Choiceology with Katy Milkman

Your car breaks down. Must be because you skipped an oil change last month. Or your favorite team loses. Well, that was because of a bad call by a corrupt referee. In reality, many events involve multiple contributing factors. But we tend to gravitate toward single causes.  In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we look at our desire to explain things simply, even when the truth may b...

In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we look at the often-misunderstood and surprisingly common Dunning-Kruger effect with an interview featuring one of the researchers who first identified it, David Dunning. But we start with the story of Cecilia Jimenez , the humble Spanish grandmother and amateur landscape painter who took it upon herself to restore a fresco in her local church....

Pursuing a goal alone is convenient. Whether you're training for a marathon or aiming to read 20 books this year, it's convenient to move at your own pace and schedule. But having a gym buddy or a book club pal can make a bigger difference to your goal completion than you think.  In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we look at the benefits of tandem goal pursuit in the context of tr...

When you're facing loss—say, in a board game or during a sporting event or with a declining stock—it can be difficult to remember your true tolerance for risk. You're likely to seek risk more than you normally would. In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we look at a tendency to seek risk in the face of losses when those losses aren't yet finalized, but how chalking up those losses a...

Over the years, Choiceology has offered a lot of advice for making better decisions. In this special episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we bring you the story of a video game that is surprisingly effective at reducing decision errors, and you'll hear about a practical checklist for improving choices in many different contexts. Solving fictitious mysteries might sound like fun and games, b...

"Don't judge a book by its cover" is an old adage for a good reason.  Elegant book cover designs can create a positive impression and make you more likely to judge the writing quality more positively. But these traits—cover art and writing—are separate and distinct features of books.  So why do we allow the judgment of one trait to spill over to another unrelated trait?  In this episode of Choiceo...

Are rules made to be followed—or meant to be broken?  Often, the answer will depend on culture and the context in which people make decisions.  In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we look at how carefully people in different contexts follow social norms, rules, and procedures. We'll also see how strict and relaxed cultures affect the quality of our decisions—and how to find the swe...

In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we look at how framing a decision based on what you stand to lose versus what you stand to gain affects your tolerance of risk. Luis Green was a contestant on the popular TV game show Deal or No Deal . The game is largely one of chance, but there are moments during play where the contestant has an option to accept a cash offer to quit. At one poi...

When someone asks, "What's your favorite restaurant?" odds are you're inclined to recommend a place you've eaten at recently—even if it's not really your favorite.  It's just top of mind.  Why do we weigh recent events so heavily? And how does this tendency impact important decisions, like whom to vote for or how to conduct medical procedures?  In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , w...

Vitamin C is a cure for the common cold. Bats are blind. Sugar makes children hyperactive. All of these statements are false. So why are they so pervasive? And why do they feel so true? In this episode of Choiceology with  Katy Milkman , we look at a phenomenon that can cause us to believe inaccurate information more than we should, and also lead us to trust reliable information less than we shoul...

Curious what it would be like to walk in someone else's (work) shoes? Join New York Times bestselling author Dan Heath as he explores the world of work, one profession at a time, and interviews people who love what they do. What does a couples therapist think when a friend asks for relationship advice? What happens if a welder fails to wear safety glasses? What can get a stadium beer vendor fired?...

Filling out an overly complicated form or waiting on hold for hours to speak with a customer service rep is a frustrating experience. And sometimes it seems like the process itself is designed to be difficult. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how friction––time, distance, complexity, or anything that gets in the way of your goals—can contribute to what Nobel Prize–winn...

A train was speeding along the tracks in 19th-century England when a passenger suddenly started smashing windows and waving a pistol in the air. People believed his actions were caused by what was, at the time, a new and unfamiliar form of transportation. Doctors posited the rattling motion and noise of trains could cause passengers to act erratically, creating the short-lived but popular myth of...

It’s halftime at a basketball game. A kid nervously steps onto center court. If he can score a basket from center court, he’ll take home the prize money. He tells the announcer that he plays on his elementary school team and that he has been practicing for this moment. The crowd holds their breath as the ball sails through the air, hits the backboard … and goes in. The stadium erupts in excitement...

Why do ocean waves move the way they do? How does a toaster work? How might ink flow through a ballpoint pen without the help of gravity? You may know the answer to these questions, but explaining them in detail could reveal an unexpected truth. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at why people think they understand things better than they actually do. The idea started at th...

What is the difference between buying groceries for the whole week versus grabbing something to eat on the way home each day? Grouping choices together so that you make a bunch of selections all at once can seem daunting, but it can actually help you reach your goals faster. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how taking a bird's eye view on a series of selections can hel...

Scientifically sound, randomized experiments can be expensive and difficult to run. But there’s an alternative: It turns out that certain real-life situations can also generate useful scientific data. The trick is finding them. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how events outside of our control can create opportunities for so-called natural or accidental experiments.  ...

There are moments in life where it seems as though everything is riding on one important decision. If only we had a crystal ball to see the future, we could make those decisions with greater confidence. Fortune-telling aside, there are actually methods to improve our predictions—and our decisions. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at what makes some people “superforecaster...

If you ran a survey at a science fiction convention to find out which movies were most popular with the general public, chances are good that the results would lean heavily towards sci-fi films. This skewing of data is plain to see in this context, but in many others it’s less obvious and potentially more pernicious. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at a bias that can dis...

We all make decisions involving risk. Decisions like trying out for your school’s chess team, speaking up when you don’t agree with your boss, or going down a double-black-diamond run at the end of a long day of skiing. So how do we determine which risks are worth taking and which ones are too … risky? In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at gender differences around confiden...

Finding a new favorite celebrity feels a little bit like falling in love. Perhaps you find their smile endearing, or you relate to their sense of humor. Maybe you see things in your everyday routine that remind you of them. You feel like you know them so well. But whether it’s a star athlete or a Hollywood type, the reality is they likely have no idea who you are.  In this episode of Choiceology w...

Mullets. Skinny jeans. Crocs. Many of us can recall trends that we've jumped on, only to see those trends become passé soon after. But the fear of missing out can snowball into heavier consequences. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how speculation and rapidly growing trends, however niche, can cloud people's judgment.  A tight knit group of friends in Chicago start buy...

When you fail to reach a challenging goal, say, saving a certain amount of money each month or getting to the gym a certain number of times a week, it can be tempting to just give up on the plan entirely. But new research shows that building some flexibility into that plan can actually improve your chances of success. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how mulligans, ski...

It seems like every other week there's a news report about how coffee will help you live longer or will shorten your life. There are similar reports about vitamins and water consumption and any number of other health-related studies. So why do we see so much conflicting information around scientific research in the media?  In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , a look at the slippery p...

You've probably caught yourself indulging after a workout or a game or a stretch of healthy eating. Maybe it was a pint or two after a soccer game or an extra piece of cheesecake after a vigorous hike. These indulgences are easier to justify after a healthy activity. Ironically, though, these indulgences can undo some of your hard work. So why do we tend to behave this way?  In this episode of Cho...