Choiceology with Katy Milkman

We're wired to interpret our challenges as bigger than our advantages, even if the reality is more balanced.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2025

What if our biggest blind spot is thinking we don't have a blind spot?

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2025

Why do we tend to fixate on numbers even when words or graphs represent the same information?

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2025

It’s a new season of Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. New episodes arrive every two weeks, so please follow us in your favorite podcasting app.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

Framing the narrative of your life as an epic journey can give you control and meaning.

Transcribed - Published: 21 October 2024

Is it possible to structure our experiences to remember them more fondly?

Transcribed - Published: 23 September 2024

The simplest answer isn’t always the right answer, despite how much we might want it to be.

Transcribed - Published: 9 September 2024

In a great bit of irony, to truly know if you're good at something, you have to be good at it already.

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2024

Pursuing a difficult goal can be lonely work—but it doesn't always have to be.

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2024

Can resistance to authority be leveraged for positive change?

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2024

Why do we tend to seek more risk in the face of losses when those losses are only on paper and aren't yet finalized?

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2024

What are some strategies that can help you mitigate cognitive biases and make better decisions?

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2024

Why do we allow our judgments of one trait of a person (or product or company) to overly influence our judgments of another, unrelated trait of that same person or product or company

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2024

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?

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2024

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?

Transcribed - Published: 25 March 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 11 March 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 18 December 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 23 October 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 9 October 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 25 September 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 11 September 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 28 August 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 14 August 2023

Are there proven ways to improve our predictions?

Transcribed - Published: 5 June 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 7 November 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 24 October 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2022

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 emotions.

Transcribed - Published: 26 September 2022

“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.

Transcribed - Published: 12 September 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 29 August 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 15 August 2022

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 pressure and how our thinking process is affected by stress.

Transcribed - Published: 23 May 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 May 2022

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.

Transcribed - Published: 25 April 2022

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 affect decisions in another.

Transcribed - Published: 11 April 2022

When we judge someone, rarely do we stop to consider how their particular situation likely played a large role in guiding their actions.

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2022

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 unnecessary or unhelpful items.

Transcribed - Published: 14 March 2022

For many people, the start of a new year is an occasion to re-examine their lives, to set new goals and to give up old habits. Making New Year’s resolutions is something of a social ritual, but we see similar behaviors around other significant dates, as well--such as birthdays and anniversaries and the changing of seasons. And while it can be argued that all of these dates are arbitrary, studies show that they can still give you a head start in achieving your goals. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we examine the common but not always rational phenomenon whereby people divide their lives into chapters. We look at ways to leverage this phenomenon to make better choices.

Transcribed - Published: 1 January 2022

Anticipating and planning for obstacles can sometimes be more powerful than adopting a positive mindset. A positive attitude is important when embarking on any new endeavor. However, as you may have heard in previous episodes of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, overoptimism also can blind you to important information. In this episode, we look at a strategy that can help counteract the effects of overoptimism and overconfidence. You could call it the power of negative thinking.

Transcribed - Published: 25 October 2021

Most of us would prefer to avoid an argument at work or at home. But there are times when arguments—at least when they’re civil—can help surface important information for decision-making. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at situations where certain types of conflict can actually lead to better outcomes.

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2021

Perhaps this scenario seems familiar. Let’s say you generally do a good job of sticking to your monthly budget, but a rare opportunity arises—maybe a favorite musical artist is in town, or you’ve been invited to a friend’s 25th anniversary event—and you blow past your regular spending limit. It’s all right—you’ll just have to tighten your belt a bit next month. But then your phone stops working, and you have to buy a new model. And now your car needs an expensive repair. Again, these are not ordinary expenses, so you chalk it up to life and go back to your usual budget. And then the invitation to a destination wedding arrives … In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we explore a common error around the way individuals and organizations categorize seemingly exceptional expenses.

Transcribed - Published: 27 September 2021

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.

Transcribed - Published: 13 September 2021

You may notice that charity campaigns tend to focus on the stories of one or two individuals or families, and that those stories are often rich with emotional content but light on information and statistics. There’s a reason for that. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at the different ways we tend to be captivated and motivated by individuals and their stories, while on the other hand, we often become numb or disengaged when presented with large numbers or statistical information.

Transcribed - Published: 30 August 2021