In class this past Thursday we discussed desires, expectations, and outcomes in the context of making decisions and setting goals. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist and author of Predictably Irrational, hosts a TED Talk reflecting on whether or not we are in control of our own decisions.
Watch the video and answer the questions below in the comments section.
In the comments section, indicate what you found most surprising about this presentation and what you found most helpful. How can critical thinking skills guide and shape your behavior?
Deadline to comment is Thursday, 09/17/2009, 11:59am
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I think the most surprising thing to me was the result of the hip-replacement question, that the doctors would go back and try one different medicine but were less likely to do it if there were two different medicines that hadn't been tried. The most helpful thing was probably the reminder that I've been meaning to sign up as an organ donor... =)
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking guides my behavior every day; I try to exercise it as much as possible. This includes, for me, trying to see the points of view of others and also being skeptical of others' statements. For example, I appreciate the point he was trying to make, but I wasn't dramatically impressed by the results of his experiments... for example, testing only one group of people for each set of circumstances (like in the Economist subscription scenario) isn't very scientifically sound. I'd be more impressed if it turned out he had more data to back up some of his statements, but in the meantime he has provided some food for thought.
The most surprising thing to me was I kept replaying in my head the scene in Matrix Reloaded, where the Merovingian (sp.) challenged Morpheus, "Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without." He presents matters as examples and metaphors without identifying who 'really' has control, and does not point out that control is in the purview of who or what sets forth the choices to be had or made. The most helpful thing which I point out is not in what he said, but what was left unsaid. As a rationalizing 'mammal,' your behavior is defined by the situation in which you live, or the choices you make of which were not presented to you.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking is a crucial part of you, and is as developed as you make it. Every day may not be filled with events that require its use, but you use it. We evaluate things differently, and must communicate to be clear of what we are acting in regards to. So, critical thinking as part of our behavior makes many decisions on different levels to which we give no thought until asked to justify our actions.
In picking apart his drug-and-hip-replacement example, the farmer would have used over the counter items like Ibuprofen before making the visit, and answer to that fact if asked one way or the other. Therein, he uses a failure of a medical professional to fully apply critical thinking of the "outside of the box" nature to make one point and broadsiding another point into left field. To me, he rambled on with vague contexts more than providing solid and memorable statements on "Are We in Control of Our Own Decisions?" as it seems that we are not.
I had to pause the video for a moment and comment about the visual illusions. How remarkable it is that even though we know the truth, our vision still reverts back to what we once saw. We may remember what we have learned, but we have to push our minds to accept what our vision cannot.
ReplyDeleteWe use our vision so much it is almost inconceivable the amount, but still there is that weakness. And now I shall resume the video...
How fitting that we are discussing cognition or decision making illusion now. I am currently faced with potentially losing one of my two jobs - the one I might lose being the more important and more financially rewarding of the two. I knew it was a temporary position, however, it was not scheduled to end so soon. This is the third temporary position I have worked in, in the past two years. My fiance is concerned about my decision making, since I always end up being stressed as I resurrect my job search. So have I been making poor decisions?
It is highlighted that we may not know our own preferences that well. Therefore, much of our decision making is based on comparison. Maybe that is why I have decided to accept a temporary position multiple times. This may be particularly true with the decision I made in April. Because I had left one temporary position with my company and accepted another temporary position, when the time came for that position to end I had no position to fall back to. Therefore, I was forced to accept a full time role within the company for a signifigantly less amount of money. In April, I began pursuing part time jobs to supplement my income. Low and behold I was offered a supervisor position, but in order to handle the schedule and the requests of the company in which I held a full time position I would have to drop down to part time with this company. I was faced with continuing with the less prestigous, less money full time role and no supervisor job or take the temporary supervisor job and drop down to part time. But a major factor was also that I felt not taking the supervisor job would have been a huge missed opportunity. It was not an easy decision to make, but imagine how much easier it would have been if the supervisor role was full time and not temporary.
"We understand our limitations and we build around it."
Maybe this is indeed why I have been stuck in this trend of temporary positions? I know that I may be experienced and educated, but I have a lot more growing to do. Therefore, when presented with a temporary supervisor position, I felt as though "Well Dani, you better take that position, lord knows when you'll get an offer like this again."
