Choiceology with Katy Milkman

By Charles Schwab

Society & Culture Business Investing Social Sciences

What's Choiceology with Katy Milkman about?

Can we learn to make smarter choices? Listen in as host Katy Milkman--behavioral scientist, Wharton professor, and author of How to Change--shares stories of high-stakes decisions and what research reveals they can teach us. Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab, explores the lessons of behavioral economics to help you improve your judgment and change for good.

Season 1 of Choiceology was hosted by Dan Heath, bestselling author of Made to Stick and Switch.

Podcasts are for informational purposes only. This channel is not monitored by Charles Schwab. Please visit schwab.com/contactus for contact options. (0321-1S88)

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Under Pressure: With Guests...

05.23.2022

If you've ever been faced with an important decision when time was scarce, information was incomplete, or tempers were running high, you'll know that it's difficult to make a good choice. Now imagine a decision that has implications for the ...

Choiceology with Katy Milkman episodes:

05.23.2022 Under Pressure: With Guests Svetlana Savranskaya, Gary Slaughter & Modupe Akinola If you've ever been faced with an important decision when time was scarce, information was incomplete, or tempers were running high, you'll know that it's difficult to make a good choice. Now imagine a decision that has implications for the ...
05.09.2022 Out of Proportion: With Guests Damon Lesmeister & Kelly Shue Many of the decisions we make require us to compare numbers. Which car is most fuel efficient? How is a stock performing relative to the market? How risky is one medication versus another? A problem arises when we fail to ...
04.25.2022 Choiceology's Guide to Nudges Nudges are all around you. They might help you choose your meal at a restaurant, navigate a busy airport terminal, or start saving for the future. But nudges are often subtle, so you might not notice them until they’re pointed ...
04.11.2022 More Than a Feeling: With Guests Jamie Wall, Mona Krewel & Alex Edmans While it’s nice to think of ourselves as rational decision-makers, more often than not, emotion plays a role in how we decide. Some people may spend more on a new car when the weather is nice. Others may take bigger ...
03.28.2022 Second-Guessing First Impressions: With Guests Allen Sarven & Richard Nisbett When we judge someone, rarely do we stop to consider how their particular situation likely played a large role in guiding their actions.
03.14.2022 Less Is More: With Guests Ryan McFarland & Gabrielle Adams Supply chain issues and income inequality notwithstanding, we live in an age of abundance. Our closets overflow with clothing. Many children have more toys than they could possibly enjoy. Garages are filled with sporting gear. Offices are cluttered with gadgets. ...
01.01.2022 A Clean Slate: With Guests John Beshears, Richard Thaler & Ray Zahab (Rebroadcast) For many people, the start of a new year is an occasion to re-examine their lives, to set new goals and to give up old habits. Making New Year’s resolutions is something of a social ritual, but we see similar ...
10.25.2021 The Power of Negative Thinking: With Guests Annie Duke, Mike Richard & Kelvin Wu Anticipating and planning for obstacles can sometimes be more powerful than adopting a positive mindset. A positive attitude is important when embarking on any new endeavor. However, as you may have heard in previous episodes of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, ...
10.11.2021 The Good Fight: With Guests Adam Grant & Tom Crouch Most of us would prefer to avoid an argument at work or at home. But there are times when arguments—at least when they’re civil—can help surface important information for decision-making. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look ...
09.27.2021 Expect the Unexpected: With Guests Abigail Sussman, Howie Jeon & Greg Golden Perhaps this scenario seems familiar. Let’s say you generally do a good job of sticking to your monthly budget, but a rare opportunity arises—maybe a favorite musical artist is in town, or you’ve been invited to a friend’s 25th anniversary ...
09.13.2021 What’s the Big Idea? With Guests Robert Rydell & Don Moore When young children imagine their future lives, they’re often very optimistic. They’ll say things like “I’m going to be an astronaut!” or “When I grow up, I want to be a movie star!” These outcomes are, of course, quite rare. ...
08.30.2021 Not Just Another Statistic: With Guests Carol Quirke & Deborah Small You may notice that charity campaigns tend to focus on the stories of one or two individuals or families, and that those stories are often rich with emotional content but light on information and statistics. There’s a reason for that. ...
08.16.2021 Big Goals, Little Steps: With Guests Shannon Miller & Hal Hershfield Most people wouldn’t attempt a marathon or a climb up Mount Everest without first working through some less audacious objectives. And yet there are countless examples of ambitious goals—new businesses, academic degrees, career changes, athletic feats—that were abandoned because they ...
06.07.2021 Scientist Mode: With Guests Adam Grant & Luca Parmitano Important decisions can be complex and difficult to make. We’re at the mercy of certain behavioral biases, and we often face a degree of uncertainty. And while it’s helpful to be aware of our shortcomings and mindful of our incomplete ...
