All of us make choices all the time, and we may think we’re making those choices freely. But psychologist Eric Johnson says there’s an architecture behind the way choices are presented to us, and this invisible architecture can influence decisions both large and small. If you like this show, please check out our new podcast, My Unsung Hero! And if you’d like to support our work, you can do so at support.hiddenbrain.org.
New Years resolutions are a big thing. People are always promising themselves the need to change, make their life better. I’ve done that many times before too. But not this year.
I’ve decided that this year I don’t need to change or introduce novelty into my life but instead just double down on what is good in my life and what is making me successful. Not fret on my struggles but be more grateful for what I have and who I am. And enjoy life more – because there really is a lot wonderful in this world.
Now not everything is perfect in my life. I’m the first one to admit it. But why dwell on what is bad? For all the bad there is a lot of good things happening. It’s not to say that I should abandon the conservative approach I take to many things in my life but it’s also to say maybe I don’t have to press harder to improve things that are good enough. Nothing wrong with a little radical acceptance of the way things are.
Alfred Noyes' poem, The Highwayman was beautifully set to music on Phil Och's I Ain't Marching Anymorealbum back in 1965. 🦇 A spooky song for the most spooky 👻 of wind-driven cold Halloween nights.🎃
When young children imagine their future lives, they’re often very optimistic. They’ll say things like “I’m going to be an astronaut!” or “When I grow up, I want to be a movie star!” These outcomes are, of course, quite rare. Most children will grow into slightly less exotic careers as adults. But even as adults, we tend toward personal optimism. We assume that we will outlive the average person, that we will remain in better health than the average person, and that our children will be above average in school or in sports. Of course, we can’t all be above average. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at the mistakes we make when we assume we’re less susceptible to failure or negative outcomes than are other people. World’s Fairs are large scale events requiring an immense amount of planning and organization. And while there have been many memorable and successful fairs, there have also been many expensive failures. Robert Rydell tells the story of the 1926 Sesquicentennial International Exposition in Philadelphia. Organizers were certain that they could mount a spectacular event, one that would transform their city and burnish its reputation around the world. But international events, poor weather, local politics, and the death of one of the key planners would conspire to make this a fair to remember, for all the wrong reasons. Robert Rydell is a professor of American Studies at Montana State University and the author of All the World’s a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916. Next, Don Moore joins Katy to discuss the ways in which overconfidence, overplacement, and overprecision can cloud your judgement, even though it may make you feel better about yourself and your abilities. Don Moore is the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair in Leadership and Communication at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. He is also the author of the book Perfectly Confident: How to Calibrate Your Decisions Wisely. Finally, Katy offers advice on using base rates to help offset over-optimism when it comes to planning events, starting a business, getting married, or renovating your home.
Autumn and winter are coming, at least that’s what’s happening in a few weeks on Tuesdays. 😳
But it’s a cycle, what happens now comes back around and it will soon be summer 2022. One day closer to my goals and a better life than my rundown apartment in the suburbs.
Seven Tuesdays until Average High is 60 🍂 – Oct 19
