two selves, icons and humans, and two systems.
- well, for me, the point of interest in reading this kind of book is obviously the gossip after various papers, or the various authors Sharing personal stories.
Probably Kahneman himself is really boring, so the book is also boring. In contrast, Dan Ariely's several books are more lively and interesting.
For the average reader, it is hard for me to imagine that they would read the introduction and results of these experiments with interest.
(Or am I misjudging the general reader's interest in reading?)
I guess it's more useful to the general reader for various implications, and I don't think this book is as useful as Bazerman's Judgment in Managerial Decision Making.
In academic writing communication, I also don't think Kahneman is a good example.
It's like system 1 and system 2, -- is there really no better way to name it?
To be honest, even the names prospect theory and norm theory were puzzling and difficult to understand when I was a student.
Like narrow framing (disposition effect), it really doesn't even make sense.
It can be said that one thousand and ten thousand can't resist the fact that they are academic giants.
I slandered so much, maybe it's all because of my bad taste.
One of my favorites, the five-star paper, is rare, but it's really exciting to read it. There is a piece-by-piece analysis comparable to Indian Buddhism, wide-ranging discussions, and exquisite and just-right empirical evidence. Hey, I really feel like my heart is flying when I read it.
- It's called "getting me high," ha.
2. Redirect
Redirect by Timothy D. Wilson
What if there were a magic pill that could make you happier, turn you into a better parent, solve a number of your teenager's behavior problems, reduce racial prejudice, and close the achievement gap in education?
Well, there is no such magic pill-but there is a new scientifically-based approach called story editing that can accomplish all of this.
It works by redirecting the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us, with subtle prompts, in ways that lead to lasting change.
In Redirect, world-renowned psychologist Timothy Wilson shows how story-editing works and how you can use it in your everyday life.
The other surprising news is that many existing approaches-from the multi-billion dollar self-help industry to programs that discourage drug use and drinking-don't work at all.
In fact, some even have the opposite effect. Most programs are not adequately tested, many do not work, and some even do harm.
For example, there are programs that have inadvertently made people unhappy, raised the crime rate, increased teen pregnancy, and even hastened people's deaths-in part by failing to redirect people's stories in healthy ways.
In short, Wilson shows us what works, what doesn't, and why. Fascinating, groundbreaking, and practical, Redirect demonstrates the remarkable power small changes can have on the ways we see ourselves and the world around us, and how we can use this in our everyday lives.
In the words of David G. Myers, "With wit and wisdom, Wilson shows us how to spare ourselves worthless (or worse) interventions, think smarter, and live well."
Timothy D. Wilson is the Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. He has written for Science and The New York Times, among other publications and journals, and is the author of Strangers to Ourselves, which was named by New York Times Magazine as one of the Best 100 Ideas of 2002. Wilson is also the co-author of the best-selling social psychology textbook.
3. Drive
Drive by Daniel H. Pink
I knew a few years ago that this book was very popular and it was a bestseller. Today I finally found time to read it and watched the author Ted's video. Overall, I appreciate and support these beautiful ideas and things.
Dan Pink Drive Ted Talk
The author's greatest contribution is to explain the theory of self-determination well to the public, especially using some practical examples from enterprises, which increases the persuasiveness of the theory to the public. This book says something about motivation, about being self-motivated.
This book describes three driving forces.
The first level of driving force comes from the urge to survive. Clothes, food, shelter and transportation, food, color, and sex are also human instincts. For most people, finding a first job is often based on first drives.
The second layer of driving force comes from external driving, motivation, KPI evaluation, carrot, and stick, which is also the driving method adopted by most companies; most people may find a suitable company within the scope of the second driving force for life. , a decent job with a good salary, if you give a little incentive, just work harder, if the incentive is not enough, you can grind a foreign worker.
The third type is intrinsically driven and spontaneous. The third drive consists of three elements: autonomy, specialization, and purpose.
It’s important to emphasize what you mean by “purpose”: to transform what you are doing into fun, to be guided by the principle of maximizing interest rather than maximizing profit, and seeing profit as a pleasant by-product of achievement.
