92% of people are being made to think they 'decided for themselves'

Chapter 1 | Did you really decide that choice for yourself?

"I decided this of my own free will."

We often think this is the case.

The clothes you wear today.
What you eat for lunch.
Which shop you enter.
Which product you buy.
Who you vote for.

We make countless choices every single day.

And every time we do,

"I chose this myself"

is what we feel.

However, from the perspective of behavioral economics, that feeling is quite precarious.

This is because human choices are heavily influenced by the "environment."

You end up putting items placed near the entrance of a supermarket into your basket.

You choose products labeled "No. 1 Popular" on online shopping sites.

After looking at the most expensive menu item at a restaurant, you feel the mid-priced item is "reasonable."

These all look like choices you made yourself, but they are actually designed choices.

In psychology and behavioral economics, this is called "Choice Architecture."

Literally translated, it means "the design of choice."

In other words, before people decide "what to choose," they are influenced by "how things are arranged."

Take convenience stores, for example.

It is no coincidence that gum and chocolate are placed next to the register.

That is a layout designed to induce "impulse buying."

Show it at the very end when they are tired and their judgment is impaired.

Then the brain thinks like this.

'Well, this much is fine.'

This is also a perfect form of manipulation.

But the person who bought it thinks this.

'I decided for myself.'

This is the interesting part.

Humans do not realize they are being manipulated.

In fact, it only works precisely because they do not realize it.

Knowing this makes you a little scared.

Our free will is much more fragile than we think.

We think we are choosing, but we are being made to choose.

The boundary between the two is surprisingly blurred.

And the ones who understand this mechanism best are,

the advertising industry,
politics,
and con artists.

They know 'how to make humans naturally make that choice'.

They do not force you.

They just make you feel good about 'deciding for yourself'.

That is all.

But as a result,
you open your wallet,
you sign a contract,
you believe it,
and sometimes your life even changes.

What is scary is not being manipulated.

It is not realizing that you are being manipulated.

And many people today,

are walking down a path designed by someone else, while thinking it is their own will.

Chapter 2 | When people don't 'choose', they choose what has been decided for them

There is an interesting experiment.

It is about organ donation consent rates.

In one country, the system required you to check a box if you wanted to donate your organs.

In another country, you were opted in from the start, and had to opt out if you didn't want to.

The content is almost the same.

The only difference is the initial setting.

The results are surprising.

The former had a consent rate of around 20%.

The latter exceeded 90%.

Humans think they 'decide actively for themselves'.

But in reality, it is different.

We often just accept the state we are placed in from the beginning.

This is called the 'default effect'.

It is the power of initial settings.

Smartphone notification settings.

Automatic subscription renewals.

Recommended insurance plans.

All of these utilize this.

If it's ON from the start, you leave it as is.

If it's checked from the start, you leave it as is.

You can change it, but you don't.

Why?

Because it's a hassle.

The human brain prefers energy conservation.

Thinking consumes energy.

That's why we unconsciously decide like this:

'Well, it's been like this from the start.'

That alone determines it.

In other words, not deciding anything is also a significant choice.

But that choice is not one you made yourself.

It is something someone else placed there beforehand.

This is what's scary.

We think we 'didn't choose'.

But in reality, we are 'being made to choose'.

The same goes for mortgages.

The recommended plan in the contract.

The figures the salesperson presents first.

The way it's presented as 'X amount per month'.

That alone creates a standard for judgment.

Even if you compare others later, the first number never leaves your head.

Advertising is the same.

'Most popular No. 1'

'Only 3 spots left'

'Limited time offer'

When you see words like these, you feel like you've made your own decision.

But the foundation for that was built from the start.

The order of the options.

The way they are presented.

The wording.

Everything is designed.

In other words, the choices that seem free can sometimes be the most restrictive.

Humans think they are thinking for themselves, but

they just keep running along the tracks that were laid out for them in the beginning.

Chapter 3 | The first thing you see becomes the standard for judgment

For example, suppose you go to buy a watch.

The first one you are shown is a luxury watch for 300,000 yen.

"That's expensive."

You think so.

Next, you are shown a 100,000 yen watch.

Then, something strange happens.

The 100,000 yen price, which you should have thought was expensive just a moment ago,

"is surprisingly cheap"

it changes to.

This is the anchoring effect.

Humans use the first numbers or information they see as a standard to make subsequent judgments.

Even though it should be irrelevant.

But the brain uses it as a reference point.

This is troublesome.

For example, real estate.

After being shown a 45 million yen property first, 40 million yen feels cheap when you see it.

But if you think about it calmly, 40 million yen is still expensive.

It is the same in restaurants.

A 10,000 yen course at the very top.

Below that is 6,000 yen.

Then, 6,000 yen looks 'just right'.

This is because the initial high price becomes an anchor.

The advertising industry uses this thoroughly.

'Regular price 49,800 yen → Only now 19,800 yen'

The moment you see this, your brain uses 49,800 yen as the standard.

That is why 19,800 yen looks cheap.

But whether it is truly worth that much is another story.

What is important here is that

humans do not judge by 'absolute values'.

They are always comparing.

Moreover, those comparison standards are easily created.

The number placed first.

The information heard first.

The scenery seen first.

All of these dominate subsequent judgments.

To tell an even scarier story,

this also happens in human relationships.

Someone who was kind at first will look like a 'good person' even if they are a bit cold later.

Conversely, someone who made a bad first impression will look like a 'surprisingly good person' if they do something normal later.

The first thing becomes the standard.

In other words, the first thing you see doesn't have to be the truth.

Once it becomes the standard, you've won.

The reason why scammers show a large profit first.

The reason why salespeople show a high-priced item first.

The reason why advertisements show a 'regular price' first.

It's all the same.

People cannot escape the number they were first struck with.

And then, just like that,

they become convinced that they 'decided for themselves'.

Chapter 4 | 'Free to choose' is the easiest to manipulate

People resist when they are forced.

'Please buy this.'

'Please believe this.'

'Please choose this.'

When told this, they immediately become guarded.

But strangely enough,

'You are free to choose.'

When told this, their guard goes down.

There is a big trap here.

Humans are vulnerable to the word "freedom".

The moment you think you are free, the accuracy of your judgment drops.

This is because being free itself becomes a source of comfort.

But reality is different.

Having options and being free are two different things.

For example, subscription pricing plans.

Light Plan
Standard Plan
Premium Plan

At first glance, you can choose freely.

But if you look closely, it is designed so that the middle one is the easiest to choose.

This is called "extremeness aversion".

Humans avoid extremes.

If it's too cheap, you feel uneasy.

If it's too expensive, you feel scared.

So you choose the middle one.

In other words, even if it looks like a choice of three, you are actually being heavily guided.

The "Pine, Bamboo, Plum" options at restaurants are the same.

Sales quotes are the same.

Mortgage interest rate plans are the same.

They are all "guidance disguised as freedom".

This is the most powerful.

Because the person themselves is convinced.

Forced choices are easy to regret.

But people try to stick to choices they think they made themselves.

Humans have a 'consistency bias'.

We want to make our decisions the right ones.

That is why once we decide,

we conveniently create reasons afterward.

'That was the best choice at the time.'

'I thought about it and decided for myself.'

But what if the tracks were laid out from the start?

Was that freedom really freedom?

This is what is important.

Modern society is moved more by guidance than by force.

Advertising, too.

Politics, too.

Social media, too.

It is all the same.

'Do whatever you like.'

Behind these words lies an invisible blueprint.

And today, just like every other day, people are moving within that blueprint,

while feeling as though they are free.