YOUR GUIDE TO DESIGNING FOR BEHAVIOR CHANGE

Behavioral Design is the practice of designing for behavior change. I have created this resource

together with some of the leading minds in the industry to help you learn this practice and find

ways to use it for good. The books listed here are a mix of those who have helped me create a

successful behavioral design career combined with books personally nominated by the likes of

Richard Thaler, Dan Ariely, Tali Sharot, Nir Eyal, Robert Cialdini, and Angela Duckworth, to name a

few. Each book has been selected based on the same criteria: To help you understand how to

change human behavior for good.

However, changing behavior at scale is hard. Effective behavioral design requires learning a

unique skill-set based on insights, methods, and tools from a wide range of disciplines, including

everything from behavioral economics to cognitive psychology, and service design. I sincerely

hope that these books will help you in developing that skill-set and get you started towards

becoming a behavioral designer. So, here you go — the ultimate behavioral design reading guide.

Warm regards,

SAMUEL SALZER

Behavioral Designer, Author & Keynote Speaker

www.samuelsalzer.com
# Title

1 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

2 Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

3 Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

4 Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want by Nicholas Epley

5 Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) by Tavris & Aronson

6 Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H Pink

7 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

8 Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller

9 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinschenk

10 Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky
# Title

11 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

12 Switch: How To Change When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

13 Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler

14 Friction: The Untapped Force That Can Be Your Most Powerful Advantage by Roger Dooley

15 Don't Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor

16 Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood

17 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad by James Clear

18 Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

19 Hacking Human Nature for Good by Dan Ariely, Jason Hreha & Kristen Berman

20 The Smarter Screen: Surprising Ways to Influence and Improve Online Behavior by Schlomo Benartzi

Created by Samuel Salzer and available at www.samuelsalzer.com

# Title

21 Start at the End: How to Build Products That Create Change by Matt Wallaert

22 Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal

23 Designing for Behavior Change: Applying Psychology and Behavioral Economics by Stephen Wendel

24 Digital Behavioral Design by Boundless Mind

25 The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

26 Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

27 Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective UX by Stephen P. Anderson

28 The Last Mile: Creating Social and Economic Value from Behavioral Insights by Dilip Soman

29 Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip & Dan Heath

30 The Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions by L. Atkins, R. West, & S. Michie

Created by Samuel Salzer and available at www.samuelsalzer.com

 FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY
This final level is your chance to further round-out and strengthening your skill-set. Here

you will get an opportunity to dive deeper; in the psychology behind our decision

making, or perhaps in the world of social psychology. There are also great opportunities

to explore new territory that books in previous levels have barely covered, such as the

fields of evolutionary psychology and gamification.

While understanding human behavior is a life-long journey, you can find solace in that

much of the road has already been paved. We are fortunate to stand on the shoulders of

the giants who have come before us. They have written these books and, in turn, made

this guide possible. This is indeed a great opportunity, so make the most of it. I

encourage you to follow your curiosity and through these books continue the process of

understanding what makes your heart sing. Happy Reading!

Cognitive Psychology: The Human Mind & Decision Making

# Title

31 Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy by Phil Barden

32 Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton

33 How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett

34 How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

35 How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

36 How We Know What Isn’t So by Thomas Gilovich

37 Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

38 Invisible influence by Jonah Berger

Created by Samuel Salzer and available at www.samuelsalzer.com

Cognitive Psychology (Continued)
# Title

39 Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious by Timothy D. Wilson

40 Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow

41 The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar

42 The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge

43 The Emotional Life of Your Brain by Richard Davidson and Sharon Begley

44 The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons

45 The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Brian Schwartz

46 The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

47 The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr

Social Psychology
# Title

48 Explaining Social Behavior: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences by Jon Elster

49 Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control by Albert Bandura

50 Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World by Sam Sommers

51 Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman

52 The Influential Mind by Tali Sharot

53 The Knowledge Illusion by Philip Fernbach and Steven Sloman

54 The Person & The Situation by Lee Ross

55 The Social Animal by David Brooks

56 The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson

Motivational Theories
# Title

57 Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices by Paul R. Lawrence

58 Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

59 Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn

60 Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir

61 The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life by Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson

62 The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal

63 Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward L. Deci

Created by Samuel Salzer and available at www.samuelsalzer.com

Behavioral Economics
# Title

64 Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller

65 Choice Factory: 25 Behavioural Biases That Influence What We Buy by Richard Shotton

66 Exotic Preferences: Behavioral Economics and Human Motivation by George Loewenstein

67 Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference by David Halpern

68 Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler

69 Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It) by William Poundstone

70 Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart by Gerd Gigerenzer and Peter M. Todd

71 The Art of Thinking Clearly by Robert Dobelli

Behavior Change / Other

# Title

72 Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing by Roger Dooley

73 Everybody Lies: What Big Data Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

74 Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

75 Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal

76 Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do by B.J. Fogg

77 Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change by Timothy D. Wilson

78 The Small Big: Small Changes That Spark Big Influence by Steve Martin, Noah Goldstein & Robert Cialdini

79 Well Designed Life: 10 Lessons in Brain Science & Design Thinking by Kyra Bobinet

The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives and Our World
80
by Anthony Biglan

Evolutionary Biology & Psychology

# Title

81 Evolutionary Psychology by David M. Buss

82 Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

83 The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker

84 The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley

85 The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

86 The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit by Melvin Konner

Created by Samuel Salzer and available at www.samuelsalzer.com

Gamification
# Title

87 A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster

88 Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards by Yu-kai Chou

89 Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll

90 An Introduction to Gamification: What It Is and How to Effectively Use It by Dr Zac Fitz-Walter

Game Thinking: Innovate Smarter & Drive Deep Engagement with Design Techniques from Hit Games
91
By: Amy Jo Kim

92 Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal

93 The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell

UX Design & Service Design

# Title

94 Design for How People Learn (Voices That Matter) by Julie Dirksen

95 Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman

96 Designing with the Mind in Mind By Jeff Johnson

Mapping Experiences: A Complete Guide to Creating Value Through Journeys, Blueprints, and
97
Diagrams by James Kalbach

98 Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug

99 Service Design: From Insight to Implementation by Polaine, Løvlie and Reason

100 This Is Service Design Doing by Stickdorn, Hormess, Lawrence and Schneider

Do you think a book is missing from the list or have other comments?
Please send thoughts and recommendation to sam@samuelsalzer.com
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Credit to everyone who helped make this guide possible through your book

recommendations and endorsements. It is humbling to have so many great people in

our wide-spread community be so eager to help out and contribute.

Thank you to everyone listed below, I greatly appreciate your contributions.

Dan Ariely | Jonah Berger | Kristen Berman | Charlotte Blank | David Buss

Yu-kai Chou | Robert Cialdini | Wendy De La Rosa | Angela Duckworth

Nir Eyal | Zac Fitz-Walter | BJ Fogg | Evelyn Gosnell | Adam Grant

Dan Heath | Aline Holzwarth | Tim Houlihan | Rob Haisfield

Michael Hallsworth | Scott Barry Kaufman | Zarak Khan | Steve Martin

Riitta Mettomäki | Katherine Milkman | Kurt Nelson | Ingrid Melvær Paulin

Dan Pink | Steven Pinker | Robert Sapolsky | Tali Sharot | Koen Smets

Dilip Soman | Seth Stephens-Davidowitz | Richard Thaler | Matt Wallaert

Susan Weinchenck | Stephen Wendel

Names listed alphabetically. For simplicity I avoided titles.

(You can assume everyone has a PhD.)

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