We may have a goal that we don't really desire. One reason for having an undesirable goal is explained by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci in their experiment on intrinsic motivation. The theory says that we are less motivated by rewards and more motivated by a sense of auton...

• People’s need for validation and recognition, their need to feel important, is the best kind of weakness to exploit.
• All you have to do is find ways to make people feel better about their taste, their social standing, their intelligence. Once the fish are hooked, you can reel them in...

Any marketer or buyer knows the power of hitting potential customer’s pain points to get people to make purchases. We’re all trying to buy our way to happiness to make us feel better. Many advertisers take advantage of our desire for happiness to sell us products that we don’t need.

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