Maybe entrepreneurs or people with an entrepreneurial mentality use the third drive to do things. Those who do things with this drive must be the most worthy of cooperation.
Some people are not suitable for starting a business, or because they are still in the first driving force or the second driving force, evaluate yourself correctly.
4. The Invisible Gorilla
The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons
That's just one aspect of this excellent book - the memory illusion. Many psychology-related works or novels may refer to "illusions". Illusions are one of the most interesting things in cognitive psychology, their existence is so common and yet so completely ignored.
As Richard Wiseman, the author of another equally excellent book, The Psychology of the Weird, said, "Illusions affect your life and mine all the time, and reading this book is like experiencing a blood-boiled, but meaningful trip."
"The Invisible Gorilla" summarizes and analyzes six major illusions:
- Illusion of Attention
- Illusion of Memory
- Illusion of Confidence
- Illusion of Cause and Effect
- Illusion of Knowledge
- Illusion of Potentiality
There is no further introduction to each part because I don't want to spoil the surprise of other readers who haven't read the book in advance. In the process of reading, I always repeat this cycle: I am surprised at the existence of this illusion, and at the same time I have to admit that I am also deceived by the illusion from time to time.
One of the examples mentioned here is something I still believed in before reading this book - the Mozart Illusion of Potentiality. I forgot which report I read. Often listening to Mozart’s music can stimulate the untapped potential of the brain. We always firmly believe that the mysterious brain contains a huge unstimulated potential, so we always chase after swarms. The so-called "brain development" product.
In fact, everyone will become a fool from time to time to be fooled by illusions. This is not terrible, as long as we can admit the existence of daily illusions, and be a little more cautious and rational, just like dealing with memories, whether it is our own or someone else’s memory needs to be held A certain attitude of skepticism, and in important cases, it is necessary to verify to avoid mistakes.
5. Strangers to Ourselves
Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious by Timothy D. Wilson
We think that we like a person because of his uniqueness, and only after we break up do we realize that there is no "uniqueness" in love; The job we do is not necessarily what we are good at;
we think that with a house, a car, and money, we are successful people, and we will gain peace and happiness, but when we have all these things, we are inexplicably lost and empty.
These unexpected situations occur only because our true selves, our ideal selves, and our selves in the eyes of others are not a unified image.
We want to live according to our ideal self, but we are often limited or criticized by our true self and the self in the eyes of others; we want to accept our true self and arrange life according to our own abilities, but we cannot let go of our inner desires and social values.
When these three selves collide, people are like prisoners in a car split, being torn apart by forces from different directions in the south, east, and northwest.
Timothy Wilson, a famous American psychologist, pointed out in "The Most Familiar Stranger: A Journey of Self-Cognition and Potential Discovery" that the reason why people are constantly entangled and not knowing how to make a choice is that they lack a true understanding of themselves.
Jasmine said, how do you know that you are not, I used to think I was not either, but then I realized that I didn't dare to face it, and I didn't have the courage. Obviously, we are often not the kind of people we think we are.
So how do you know exactly whether you are or not? Wilson says there is no other way than to dig deep into your subconscious mind to uncover your true motives, feelings, and thoughts.
6. How to Win Friends and Influence People
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
In my senior year, my reading habits benefited a lot from Gillian. He said that when reading a book, half of the energy is spent thinking about these questions: Who is this author? What has he done? For what purpose does the author write this book? How is its reliability?
Carnegie was not a philosopher, he was a successful scientist and an adult education expert. To put it bluntly, the work he did at that time was similar to that of a lecturer hired outside the company to train new employees.
I also went to Google to find some information about him. I think the achievements he has made are too exaggerated. In my opinion, he just did his best work in the industry when adult education was not well-established, and at the same time, he had his own uniqueness in this area and then wrote it into a book.
The book 'How to Win Friends and Influence People. Carnegie's purpose for writing this book is clearly stated in the preface: "I know what those adults want (the ability to deal with people). But the book they need has never been written."
At the same time, he also made it clear that this book is not a rational lecture, but teaches you how to do it. "This is an action book"
There is very little truth in the whole book, most of which are some cases or stories. Two are the most impressive, one is a letter Lincoln wrote to Meade at the height of the Civil War, and the other is Roosevelt calling a neighbor to ask her to see Bobwhite.