And so now faced with the job search again I find myself thinking critically about how I use my time. There's the supervisor job and trying to save it, there's the part time job that I may need to see if I can get it back to full time, there's my stepsons, and the house, but then there's school. All of us in the course are nearing the finish line. And that is why after much critical thinking, I know most of my energy needs to be on my schooling.
P.S. - I LOVED the absolute irony of the Economist slipping up and offering a third option for the price of the second but with more included.
What I found most surprising about this presentation is that people often don’t know what they want. The illusion that we think we know is what interested me. For example, When people had the option of printing at the same price of subscription and printing, 0 percent choose printing. Once printing was removed the statistics of the choices people had were almost opposite. It was a good presentation, comical but at the same time you learned. Critical thinking skills can guide my shape and behavior by really knowing what it is I need to do. Weighing out all the options, and even the option that are not their, will help round out a better decision. The example of the DMV organ donors is a perfect example. Check here if you want to donate what different from check here if you don’t want to donate.
ReplyDeleteWhat did I find most surprising about the presentation and why was it helpful?
ReplyDeleteI found the comparisons between Standard Economics and Behavioral Economics very surprising. Dan Ariely displayed a quote from William Shakespeare when describing Standard Economics, and then displayed a cartoon brain scan of Homer Simpson to describe Behavioral Economics.
I assumed professionals and more intelligent individuals were well equipped in decision making. However, the presentation exemplified how vulnerable anyone can be when certain things are introduced into the equation. The example given was: physicians opting for a patient to undergo hip-replacement surgery because a second drug entered into the equation. People really do undergo unnecessary medical surgeries, and it happens more often than we know!
How can critical thinking skills guide and shape your behavior?
Even the most skilled professional is capable of making irrational decisions because of his or her intuition. If one stops for a moment and takes the steps to think critically, the behavioral aspect of the decision making goes away. Instead of thinking with emotion, one can focus on logic, which may guide and shape behaviors more rationally.
Fantastic video! I took Perception here at UCF last semester. I was pretty sure I had a good grasp on our perception obstacles and so forth. However, I never extrapolated visual illusions to include cognitive illusions. The video was about Behavioral Economics. I didn't happen to focus on that specifically. I was astounded by the realization of how many choices I make not based on my own preferences, but rather how my choices are presented to me. When I was in accounting, I only looked for accounting careers. It's what I knew. It's what was discussed and it's what I knew was available. When I changed careers and went back to school, all I noticed was heathcare. The same pattern repeated. However, through varied classes I've taken outside of my "areas", I realized the choices are up to my preferences. I purposely chose classes that were new. It opened a whole world to me. But yet, I was still surprised at the concept of cognitive illusions and how we live them everyday. I just had a discussion last night about M Theory and different layers of the universe and how they interact and can move like layers. I never knew I even cared about physics!! We have ingrained perceptions by the worlds in which we place ourselves. We must remember to enter different worlds and different experiences to gain an understanding of the whole.
ReplyDeleteI have many times picked a more attractive version of an item compared to it's less attractive counterpart while ignoring option C. I will be more aware of "C" and looking for the option I really want!!
I found the study that was done on the options for buying the economist the most surprising. Especially because it is a lot like what they do with parking decals for UCF clearly not exactly but similar as far as how they break it down for semesters and it has always bothered me, also because the results of the study are very interesting and funny to me. I found it helpful that when he talked about the organ donor study, it really helps to remind you to look at things and the motive of them.
ReplyDeleteHaving critical thinking skills can shape and guide your behavior in so many ways, it can stop you from making impulse bad decisions and seeing the motive behind the way things are being presented. By doing things like that it can change the path you end up taking in life.
I really enjoyed this video. Something that surprised me a lot was the inability of our minds to learn something as simple as the fact that two drawn tables are the same length. I have encountered brain teasers like this, but never put together that the way our brains perceive the picture is totally isolated from our knowledge about it. That stuns me. Being told that we have the inability to be in control of something so simple is a bit bizarre, especially because we always feel that we are. I think it is helpful to know this because it will change the way I look at documents. The thing that comes to mind the most is the way government voting documents are worded. Many have double negatives which are designed to trick your mind into thinking you are voting for something when you are actually voting against it.
