Susan Weinschenk Phd Headshot
Report a problem with this profile
[email protected]

Susan Weinschenk Phd    

Behavioral Psychologist, Author, Coach, & Consultant in Neuropsychology

Susan is the person to go to when you need to know how to persuade and motivate people to take action. She has a Ph.D. in Psychology and over 30 years of experience as a behavioral scientist. Her clients call her “The Brain Lady” because she applies research on brain science to predict, understand, and explain what motivates people and how they behave. Dr. Weinschenk is the author of several books, including "How To Get People To Do Stuff," "100 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People," "100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People," and "Neuro Web Design: What makes them click?"

Dr. Weinschenk consults, teaches, and mentors individuals and teams on the design of websites, software, medical devices, TV ads, physical devices, experiences, and physical spaces to make them persuasive, usable and motivating. She writes a popular blog at this website, and also the “Brain Wise: Work better, work smarter” blog for Psychology Today.

While working on her Ph.D., Dr. Weinschenk conducted research on the left and right half of the brain. She was a college psychology professor at State University of New York (Oswego) and then began consulting. Early in her career she focused on applying cognitive psychology (how people think, remember, perceive), to make technology more usable. Recently she’s gone back to her neuropsychology roots, studying the newest brain science and research on unconscious mental processing — decision-making, persuasion, and emotion.

Susan started college at Virgina Tech and finished her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Northeastern. She then earned a Masters and Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University.

Susan lives in Wisconsin, USA, with her husband. Her two children are grown and “launched”. When not teaching, speaking, writing, or blogging, Susan performs in community theatre, sings jazz, reads books, and is an avid movie watcher.

Speech Topics


The Science of Creativity

Do you want to learn how to be more creative? Whether you are creating a new product design, solving the latest technical problem in your organization, or trying to write a song, learn the science of creativity and how to apply it to your work and life.

Design for Persuasion and Engagement

Recent research in neuroscience and the brain has provides insights into how people think, how people decide, and what motivates people to take action. Whether you want to create an engaging website, software, game, or app, you need to know how to apply the latest research in neuroscience to your design projects.

How To Get People To Do Stuff

Whether you have a product that you want someone to buy, a charity that you want someone to donate to, or a community that you want people to join, you spend a large part of each day trying to get people to do stuff. What if you understood the science behind how to get people to want to do what you want them to do? If you understand what motivates people you’ll be better able to figure out how to get people to do stuff. Based on her latest book of the same name, Dr Susan Weinschenk shares the research in psychology and brain science and how to apply it. You will learn about the 7 drivers of motivation: The Need to Belong, The Power of Stories, Tricks of the Mind, Instincts, Habits, Carrots and Sticks, and The Desire for Mastery.

Top 10 Things You Need To Know About People

You want your target audience to buy, read, sign up — to take action of some kind. Behind all these actions are people. How much do you know about how people decide and how people behave? From her book, 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People, Dr. Susan Weinschenk has picked her favorite 10 “things” to share. In this inspiring keynote you will learn what the latest research in psychology and brain science can tell you about what makes you, your colleagues, your customers and your target audience tick and what makes them click.

Related Speakers View all


More like Susan