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 sweet spot depending on your goals. Professional kitchens have historically been challenging work environm...
Apr 22, 2024•34 min•Season 13Ep. 3
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 point in the game, Luis was offered $333,000 to simply walk away. A guaranteed win! It seems like an obv...
Apr 08, 2024•45 min
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 , we look at a phenomenon that can cause us to overweight recent events compared to earlier events and make...
Mar 25, 2024•32 min•Season 13Ep. 2
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 should. If you’re over a certain age, you might remember friends or family panicking about MSG, or monosod...
Mar 11, 2024•34 min•Season 13Ep. 1
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? If you've ever met someone whose work you were curious about, and you had 100 nosy questions but we...
Dec 18, 2023•29 min
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–winning economist Richard Thaler calls "sludge." A young couple walks into a theme park and they are off...
Oct 23, 2023•38 min•Season 12Ep. 6
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 "railway madness." In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how people often ov...
Oct 09, 2023•37 min•Season 12Ep. 5
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. Could he be the next Michael Jordan? In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at...
Sep 25, 2023•34 min•Season 12Ep. 4
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 the dinner table. One of A.J. Jacobs’ kids presented him with a seemingly simple task—thank the people...
Sep 11, 2023•30 min•Season 12Ep. 3
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 help create better results overall. Most sports teams take years to establish themselves as contenders....
Aug 28, 2023•34 min•Season 12Ep. 2
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. The organizers of a heroic airlift transporting thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel broke the record...
Aug 14, 2023•33 min•Season 12Ep. 1
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 “superforecasters.” In 2010, the United States government had been looking for Al Qaeda leader and perpetrator of th...
Jun 05, 2023•38 min•Season 11Ep. 6
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 distort information that we gather from the world around us. First, W. Joseph Campbell tells the story ...
May 22, 2023•29 min•Season 11Ep. 5
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 confidence and uncertainty, and how we can all better calibrate our bravado. Surfing waves as tall as apartm...
Apr 24, 2023•33 min•Season 11Ep. 4
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 with Katy Milkman , we explore how we can develop deep connections with complete strangers — and how t...
Apr 10, 2023•30 min•Season 11Ep. 3
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 buying stuffed animals from a little-known toymaker, called Ty Warner, for their kids. The friends' enth...
Mar 27, 2023•31 min•Season 11Ep. 2
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, skip days, cheat meals, and get-out-of-jail free cards are important strategies for sticking to your lo...
Mar 13, 2023•26 min•Season 11Ep. 1
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 problem of separating correlation from causation. You'll hear the fascinating story of Franz Mesmer an...
Nov 07, 2022•35 min•Season 10Ep. 6
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 Choiceology with Katy Milkman , a look at how we justify our decisions based on previous behavior. Alfre...
Oct 24, 2022•31 min•Season 10Ep. 5
If you’ve ever lost a job, or been through a breakup, or failed an exam, you’ll know that the aftermath can be painful and disorienting. But for some percentage of those who experience these disappointing outcomes, unforeseen opportunities will arise. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at the occasional upside of being forced to quit a career, or a relationship, or even a favorite route to work. Kassia St. Clair brings us the story of William Henry Perkin . As a young man...
Oct 10, 2022•39 min
When we feel angry or excited, or happy or sad, the reasons for those emotions may seem obvious. Angry? It was that argument with a spouse. Excited? It was that promotion at work. Happy? Must've been that delicious meal. Sad? It was that tearjerker film, for sure. But it turns out that we often mistake the root causes of our feelings and other experiences. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at a family of biases that affects the way we understand behaviors, events, and em...
Sep 26, 2022•34 min•Season 10Ep. 4
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” A quintessentially American phrase from the Declaration of Independence . That “pursuit of happiness” takes many forms, but it turns out that some approaches are more likely to be successful, according to science. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at a way to frame how you spend your time and money that may help you lead a happier life. Joshua Fields Millburn was hungry for success. Despite a difficult childhood, he was dete...
Sep 12, 2022•32 min•Season 10Ep. 3
Humans can easily distinguish between a zero-chance event (e.g., the Washington Nationals winning the World Series in 2022) and a sure thing (e.g., the sun coming up tomorrow). But in between those two clear outcomes, it turns out that we’re not great at estimating odds. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , a bias that affects the way we predict the likelihood of rare events. Katia Jordan had all the makings of a tennis star: a preternatural talent, an intense drive to succeed, top...
Aug 29, 2022•34 min•Season 10Ep. 2
You hear it a lot in contemporary education, the tech world, and the arts: that it's important to fail, to make mistakes so that you can learn from them and get better at whatever you do. But that generally accepted wisdom is incomplete. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how failure can cloud your ability to learn and to improve. Joseph Herscher is creator of the wildly successful YouTube channel Joseph's Machines . He builds intricate and whimsical contraptions that ...
Aug 15, 2022•33 min•Season 10Ep. 1
If you've ever been faced with an important decision when time was scarce, information was incomplete, or tempers were running high, you'll know that it's difficult to make a good choice. Now imagine a decision that has implications for the entire world, and the people facing that decision are 500 feet below the surface of the ocean in a nuclear-armed diesel submarine that is overheating and running out of power. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at decisions under press...
May 23, 2022•39 min•Season 9Ep. 6
Many of the decisions we make require us to compare numbers. Which car is most fuel efficient? How is a stock performing relative to the market? How risky is one medication versus another? A problem arises when we fail to make these comparisons in the right units. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at the mistakes we make when we overweight absolute numbers and neglect their relative value. Damon Lesmeister is a wildlife biologist in Oregon who studies a very special bird...
May 09, 2022•33 min•Season 9Ep. 5
Nudges are all around you. They might help you choose your meal at a restaurant, navigate a busy airport terminal, or start saving for the future. But nudges are often subtle, so you might not notice them until they’re pointed out. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we’re doing things a little differently. This episode is your guide to the many ways nudges have changed the world for the better. We'll revisit examples of nudges you may recognize from previous episodes of Choiceolo...
Apr 25, 2022•39 min•Season 9Ep. 4
While it’s nice to think of ourselves as rational decision-makers, more often than not, emotion plays a role in how we decide. Some people may spend more on a new car when the weather is nice. Others may take bigger risks than normal after indulging in a sweet dessert. Some may make rash choices following a disappointing end to their favorite TV series. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at how positive or negative sentiment from one part of your life can spill over and a...
Apr 11, 2022•37 min•Season 9Ep. 3
Don’t shoot the messenger is a metaphorical phrase for blaming the bearer of bad news. It’s easy to be angry with someone who is associated with information you don’t want to hear–say, a doctor delivering an unwelcome diagnosis, or a manager who has to fire you due to budget issues beyond her control. The phrase also points to a tendency we all have to overweight someone’s personality or disposition (that person who fired me is a jerk) and underweight the situation (sales were down this year, an...
Mar 28, 2022•33 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Supply chain issues and income inequality notwithstanding, we live in an age of abundance. Our closets overflow with clothing. Many children have more toys than they could possibly enjoy. Garages are filled with sporting gear. Offices are cluttered with gadgets. And even our calendars are packed with meetings and tasks. It can all be a bit much. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman , we look at a bias that leads us to add to our collections and to-do lists but neglect to remove unnec...
Mar 14, 2022•35 min•Season 9Ep. 1