05.24.2021 Judge the Judges: With Guests Daniel Kahneman, James Hutchinson & G.M. Pucilowski Many episodes of this podcast deal with cognitive biases that can hinder our decision-making abilities. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at a different kind of error: how completely irrelevant information can negatively influence our judgments, ...
05.10.2021 Silver Linings: With Guests Annie Duke, Kassia St. Clair & Adam Grant If you’ve ever lost a job, or been through a breakup, or failed an exam, you’ll know that the aftermath can be painful and disorienting. But for some percentage of those who experience these disappointing outcomes, unforeseen opportunities will arise. ...
04.26.2021 Hold That Thought: With Guests Sarah-Louise Miller, Warren Reed, Todd Rogers & Angela Duckworth You probably have a list of reminders somewhere. Maybe you have a calendar with important dates marked. And likely a mental to-do list. And shopping lists. And gift ideas. And you’ve got to remember to get your taxes filed. And ...
04.12.2021 In the Face of Risk: With Guests Jeff Elison & Ido Erev For many, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic was terrifying. Descriptions of the outbreak in Europe and Asia led to panic buying and sheltering in place here at home. But, as time passed and people became acclimatized to life with ...
03.29.2021 Mindful of Mindsets: With Guests Erik Vance & Alia Crum Have you ever visited your doctor to deal with a minor health issue and then left the office with nothing more than the doctor’s calming reassurance? Chances are good that you felt a bit better, physically, just by virtue of ...
03.15.2021 Some Assembly Preferred: With Guests Mike Norton & Michael Ojo Hardware stores and home improvement shows often promote do-it-yourself projects. And while it’s challenging to make your own projects look as good as the ones on TV or in glossy brochures, building something yourself can be a very rewarding experience. ...
10.12.2020 If Only …: With Guests Stirling Hart & Colin Camerer In a past episode titled “Spoiled for Choice,” we looked at how decision-making can be hampered by our desire to avoid the painful emotion of regret. In fact, regret aversion can cause people to abandon certain decisions entirely. In this ...
09.28.2020 I Don’t Want to Know: With Guests Amelia Boone & Emily Ho For some people, the check engine light on their car dashboard means an immediate trip to the repair shop. But for others, it represents a nagging unpleasant feeling that’s best to be avoided. So they put it out of their ...
09.14.2020 A Successful Failure: With Guests Cass Sunstein, Kirabo Jackson & Andrew Chaikin You’ve probably had the annoying experience of going to a store to pick up a few things, only to leave having forgotten at least one of them. That’s likely due to the challenge of holding more than one piece of ...
08.31.2020 Fair Is Fair: With Guests John Thorn & Richard Thaler “Mom! Janey got more ice cream than me! Not fair!” For kids—and many adults—the notion of what’s fair or not often involves comparing quantities of some valuable thing. But there’s another, more nuanced concept of fairness that crops up in ...
08.17.2020 Spoiled for Choice: With Guests Barry Schwartz & Jen Glantz Traditional economic theory says that more choice should always be better than less. After all, if the cereal aisle has corn flakes, honey nut corn flakes, toasted coconut corn flakes, chocolate corn flakes, multi-grain flakes, and all the rest, you’ll ...
08.03.2020 A Bundle of Nerves: With Guests Alison Wood Brooks & Steven Osborne The rapid heartbeat. The shaking hands. The flushed face. The symptoms of pre-performance jitters are common. For some people, nervousness before a big test or important presentation is normal and temporary. For others, it can be debilitating. Typical suggestions for ...
05.25.2020 A Spoonful of Sugar: With Guests Ayelet Fishbach, Dan Ariely, Lynne Gauthier & Nancy Strahl “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and snap, the job’s a game!” So says Julie Andrews’ character in the Disney film Mary Poppins before she launches into the famous ...
05.11.2020 Bidder Beware: With Guests Max Bazerman & Glenye Cain Oakford Have you ever bid in a competitive auction—say, on eBay—and won the item, only to see a similar item for sale elsewhere at a lower price? If so, you may have fallen prey to the winner’s curse. In this episode ...
04.27.2020 A Choice Apart: With Guests Max Bazerman & Vivienne Wagner Have you ever purchased a car or a motorcycle or a boat, based on some particular quality it had that made you fall in love? Maybe it was candy apple red. Maybe it had sleek lines. Maybe the engine made ...
04.13.2020 So Close to the Prize: With Guests Oleg Urminsky & Brian Zinn If you’ve ever signed up for a frequent flyer program, chances are good that you were awarded a certain number of bonus points to start. Those bonus points feel like a nice little gift, but they also serve another purpose: ...
04.06.2020 Coping Amid the Crisis: With Guest Laurie Santos An unprecedented global health crisis has overwhelmed healthcare systems, disrupted economies and financial markets, and radically altered our daily lives. And while social distancing is the responsible thing to do to slow the spread of disease, it also heightens the ...
03.30.2020 The Simple Choice: With Guests Shlomo Benartzi & Eric Sink We are inundated with decisions in the modern world. What to wear, what to buy, what to watch, where to work, what to eat, who to call, where to live, what to study, when to exercise, how much to save, ...