ReplyDeleteAs I stated before, critical thinking skills can guide and shape my behavior by influencing something as simple as the way I look at documents. I believe that just knowing that something may be trying to convince me into doing what it wants will encourage me to take a second look. Although, given the table length example, my mind will probably still perceive these situations as they are told and I will simply be more paranoid.
Time and time again I hear critical thinkers say people really don't know what they want, they think they know but have no idea. I found this concept in the video to stick out the most because this principle reoccurs everyday. It's very important to really think through your wants, needs, and possible outcomes. Proper critical thinking skills will change your behavior for the better allowing to focus on a correct choice or path.
ReplyDeleteThe part of this video I found most surprising was when he talked about Organ donors. I really have never noticed how big of a difference there is between do and don't. For there to be such a large discrepancy between the two demonstrates the power of no in a way I have never looked at it.
ReplyDeleteThe part that was most helpful to me was when he talked about Rome and Paris. I really never thought about looking at things the way I want them rather then listening to the deals people are offering. After this little fragment I realized that sometimes things that are useless are good in helping you choose what you want but the knowledge that this negative choice is there to influence my choice is new to me. I guess the best way to put it would be. I normally order pizza and everytime I do I end up with some kind of combination deal just because it shows me my pizza at 10 dollars but I can get the pizza plus breadsticks for 14 dollars. Basically I didnt need the breadsticks or even want them but I allowed the fact that it was a negative choice financially influence my preferences.
I think critical thinking skills can shape and guide our behavior in the way that if you are someone who is a critical thinker you do not allow yourself to be in negative situations. Rather then just trying stuff out you become molded to analyze the scenarios your in and make a decision that seems rational.
In the comments section, indicate what you found most surprising about this presentation and what you found most helpful. How can critical thinking skills guide and shape your behavior?
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this presentation I have actually learned allot that I would never have thought about before. I think the most surprising part of the presentation was about the website thing and the three choices that it gave. Even though the 2nd and third option were the same price by eliminating the 2nd option totally changed peoples choices on which option they wanted to choose. Another great example was the DMV thing and How in some countries in said to check if interested but in others it says do not check if interested. The average person wouldnt check the 2nd option which really meant that they wanted to be an organ donor.
This presentation shows how illusions can change ones mind and just buy adding one or 2 words can create a whole new picture. Critical thinking skills are very important in todays society and can either help us or hurt us in the choices that we make. It is very important to read things carefully and take the extra minute to make sure you are confident in what you choose or do.
I didn’t find much surprising about this presentation. It was refreshing to see a perspective that reminds people to step back, and “think” about what we’re doing, slow down and comprehend. Since automation and computers have become mainstream people are always rushing to get a result without “thinking” about the consequences or the possible enormity of what they are truly doing even robotically. I can see how forms can be designed to “lead” people to the answer--that benefits the author of the form. The person completing the form gets satisfaction by “completing” the form, not really motivated by cognitive juices, more like automatic pilot. However the person is “satisfied” that they filled out the form made their seemingly “important decisions”, and moved on to their next task or whatever. Similarly the people who take careful pains to “design” their forms want to get the most out of their forms, probably helping the “outcome” either by question choice, placement, it can be very subjective seemingly unwittingly. I’ve authored questionnaires and forms and when you’re in the driver’s seat, you have had more time to think it through than the person who fills out the form.
ReplyDeleteOur society today seems to have evolved into mouse-clicking, joysticking, multitasking, text-messaging, hornbeeping, impatient people who are not in the moment because they missed it—in order to get to the next moment. Based on where we have evolved to, we are not truly in control of our decisions—unless we think before we make that decision. There is a large margin for error in our “decisions” because sometimes we make so many decisions daily that critical thinking is forgotten.
I think that Pink’s book shows that society has its cycles. Since the Industrial Age, we may be jumping into new Ages in exponential form. For now I can appreciate the idea of leaning toward Right-Directed thinking. It may reintegrate people from being automatic pilots to critical thinkers, and if lucky, apply this technology toward humanity and express these achievements in an artful, classier legacy.