There are detailed details in the book, so I won't repeat them here. I find these detailed stories taken from great men to be more convincing. That's the reason those great people are great.
Books are good books, not cryptic or flashy. Recommend to everyone.
7. Start with Why
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
After listening to the book "Start with Why" today, the author used Apple, the Wright brothers, Martin Luther King, etc. as examples to introduce the concept of The Golden Circle he proposed.
Most ordinary people and companies come in from the outside, from the most explicit to the most ambiguous: What -> How -> Why, and the most famous people and companies in history are from the outside to the inside, starting from Why You do what you do start with the question, then think about how to do it, and then answer what to do.
I think the book only emphasizes the importance of ''Why' and ignores some of the examples. Internal and external objective factors are slightly biased. Sony and Dell are behind Apple, and it's not just a question of why. Can you say that Sony is a company without core values? Especially in the field of science and technology, the impact of technological development and changes in the external environment is too great.
The problem of rigidity and slow speed in the management of large companies themselves is also an important reason for backwardness. Can you say that IBM is not dedicated to clients now? Can you say MS doesn't want to change the world right now? In short, why is important, but the importance of strategy & execution is also not low.
Not to deny the content of the book, the content of the book is useful for corporate marketing, product marketing, or personal marketing.
the book says that as long as the company expresses to users in the order of why-how-what, even if the product is not top-notch, it can surpass its rivals. Although I don't deny what he said, I still don't like what he said. His remarks will make the reader downplay the importance of the product, which is completely contrary to my perception, so I don't really like his remarks.
One of my favorite words is Charlie Munger's saying,
"The best way to get something is to match yourself with him"
and you can match the product to the best users.
What I wrote earlier is that I don't like what he said, but I still agree with the "Golden Circle Rule" itself. By highlighting your own values, you can match the person who is most suitable for you as quickly as possible, and this kind of relationship is the most stable.
8. Influence
Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
I recently reread "Influence", this is at least the third or fourth time I read it. After reading many behavioral psychology and social psychology books, this time I reread the various examples and experiments listed in the book.
Knowing the psychological factors like the back of the hand, I deeply feel that it has narrowed the distance from the situation when Cialdini wrote this book. A good book is so awesome.
You know where the author's realm is, but you can only get closer to the author's realm when you write the book by re-reading it again and again by enriching your own experience and knowledge.
This is a very strange book. The practicality of the book is very strong, the cases are just right, the analysis is incisive, and the coverage is quite extensive - almost including all the cases in the psychology books I have read, such a book can already be called a masterpiece. In particular, a discussion of how psychology is applied to marketing.
Influence, after all, is a psychological problem. The skills are varied, the key is to know what kind of psychology the target needs to be placed in order to radiate influence.
Honesty, courage, and integrity will have the greatest impact. When people think you have good enough qualities, you will have the greatest influence on this mentality.
The so-called great skill does not work, great wisdom is like ignorance, that is exactly the case. The internal strength is sufficient, and there is no need to play tricks.
But the heart must pursue and maintain excellent quality because the biggest difference between human beings and other animals is that it is a species with a "heart". In other words, the reason for being human is to have a "heart".
9. Made to Stick
Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
As advertisers or marketers, we all hope that our creativity can stick to consumers and become a well-known classic case.
So, do sticky ideas have certain key characteristics? Chip Heath and Dan Heath in the United States pointed out in the book "Behavioral Design - Made to Stick" that sticky ideas have six common principles.
Six principles for spreading ideas:
- Simplicity. The capacity of the human brain is extremely limited, and there can only be one focus. No matter what you want to say, only the one you think is absolutely essential. "Good messaging isn't about adding nothing, it's about taking nothing away."
- A surprise. Grab your audience's attention. People are absent-minded, you said nothing.
- Concrete. Understanding abstract things is hard work, and remembering them is even harder. Concrete things are naturally suitable for being understood and remembered by the human brain.
- Credibility. The same words can be spoken differently by different people. This is credibility. Authority is not necessarily the most credible person, sometimes the anti-authority or the ordinary people around are more credible.
