How do strict and relaxed cultures affect the quality of our decisions? And how can you find the sweet spot between the two, depending on your goals?

Daniel Kahneman explains why risky propositions tend to look different when you’re already behind.

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?

Why is it that when we see the same statement multiple times, we are more likely to believe it's true?

In this episode of "What It's Like to Be …," former Choiceology host Dan Heath interviews Chris Ekimoff, a forensic accountant.

Friction gets in the way of behavior—and it can become "sludge" when it's used to prevent you from reaching a goal

Why do people tend to over-respond to weak signals and under-respond to strong ones?

Performances often rise and fall, but how and why do they usually regress to a mean?

Why do people think they understand things better than they actually do?

Grouping choices together so that you make a bunch of selections all at once can seem daunting, but it can help you reach your goals faster.

How can events outside of our control create opportunities for accidental insights?

Are there proven ways to improve our predictions?

One of the most common mistakes we make with data involves choosing the wrong population to study.

How effective is diversity training, and what can be done to eliminate hiring bias?

How can you strike the right balance between risk tolerance and risk aversion, and why do women and men so often view risk differently?

How can feeling connected to someone who is essentially a stranger impact your decision-making?

How can the fear of missing out on a trend have lasting consequences?

When faced with a challenging goal, is it better to give yourself some slack?

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'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.

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.

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...

“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.

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.