Document Type
Lesson Plan and Materials
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
Designing Your Next Read invites students to explore the psychology behind everyday choices through the familiar act of picking a book. Using the lens of design psychology, the lesson examines why decision-making often feels overwhelming and how small shifts in perception, environment, and heuristics can make choices easier and more enjoyable. Students engage in interactive exercises, including a book-browsing activity, mini-lectures on choice biases, and a “Book Blurb” exercise, to reveal how heuristics such as availability, affect, and familiarity shape responses.
Through guided discussion and reflection, students connect psychological theories like the paradox of choice and decision paralysis to their own reading habits and broader consumer experiences. By the end of the session, participants will understand how design and psychology influence decision-making and leave with practical, evidence-based strategies to make reading and everyday choices more intentional, enjoyable, and empowering.
Handouts
Designing Your Next Read Slides_Stephanie Xu.pdf (4595 kB)
Lesson Slides
Included in
Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Book and Paper Commons, Publishing Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons
Comments
Designing Your Next Read © 2025 by Stephanie Xu is licensed under CC BY 4.0