Money Magazine

8 min read

The discovery of cognitive bias, and its irrational influence on us, is one of the great leaps forward in the science of decision making in the past 50 years. The psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman demonstrated their genius in observing s

Mindful

8 min read

I was sitting in a session with a therapist named Paul on a well-used couch in the trendy Mission District of San Francisco, staring at the antique toy fire trucks placed along his windowsill and balancing a glass of water in my lap. A friend had sug

Money Magazine

2 min read

It’s the oldest parenting trick in the book. Your child looks at you and says, “I’m hungry!”, usually after seeing an ad for junk food. If you ask them what they want, they are unlikely to choose something healthy. So instead, you say, “Would you lik

The Atlantic

19 min read

Science suggests we’re hardwired to delude ourselves. Can we do anything about it?

Rotman Management

9 min read

PARI AWAKENS IN LONDON to the smell of waffles hot from her kitchen’s 3D printer. Her virtual personal assistant, Martin, says good morning and mentions that it’s cold outside. He tells her that he’s purchased the sweater she’s been admiring and it h

Money Magazine

2 min read

It’s a typical morning in the office. I’m sitting at my desk, coffee in one hand, scrolling through my emails, checking any important requests and organising the day in my head. Nothing unusual: all is calm and well in the world. This is until one of

MoneyWeek

1 min read

Economists Mario Rizzo and Glen Whitman “unleash utter carnage” upon the assumptions and studies that support the field of behavioural economics in their book Escaping Paternalism, says Robert Wright. That field is largely to blame for the “crazy pol

BMW Car

3 min read

In his 2011 masterpiece, Thinking, Fast and Slow, the psychologist Daniel Kahneman outlined some of the myriad ways in which we can lay the foundations for disaster by making decisions based on personal biases and flawed or incomplete assumptions. Br

Kiplinger

2 min read

We all like to think we make our decisions based on facts and logic. But unless you're a robot, that isn't the case. Emotions always play some role in the choices we make, including -- maybe even especially -- when it comes to our money. And it's no

NPR

1 min read

We don't always behave the way economic models say we will. We don't save enough for retirement. We give money to charity. This week, why we act in ways that go against our "rational" self-interest.

NPR

2 min read

The Swedish Academy said it was awarding Thaler the prize in economics for his pioneering work in incorporating "psychologically realistic assumptions into analyses of economic decision-making."

Rotman Management

2 min read

AT ITS CORE, every organization is in the same business: changing behaviour. For-profit companies try to sway consumers to buy their products; governments try to convince citizens to pay their taxes on time; and an NGO might want to encourage familie

Money Magazine

2 min read

Creating new habits is hard. Our human nature loves to maintain the status quo, and sees small change as energy sapping and frustrating. Plus, when we attempt to build good financial habits, such as cutting back on discretionary spending, we face a f

Kiplinger

2 min read

If investing and saving for retirement were based solely on objective mathematics, a very healthy nest egg could be a forgone conclusion for many of us. Realistically, however, investors are human beings, with wants, feelings, conflicting priorities

MoneyWeek

6 min read

Trading is one of the most brutal pursuits on the planet. There is little risk of physical harm such as a broken appendage or being punched in the face, but psychologically it can be difficult and at times, even stressful. I’ve heard of traders who’v

ThinkSales

5 min read

As soon as you step into a top position at a company that needs to significantly improve the way it operates, there’s pressure to get off to a quick start. Yet the best way to succeed, paradoxically, is to slow things down. Forces pushing in the othe

Futurity

3 min read

When humans make certain types of mistakes, their pupils change size, according to new research. To study mistake making in humans, researchers performed an auditory test on 108 participants in a lab. Each participant listened to a series of 20 click

The Christian Science Monitor

2 min read

This year’s Nobel Prize for economics went to an American who challenged old theories about selfish interests driving prosperity. His work opens the potential for greater insights on the role of character in economics.

The Atlantic

5 min read

A new paper argues that using behavioral economics to ease families’ fear of change could help convince them to switch up their children’s routines.

Rotman Management

9 min read

You have described the goal of your research over the last 40 years as follows: “To introduce humans into Economics.” Please explain. The truth is, the people who populate Economics textbooks bear very little resemblance to the humans we interact wit

Dumbo Feather

8 min read

Many years ago, I worked as a counsellor on a program that provided support to the families of sex offenders. In practice, that usually meant working with the wives of men convicted of child sexual offences. You might expect that my job would have co

NPR

5 min read

A new study finds finance professionals fail at their jobs in a surprising way. There are lessons for all of us.

Rotman Management

8 min read

AS A MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT, I’ve seen more than my fair share of ludicrous corporate decisions resulting from hasty leaps to poorly designed solutions. Before becoming a consultant, I was an employee at several companies over the course of 15 years,

Rotman Management

7 min read

WE INVITE THE READER TO PAUSE FOR A MOMENT and think of instances in which you set out to accomplish a particular goal or task, but failed. We suspect that it would not be difficult for most people to identify more than one such instance. Indeed, our

Money Magazine

3 min read

I find kids fascinating. Not only because they embody the future possibilities and have a seemingly endless supply of energy and curiosity, but also because they are often a less inhibited version of our adult selves. It’s part of why I love going to

The Atlantic

5 min read

2017 was a wild ride, and 2018 doesn’t seem inclined to put on the brakes. Who could have guessed last year that Matt Lauer would go from Today to yesterday—felled, along with Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken, Bill O’Reilly, and so many others, by the op

Money Magazine

2 min read

When I first got my driver’s licence there were no smartphones and no GPS, only old-school maps. Whenever I went somewhere unknown, I would pull out the street directory and plan the trip before I started to drive. Even when I had a car full of frien

Homebuilding & Renovating

1 min read

Making decisions is one of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of renovating or building a home. Sometimes making these decisions will come easily; on other occasions, even the most seemingly minor selection will keep you awake in the early ho

Rotman Management

3 min read

Carla O’Dell: Why don’t we make better decisions? Chip Heath: Psychologists have spent a number of years studying all of the biases we have, and they’ve found that there are a number of basic ways we think about the world that lead us to the wrong co

NPR

3 min read

Some forms of critical evaluation and philosophical thinking are hard because they force us to suspend other habits of mind that serve us well when our goal is to engage others, says Tania Lombrozo.