One of the books I read was called The Power of Habit Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. This book was incredibly informative and very interesting. The author presents the results of scientific discoveries that explain why human habits exist and how they can be changed. He also reveals how companies and corporations are using this research to improve themselves AND to improve their business. Understanding habits and habit patterns is a powerful sales and marketing tool and a significant amount of research and science is utilized in product development and sales/marketing practices.
The author has several chapters devoted to human behavior and how habits are developed. He also talks about how you can make or break habits. Yes, you CAN change!
Other chapters deal with how corporations utilize habit research to improve company and employee performance as well as shaping product development and sales/marketing efforts. One key concept is "predictive analytics". "Almost every major retailer, from grocery chains to investment banks to the U.S. Postal Service, has a “predictive analytics” department devoted to understanding not just consumers’ shopping habits but also their personal habits, so as to more efficiently market to them."
Think about it. Those little company loyalty and incentive key fobs you carry do more than give you discounts. They collect data and help companies track your habits. Internet activity is also used for predictive purposes. When you search for products and visit sites, data is collected. Later, what you see and what is offered online, is frequently tailored to your previous activities and linked to your patterns. Read the times article about Target to see how they use predictive analytics. Personally, I see predictive analytics at work if I visit a site (ie. Walmart, eBay, Google) to research products. Later, I will receive email notices for similar or related products for me to look at or my future searches on Google will slant towards items connected to previous searches.
The links below will hopefully give you a glimpse of what this book has to offer. This book can help you understand human behavior, help you improve yourself and it will help you to be an informed consumer by alerting you to advertising and marketing strategies that encourage you (both consciously and unconsciously) to buy a particular product. Don't be manipulated!
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147296743/how-you-can-harness-the-power-of-habit
Story of Target and what they know about you:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all
Link to Dunhigg's website:
http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/
Access to additional links about the book and specific articles:
http://charlesduhigg.com/additional-resources/