The Game Of Lies
723,392
Published 2020-10-27
All the cognitive habits, capabilities, and shortcuts your brain brings to the table also come with serious liabilities… like leading you down the wrong path on simple math depending on which numbers you see first.
Anchoring bias is the perfect example. Work done by cognitive science researchers like Amos Tversky, Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, and Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini show us that you get a little bit of information and then your brain goes to work. Unfortunately, it almost always locks you into a mode of thought that’s just… not quite right. You’ll get the wrong estimates and numbers. You’ll be barricaded into thinking a certain way when you really need to consider the scenario more broadly.
And you’ll probably be manipulated. Prices can be structured to take advantage of your biased first impressions. You can be influenced to value things incorrectly. You’re a victim of your own mind and of those who recognize the ways to twist it.
But there’s a way out. Maybe.
** SOURCES **
Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman. “Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases.” Science, vol. 185, no. 4157, 1974, pp. 1124–1131. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1738360?seq=1
Sherif, Muzafer; Taub, Daniel; Hovland, Carl I. (1958). "Assimilation and contrast effects of anchoring stimuli on judgments". Journal of Experimental Psychology.
“The Anchoring Effect and How it Can Impact Your Negotiation,” Harvard Business School Program on Negotiation: www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily…
“Precision of the Anchor Influences the Amount of Adjustment,” Chris Janiszewski, Dan Uy: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.…
Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini, “Inevitable Illusions”: www.amazon.com/Inevitable-Illusions-Mistakes-Reaso…
** LINKS **
Vsauce2:
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@vsaucetwo
Twitter: twitter.com/VsauceTwo
Facebook: www.facebook.com/VsauceTwo
Talk Vsauce2 in The Create Unknown Discord: discord.gg/tyh7AVm
Hosted and Produced by Kevin Lieber
Instagram: instagram.com/kevlieber
Twitter: twitter.com/kevinlieber
Podcast: youtube.com/thecreateunknown
Research and Writing by Matthew Tabor
twitter.com/TaborTCU
Editing by John Swan
/ @johnswanyt
Huge Thanks To Paula Lieber
www.etsy.com/shop/Craftality
Music by Basswaite: soundcloud.com/basswaiteproductions/sets/the-andro…
Select Music By Jake Chudnow: youtube.com/user/JakeChudnow
Get Vsauce's favorite science and math toys delivered to your door!
www.curiositybox.com/
#education #vsauce #maths
All Comments (21)
-
ANYONE WANNA TALK ABOUT XENOGEARS? Huge thanks to Ridge for sending me my new wallet, supporting Vsauce2 and my coin flipping habit. Here’s the site if you want to check them out! > ridge.com/Vsauce2
-
Reminds me of movie theater food. If a medium is $6 and a large is $7, getting a large seems like the obvious choice when they're actually both way overpriced. The solution is to sneak a microwave in your purse and pop your own in the theater
-
I guessed "40,320" for A because that's the number you said right before. My media comprehension is too good to fall for your tricks >:)
-
I started adding the numbers, not multiplying. I’m off to a really bad start.
-
Mom:OMG he's going to say his first word Vsauce2: WRONG!
-
Group A: 512 Group B: 2250 Me, an intellectual: 8!
-
Lets be honest guys the beginning and the ending of the video where okay but the middle part, damn that was some good stuff
-
0:51 "You'll have exactly 5 seconds to solve the one you chose." Me: Laughs in pause button
-
jokes on you i have factorials up to 10! memorized
-
Jokes on you, I have the first ten factorials memorized.
-
I was going to argue "when's the last time you got tails 7 times in a row?" then proceded to flip a coin 7 times and felt dumb when all 7 were tails
-
Oh, this is why when I have a random number generator from one to a thousand, the number 1000 felt much luckier than 243 even though they have the same odds.
-
“The people who solved problem A estimated 512” Me who guessed exactly 512: .......
-
I actually guessed 40.000. That’s it! That’s the epitome of everything I’ve ever done. It’s only down hill from now on.
-
Thanks Vsauce2 for our weekly existential crisis with this video.
-
I started rounding prices up when I was a teenager and learned about the 9/10s of a cent at the end of all gasoline prices. So, $0.98 9/10s = $1.00 in my head. I've been doing it so long I barely see the decimals anymore.
-
“I’ll do my homework later” Kevin:
-
"Yeah the end was terrible. But the middle was really good" - Game of Thrones
-
I appreciate the honesty about video game pricing. Everyone today is so much more rich than they were even just five years ago.
-
My brain shut off after the card flip. I thought the lie expose would be "You are probably still trying to solve the number"
