The Anchoring Bias in Cognitive Psychology

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

There's an interesting debate in cognitive psychology. What extent are we naturally irrational? Are we actually mostly pretty rational, but get it wrong when other things intervene or do we just use heuristics as they're called? I love these little tricks and tests that we've come up with just to prove that our brains aren't working right. That's one of the classic diversity conim and anchoring bias ones.

Amanda Knox spent four years in an Italian prison for a crime she did not commit. In the fall of 2007, the 20-year-old college coed left Seattle to study abroad in Italy, but her life was shattered when her roommate was murdered in their apartment. After a controversial trial, Amanda was convicted and imprisoned. But in 2011, an appeals court overturned the decision and vacated the murder charge. Free at last, she returned home to the U.S., where she remained silent until she released the memoir of her ordeal, Waiting to Be Heard. Unfortunately, after the publication of her book she was tried and convicted again in an Italian court, only to see that conviction overturned by the Italian Supreme Court. She cannot be tried again, but in the court of public opinion she has been on trial since that fatal day in 2007. Here she shares with listeners her story and all she has learned from her experiences and what lessons we can all take from adversity.