EP 148: “You Are Not So Smart” Biases, Heuristics and Fallacies with David McRaney

“You Are Not So Smart” Biases, Heuristics and Fallacies with David McRaney

How many of your Facebook friends do you think you know? Would you help a stranger in need? Do you know why you’re so in love with your new smartphone?

The truth is: you’re probably wrong.

This episode examines the assorted ways we mislead ourselves every single day, a psychology course with all the boring bits taken out.

Prepare for a whirlwind tour of some of the latest research, fused with a healthy dose of humour. You’ll discover just how irrational you really are, which delusions keep you sane, how to boost your productivity, and why you’ve never kept a New Year’s resolution. We welcome the author of "You Are Not So Smart: Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, Why You Have Too Many Friends On Facebook And 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself” and host of the You Are Not So Smart Podcast, David McRaney

We discuss:

• What are Biases, Heuristics and Fallacies
• Why we create mental shortcuts
• The ancient architecture of the brain
• Priming
• How Casinos Prime Us
• Confabulation
• Split-Brain patients and confabulation
• Why our brains seek patterns
• The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy
• The Availability Heuristic
• The video mentioned during the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNmsVl4xkhg

More about David here: http://davidmcraney.com/ https://youarenotsosmart.com