Losses Loom Large: With Guests Hank Haney, Dolly Chugh & Maurice Schweitzer

Choiceology with Katy Milkman

Charles Schwab

Behavioral Economics, Society & Culture, Social Sciences, Decision Making, Charles Schwab, Business, Science, Investing, Dan Heath, Katy Milkman

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2018

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Winning feels good. Whether it’s nailing a tricky golf shot or landing a big client for your firm, it’s nice to come out on top. But is it the thrill of victory that pushes you to sink that 10-foot putt or compels you to put in a few extra hours at work? Or is it the fear of losing that motivates you more? In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we examine a bias that affects the irrational way people often react to gains and losses. The episode begins with the heartbreaking story of Robbie Powell. A missed medical diagnosis and an elaborate cover up expose the lengths to which some people are willing to go in order to avoid a hit to their reputations. You’ll hear from professor Dolly Chugh from New York University’s Stern School. Dolly and collaborator Molly Kern have done some great research demonstrating how people behave differently when making ethical choices in the face of a potential loss versus a potential gain. You can learn more about this phenomenon in her book How Good People Fight Bias: The Person You Mean to Be. Then renowned golf coach Hank Haney describes how Tiger Woods and other golf pros seem to work harder to avoid bogeys on the putting green than they do to make birdies. According to Wharton School professor Maurice Schweitzer, professional golfers may be missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in winnings because of this tendency. And he’s got research to prove it. Finally, Katy will leave you with practical tips on how to limit the influence of this bias in your own decisions. Choiceology is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Katie Milkman, and this is Choiceology.
0:07.0	Small soy latte for Ellen. Wait, what?
0:15.0	You're thinking, why are we in a coffee shop and where's Dan Heath?
0:20.0	Well, I'll explain the coffee shop part in a moment, but first, as you may have heard from our pre-season update,
0:26.7	Dan has handed me the keys to the show. He's off working on a new book and some other projects,
0:32.1	so I'm thrilled to be with you as the new host of
0:34.8	choiceology. We're going to build on some of the concepts that Dan introduced you to in season
0:40.2	one. But we're also going to explore some new ideas that I'm really
0:44.0	excited about. We've got a bunch of amazing stories to tell and we'll be joined by
0:48.4	some of the brightest minds in psychology and behavioral economics. Okay, let me tell you a little bit about me.
0:55.0	I'm a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
0:59.0	My background is in economics, computer science, and psychology.
1:03.3	And my research and teaching are all about the peculiar ways
1:06.3	that we make decisions and why our choices aren't always ideal.
1:10.0	I ask questions like, why do we so often order pizza when we know we should pick salad?
1:15.5	Why do we sit on the couch when we know we should be exercising?
1:18.4	And why do we buy shiny new gadgets with money we know we should be saving. The answers that come back are fascinating
1:24.4	and I can't wait to share them with you.
1:27.0	So I want to start this first episode of the season with a well let's call it a vignette from a coffee shop
1:37.2	I want you to imagine yourself in this scene. It's a little thought experiment. You've just ordered a coffee.
1:43.8	Let's say you want caffeine, but not too much.
1:47.2	So you've ordered a half-calf Americano.
	...

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