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Nudge

7 cognitive biases that might ruin your life

Jul 29, 2024
Nuala Walsh, an author and speaker, delves into the fascinating world of cognitive biases that affect our daily lives. She reveals how crowd noise can skew decision-making, referencing a 2002 study on football referees. Nuala discusses the dangers of authority bias and the perils of blind compliance, illustrated by famous experiments. She also highlights how familiarity influences our beliefs through the mere exposure effect. Lastly, she emphasizes the importance of pausing for reflection to improve decision-making and counteract these biases.
28:03

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Cognitive biases, influenced by factors like crowd noise, significantly affect decision-making in high-pressure situations, such as sports officiating.
  • Deliberate pauses before making decisions can enhance critical thinking and improve accuracy across various fields, including medicine and education.

Deep dives

The Impact of Crowd Noise on Referee Decisions

Crowd noise significantly influences referee decisions during football matches, as demonstrated by a study where referees awarded fewer fouls against home teams when crowd noise was present. Researchers divided referees into two groups; one watched a match with crowd noise, while the other did so with the sound muted. The findings revealed that those who heard the noise were 15% less likely to penalize the home team for fouls. This highlights how cognitive biases, influenced by the crowd, can alter perceptions and decisions in high-pressure situations.

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