Episode
Surprising Factors That Influence What You Buy & The Strange Story of Ice
- Podcast
- Something You Should Know
- Published
- Jun 25, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2906
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/something-you-should-know-52651/episodes/surprising-factors-that-influence-what-you-buy-the-strange-story-of-ice/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/something-you-should-know-52651/surprising-factors-that-influence-what-you-buy-the-strange-story-of-ice.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Why do mosquitoes seem to love some people and completely ignore others? It isn't your imagination. Researchers have identified several factors that make certain people especially attractive to mosquitoes—and some of them are things you have little control over. https://theweek.com/articles/462191/5-things-that-make-irresistible-mosquitoes Most of us believe we make rational decisions when we shop. But behavioral scientists have discovered that many purchasing decisions are influenced by factors we barely notice. The way a product is described, where it is placed, how many alternatives are offered, what price is shown first, and even seemingly irrelevant details can dramatically affect what we buy. Richard Shotton has spent years studying the hidden psychological forces that shape consumer behavior. In this conversation, he explains why our choices are often less objective than we think, how marketers use these insights to influence us, and what you can do to become a smarter consumer. Richard is a behavioral scientist and author of The Illusion of Choice: 16½ Psychological Biases That Influence What We Buy (https://amzn.to/3q2Vne9). Ice seems so ordinary that it's easy to forget what a miracle it once was. Today, ice is available instantly at the push of a button. But not that long ago, obtaining ice was a massive undertaking involving dangerous harvests, international shipping routes, fortunes made and lost, and an industry that helped reshape the modern world. In fact, long before electric refrigeration existed, people were cutting huge blocks of ice from frozen lakes and transporting them thousands of miles. How did this unlikely commodity transform the way we eat, drink, preserve food, and live? Amy Brady, executive director of Orion magazine and author of Ice: Fr…