- Emotion. Just because people know something doesn't mean they will act on it. Appealing to their feelings (ethnic identity, identity, values) may work better than outright money> or money seduction.
- Story. As humans, we naturally love stories. We can't resist stories. A good story automatically includes everything a good publicity needs. A long list of abstract concepts and statistics > often (more often than you think) compares to a story.
10. Stumbling on Happiness
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
I thought this book would tell us some practical mottos about happiness. However, although this book is not purely academic, it is definitely not a reference book.
Daniel uses some social statistics and research experiments, which are very rational. Some conclusions have been drawn, but only the conclusions do not tell us how to be happy. The logic of this book is too strong, I can only share some of the touching points of view with you.
1. The theory of relativity of happiness
In simple terms, everyone has different feelings about happiness, and there is no absolute happiness or unhappiness in the world. Don't use your own values to judge whether others are happy or not.
2. The existence and lack of details of happiness
we are more likely to ignore the latter happiness in the spatial dimension and happiness in the time dimension.
When the consumption speed is fast, diversity will increase happiness.
When the consumption speed is very slow, diversity will increase. Will reduce happiness. Think about the happiness of eating many kinds of dishes at one time and the happiness of eating many kinds of dishes every time. Which is stronger?
3. Physiological and psychological self-balance
We cannot leave reality, nor can we leave the illusion. They each serve a purpose, and at the same time check and balance each other, and our experience of the world is the result of negotiation and compromise between these two rivals.
A healthy mental immune system should manage to strike a balance that makes us feel good enough to be brave enough to deal with situations without making us feel good enough that we don't have to do anything.
4. Uncertainty preserves and prolongs our well-being, so people should value it.
Imagine that you received a love letter, signed "A person who silently pays attention to you" or "The next-door neighbor Wang Ergou", which one makes you happier?
5. The ending decides everything
Do you always look forward to a happy ending every time you watch TV? Some things, since there is no good result, it is better not to happen. We always judge a past event in this way unconsciously.
6. Memory will always underestimate or overestimate our well-being. Predictions based on the experience of others are far more accurate. Happiness in different situations is meaningful.
Memory is unreliable, and the most cunning magician in the brain, many feelings will be forgotten over time, what we thought we thought yesterday was not what we thought yesterday, and similarly, we today are even more unable to predict what we will be in the future.
How to think. Think you were unhappy in the past? Then look at the diary written that day. If you think that you are broken up, you will completely deny the past relationship, then go look at the photos at that time.
Our view of the future is more realistic than our view of the past since any step will lead us to a different destination. Instead of imagining, let’s look at the state of the person who came here at that time. Various choices have led to different results. We can get enough information from it to guide us on the current road.
11. The Art of Choosing
The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar
This is a very interesting "psychological research report".
Don't be intimidated by the words "psychological research report", this is just my personal opinion after reading it. In fact, the author is very powerful in telling the story through her eloquent way of telling the story, and the theme she wants to discuss with readers: the various aspects of "choice" in daily life, and make a wonderful sharing.
How do I choose?
Is there a better option?
What is the underlying motivation behind the choice?
if you're confused, read The Art of Choosing.
To sum up, this book mainly expounds on the following issues:
- The paradigm of choice: It can be divided into perceptual choice and rational choice. The book calls them "automatic systems" and "reactive systems."
- Scope of choice: It can be divided into all-encompassing and restricted everywhere. The former is represented by the free choice of individualistic culture in the United States, and the latter is represented by the collective choice in Japanese tradition and culture.
- The result of the choice: It can be divided into good choices and bad choices. The reference standard is whether it will "regret" and whether it will be conducive to long-term happiness in the long run. Case in point, studies have shown that arranged marriages are more likely to lead to happiness in the long run than free love.
- The main body of choice: is divided into individual choice and common choice. In fact, it is a commonality of human beings to think that they have individuality.
- Responsibility for choice: divided into responsible choice and non-responsible choice. For example, when a relative is terminally ill, the doctor does not inform the condition and decides by himself, the doctor informs the condition and decides by himself, and the doctor informs the condition and decides by the family. The psychological pressure on the family is very different.