Lisa Beni
This presentation was a real eye opener. I have wondered before why my boyfriend’s ID says "organ donor" but not mine. I can never recall being asked if I wanted to or not. It is rather a big deal to be one since they will pretty much own your body after death, however, I would still choose to be one. So this makes me think, when we get our licenses it has the box that says "check if you want to participate in the organ donor program." Knowing me I probably just skimmed though and didn’t read everything thoroughly. This makes me wonder how much this may happen to me and I don't even realize it.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video I plan on paying a lot more attention options I have available to me. Just because it may by the generic answer or seem more appealing does not mean it's what I really want or that it’s for the best.
In all honesty, I found little in this presentation exceptionally surprising, most of it seemed to be basic human behavior. However, the most intriguing point, though also obvious, was when Ariely expressed how easily our vision is deceived, despite our continuous use of it, and comparing this to our large capacity for mental mistakes. In terms of critical thinking, using such a skill allows us to constantly filter information and view decisions from an alternate perspective. Using critical thinking emphasizes the fact that you can't simply take data or decisions for face value.
ReplyDeleteI found this short presentation to be quite fascinating. What captured my interest most were some of the examples illustrating how the structure of a question can influence the outcome of a decision. Ariely states that if a decision is complex most will simply choose the default answer and uses the example of organ donor volunteers as evidence of his point. This was helpful to me in the sense that it called attention to how little I might pay attention to what is being asked of me and what my options truly are. I thought that critical thinking skills would allow one to make a well informed decision no matter how a question is framed or what options presented but the example of highly trained physicians choosing the path of least resistance and falling in line with Ariely theory changed my mind. I am not sure strong critical thinking skills would make much of a difference when choosing an outcome to a question which I believe was Ariely’s point all along. We must recognize our mental limitations and construct abstract systems, such as finance, accordingly.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I found most surprising in this video was the example he gave about the physicians and the choices they made based on the number of left over options they over looked. It surprised me that having only one more option changed the physicians' thoughts so drastically. The most helpful thing I found in the video was the fact that people let things such as the third option to buy only the print for the same price as the print as well as the website. I've never thought about the fact that things like that only exist to help persuade you to give a company more of your money. Critical thinking skills can guide and shape behavior by getting you to think about what exactly it is you're doing and what exactly it is that you want as opposed to having things be suggested to you forcing you to THINK you want something when really you don't.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this presentation. I thought the points brought up were interesting and seemingly true. I can believe the organ donor check boxes. We discussed this earlier in class that having asking in a positive view will have a dramatically different answer than if you asked with a negative connotation. I think a good lesson to take away from this video is that humans make decisions based on our knowledge and our options. If we know what needs to be done but there are too many options, often we use our knowledge to weed out the bad options. If we know nothing about the options, we’ll often pick the easiest choice. This was illustrated in the organ donor example.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking is so important and needs to be exercised and taught. If we start making decisions because they are easy or we are too lazy to find the correct answer, we may be heading to a world of followers. We need to weigh all options even ones that are not apparent at that moment. Think how this decision will impact the present and future… Analyze your decision to make sure emotions are not guiding you one way or another, and make the best choice.
What I found to be most surprising was how creative the suggestiveness of an “ugly Tom” promoted regular Tom, and the same for Jerry. It leads me to believe that there are a multitude of opportunities for such a thing to happen. I also believe that people want to get, what is in their opinion, the best deal possible, and that is shown with the online/print offering. It actually makes me feel kind of devious knowing this and being able to use it to my advantage.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found to be most helpful was that it seems like I can use such a “trick” in almost any situation to get my way. Although it does not seem like the most honest thing to do, you can work it to your advantage. Also, it allows me the insight to know when it is being done to me so no one takes advantage of me.
If you have critical thinking skills, it should alert you to falsehoods and good opportunities that aren’t. I believe most people are just lazy, and if someone has already chosen something for them to do, most would just go with it, as indicated by the organ donation question in the talk. You have to pay attention to how things are worded, and how those things will affect you and your loved ones in the future.
