This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta. In the 19th century short story, The Lady or the Tiger, a young man is caught having an affair with a princess. When the king finds out, the young man is subjected to a peculiar form of justice. He must choose between two identical doors. Behind one door is a beautiful lady. the other, a ferocious tiger. If he picks the lady, he will marry her, according to the king's decree. If he picks the tiger, the beast will kill him. The princess uses her influence to find out which door hides the tiger and which one conceals the lady. But in so doing, she also realizes that the lady is her rival. She doesn't want her lover to marry the lady. She also doesn't want him to be eaten by the tiger. As the young man confronts the two doors, he beseeches the princess for help. She discreetly signals to him to pick the door on his right. Has the princess surrendered her lover to her rival? Or has jealousy won? Has she marked the youth for death by tiger? The young man opens the door that the princess has indicated. And then? The story ends. It's left up to the reader to imagine what might have happened. Some might see this as a brilliant ending to a brilliant story. Others might find it deeply unsatisfying, even frustrating. Today on the show, we examine a psychological trait that plays a surprisingly large role in shaping our behavior, perspectives, even our political beliefs. The science of how we respond to uncertainty and the lessons it has for how we organize our lives.