03.16.2020 Judge the Judges: With Guests Daniel Kahneman, James Hutchinson & G.M. Pucilowski Many episodes of this podcast deal with cognitive biases that can hinder our decision-making abilities. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at a different kind of error: how completely irrelevant information can negatively influence our judgments, ...
12.02.2019 The Price of Your Vice: With Guests Dan Ariely & Dean Karlan In an episode of the television series Seinfeld, Jerry does a standup bit where he talks about staying up too late at night. He says, “I’m Night Guy. Night Guy wants to stay up late,” to which he then replies, ...
11.18.2019 Creatures of Habit: With Guests Wendy Wood, Angela Duckworth & Stephan Kesting Benjamin Franklin is one of the most revered figures in American history. He accomplished more in one lifetime--as a publisher, scientist, and politician--than most of us dream of. One argument for his success is that he was a creature of ...
11.04.2019 Invisible Failures: With Guests Emily Oster, Sendhil Mullainathan & Linda Rodriguez McRobbie If you’ve toured through any old world cities, you’ve probably marveled at ancient buildings that have stood the test of time. You might think to yourself, “They sure made things to last back in those days.” And while the Notre ...
10.21.2019 Take the Deal! With Guests Daniel Kahneman, Colin Camerer & Luis Green In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at how framing a decision based on what you stand to lose versus what you stand to gain affects your tolerance of risk. Luis Green was a contestant on the ...
10.07.2019 Your Own Advice: With Guests Angela Duckworth, Lauren Eskreis-Winkler & Mike Mangini Say you have a colleague who is struggling to complete a project at work. You might offer them some tips and tricks based on your own experience with similar projects. And it’s reasonable to expect those tips might be helpful ...
09.23.2019 Not Quite Enough: With Guests Howard Scott Warshaw, Sendhil Mullainathan & Anuj Shah Think back to a situation where you’ve been really pressed for time. Chances are good that the pressure of a deadline or an appointment caused you to be (a) hyper-focused and efficient or (b) panicked and prone to errors. Now ...
09.09.2019 The Lucky Loonie: With Guests Peter Jordan, Trent Evans & Don Moore There’s something satisfying about the close door button in an elevator, especially when you’re in a rush. However, it turns out that most of those close door buttons aren’t actually connected to anything; they have no effect. So why are ...
05.27.2019 Best-Laid Plans: With Guests Ken Bowersox, Robert Godwin & Bradley Staats If you’ve ever been through a home renovation, you know that it often takes more time or more money (or both!) than the contractor’s original estimate. But why is that? Experienced contractors renovate homes all the time. And yet they ...
05.13.2019 Boxed In: With Guests Sophie Morgan, Modupe Akinola & Dolly Chugh Assuming you live in the northern hemisphere, which would you say is colder: a day in March or a Day in April? On average, of course, March is colder than April, but there’s probably not a big difference in temperature ...
04.29.2019 Knew It All Along: With Guests Kathleen Vohs, Douglas Porch & Julian Jackson Think about a time when something happened that just seemed meant to be. Maybe you had a feeling that your child would get into a certain college. Perhaps you just knew that your partner would forget to pack something important ...
04.15.2019 No Harm, No Foul? With Guests Francesca Gino & Dr. Byers “Bud” Shaw It makes some intuitive sense to judge a decision based on its results. But is it always true that a good decision leads to a good outcome, and vice versa? In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look ...
04.01.2019 Hitting Your Number: With Guests Jason Beck & Devin Pope Have you ever noticed that there’s something satisfying about seeing a car’s odometer roll over from 99,999 to 100,000 miles? Or maybe more likely, looking at a clock right when it hits 12:00 on the nose? What’s so special about ...
03.18.2019 Out of Focus: With Guests Dolly Chugh, Max Bazerman & Mark Pendergrast If you’ve ever watched a TV crime drama, you’ve probably heard that eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. A person commits a crime literally right in front of someone, but the witness can’t identify key characteristics of the perpetrator—or worse, gets ...
02.18.2019 Love the Mug You’re With: With Guests Joel Platt, Sally Sadoff & Richard Thaler “For most things are differently valued by those who have them and by those who wish to get them; what belongs to us, and what we give away, always seems very precious to us.” –Aristotle In this episode of Choiceology ...
02.04.2019 Data for the Win: With Guests Michael Kist & Cade Massey Netflix recommendations, Amazon suggestions, Google searches, airline ticket prices, your social media feed. All of these things are driven by algorithms—computer models that crunch massive amounts of data to generate useful results. These types of online algorithms are commonplace and ...
01.21.2019 The Mystery of Chance: With Guests Andy Marocco & Tom Gilovich Have you ever seen a cloud overhead that looks very much like, say, a rabbit? Or maybe you’ve found a potato chip that had an uncanny resemblance to Elvis, or a cornflake that was almost exactly the shape of the ...
01.07.2019 A Clean Slate: With Guests John Beshears, Richard Thaler & Ray Zahab For many people, the start of a new year is an occasion to re-examine their lives, to set new goals and to give up old habits. Making New Year’s resolutions is something of a social ritual, but we see similar ...

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