ReplyDeletewhat I found to be most interesting was the organ donation thing. what I found to be most interesting about this was that those countries who had the largest % of persons donating made their forms the way they did. what I found to be most helpful was that we need to look at our mental limitations the same way that we look at our physical limitations. It is easier to except our physical limitations than our mental ones. I believe that critical thinking could guide and shape our behavior in many ways. The most easy for me to notice is that our views or thinking will easily shape out behavior. If we are thinking that we want to do nice things today we are more likely to do nice things than if we were thinking we would like to be mean today.
ReplyDeleteMany people consider intuition to be our 'sixth sense' in the way we incorporate it into our everyday lives. This video makes it apparent that sometimes as people we want the less complicated option regardless of the implications it may or may not bring. On the other hand however, we may be too preoccupied with other aspects of our life that we might miss a thing or two. Critical thinking is more of a lifestyle decision. Being more analytical and oftentimes down right indecisive can make all the difference in someones character. You have to be morally ethical and professionally sound. In the case of the hip replacement its alarming the amount of doctors who would agree to put an elderly person through such a dangerous procedure instead of trying every available option. The doctors rationale who go through the surgery anyway can be looked at two ways: The first being well if the patients agree to opt for surgery the grand total of the bill goes up but it costs me more time or I really do not like to be wrong bout my diagnosis so Im sending the patient to surgery regardless of my options.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found most surprising about this presentation is his discussion on choice and decision making. I’m definitely an indecisive person, and this causes not only aggravation to myself and other but it opens negative result as well, such as anxiety and stress. I found it to be very interesting and surprising on his examples and illustrations on the effect of “worse than” choice on decision making.
ReplyDeleteIn the presentation, what I found most helpful towards critical thinking skills and what can guide and shape my behavior is how he used the example of peer pressure affect and how our society has the ability to make rational and often extremely important decisions in our daily lives that have to deal with our interests such as, economic choices and personal everyday choices… It’s definitely underrated on how important decision making and the process to do so can help guide a more sensible and “rational” way to live our life.
I found this talk to be quite interesting. It was surprising to see how people's choices can be influenced directly by the choices they are given. I think that having seen this I will now be better able to evalute my decisions in the future and make the choice that fits best for me and not what the author wants me to choose.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking is very important in our daily lives and the example of the subscription choices given in this talk is no exception. We need to examine the options and be sure that we are making the right choice for ourselves and limiting our influence from the design of the questions.
I found it suprising that these illusions that he demonstated can happen to your actual thinking process. Of course I had seen the optical illusions but I was interesting to see examples of how or descisions can be influenced. Once you are aware of how your mind works then there is the possibly that you can prevent it from happening.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking can guide your behavior in that you can actually control your actions once for stop to actually think about what is being asked or presented to you. I would appear that we are "tricked" more often than I ever realized and perhaps those tricks make life descisions easier for us, however, thinking and taking control of your descisions can most likely deal to more rational behaviors.
The most surprising thing was the example of the physicians and the hip replacement. I don’t know if the segment of the physicians that allowed the hip replacement to proceed shows a lack of wanting to complex the decision making process or the fact that they might have been monetarily motivated.
ReplyDeleteThe most helpful was the example of physical attraction. People are more attracted to the easier on the eyes picture over the slightly uglier picture. In the same way we are not attracted to making the more difficult decisions even if the more difficult decision is the more morally correct decision.
The thing I found most interesting about the presentation was when Ariley talked about the DMV and becoming an organ donor. Just simple words being switched around and the common idea that you have to check something if you want it being used in a different way was really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI found the explanation of the DMV to be helpful because it shows that what we expect to be can always change and by not paying attention can have a different outcome then what we thought it would be.
Critical thinking skill can shape our behavior by just analyzing it more and looking at it through different ideas and thoughts. When we critical think we take on a different approach to things instead of acting out of nature but for a reason and it can change how we do and say things for the better or the worse.
In the comments section, indicate what you found most surprising about this presentation and what you found most helpful. How can critical thinking skills guide and shape your behavior?
ReplyDeleteWhat I found surprising was the information presented on the cognitive illusions. The graph influenced by the DMV forms was proof that language is important. Also the experiment with the subscriptions was interesting because it tells you how you might want to present options.
I really enjoyed the experiment on physical attraction. It shows how not to just present oneself but how to present again different options to a problem. If you want someone to choose a certain option offer them a slightly less attractive option to steer them.