A few practical guidelines:
- Choose a paradigm: the ideal way is the combination of perceptual and rational, that is, the so-called "intuitive knowledge". Professionals can reach it after 10,000 hours of professional training. However, this ability is limited to its own area of expertise.
- Selection range: When there are too many choices (options greater than 7), in most cases, it is better to appropriately reduce the selection range. For example, you can ask experts, about classification. The "collective choice" under a specific cultural system reduces the trouble of too much free choice to some extent.
- Selection results: a broad vision and a mature mind are conducive to making better choices.
- Select the subject: correctly understand and handle the relationship between individuality and commonality.
- Responsibility for choice: should bear the responsibility corresponding to the right to free choice.
In the preface, the author mentioned the American Dream, believing that its core lies in free choice, and pointed out in the book that the current income of young Americans is highly correlated with their family background, criticizing the increasing difficulty of realizing the American Dream in a sense. It is also pointed out that there is no necessary connection between freedom, individuality, and happiness.
Just like the two lyrics sing:
When I flew into the blue sky, I found that I was helpless
and there was nothing to stop me. My yearning for freedom
You are the collection of all your choices.
Since it is art, there is no single definite standard. Otherwise, life is like a series that knows the ending, and it's boring.
12. The Power of Habit
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The book "The Power of Habit" can be read together with two other books, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Willpower". One of the ways to change habits mentioned in the book mentions the power of belief. In the book "The Simplest Problem Solving Handbook in History", there is a part about belief and knowledge discussion. Faith does not require much thinking, but knowledge requires it.
Habit, to some extent, is also "intuition" or "intelligence", which does not require thinking and is a major characteristic of habit. Because thinking wastes time, and form an instinctive reaction.
Therefore, a reasonable knowledge pyramid should be data-information-knowledge-skill-habit-wisdom.
Wisdom is always the highest.
Deep mastery of skills means mastery, easy to form habits, without thinking, master state, flying flowers, and leaves, all can hurt people.
From this book, you can learn the skills of self-control and people-control, and to develop skills, practice is necessary, such as the 10,000 hours theory.
I do believe more and more in the power of hands now. Sometimes, I mistakenly think that part of the memory is gone. In fact, it is an illusion. As long as I have practiced the skills to a certain extent, and hands, that part of the memory will be recovered, and, Not a simple recovery, but an upward spiral. That's what it means for my drawing skills to improve even after years of not drawing. Because although I didn't do it, my observational power was there, and I had been practicing in my mind unknowingly.
"Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," says: Thoughts determine actions, actions determine habits, habits determine virtue, and virtue determines destiny.
That's the way to go.
However, there is one place in the book that is not well explained: the transformation of those people is not without reason. The power of faith does not appear suddenly and works, but because these people have encountered major setbacks in their lives and inspired them. Drives, because life is over if they don't change, so they change. And there are some people who, despite their setbacks, did not make a change, and then these people lived their lives in failure, but there are fewer examples of the latter, such as the example of gambling.
In the final analysis, it is the simultaneous effect of internal and external causes, not a universal truth.
In the case of the team, the key is not the coach's training method, but the coach's loss of his son, which made the team form a cohesive force. This is actually because of setbacks. If the method is effective, the enemy team can also learn it.
You May Also Like: Business Psychology Books
- Mind Hacking: How to Rewire Your Brain to Stop Overthinking, Create Better Habits and Realize Your Life Goals by Jennifer Ferguson
- The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. by Daniel Coyle
- The Inner Winner: Performance Psychology Tactics That Give You An Unfair Advantage by Simone Hazeldine
- Consumerology: The Market Research Myth, the Truth About Consumers, and the Psychology of Shopping by Philip Graves
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
- Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman
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About Muhiuddin Alam
Muhiuddin Alam is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ReadingAndThinking.com. He serves as a consistent contributor to various websites and publications, including Medium, Quora, Reddit, Linkedin, Substack, Vocal, Flipboard, and Amazon KDP. Alam personally read numerous books and, for the past 10 years, has been providing book recommendations and reviews. Find Me: About Me & Google Knowledge Panel.
