Our Decision-Making Is Not as Rational as We Think

In this podcast episode, Rory Sutherland discusses how our decision-making is often driven by heuristics rather than rational thinking. He shares an example of the British Telecom mailouts, where the means of response (phone or post) significantly influenced the response rates. The choice of response method affected the perceived value and significance of the product being offered. Rory highlights the limitations of optimizing for efficiency and argues for the importance of satisficing and focusing on factors like low variance and resilience. He also emphasizes the role of heuristics in navigating decision-making under uncertainty and imperfect information.