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Choiceology with Katy Milkman

Take the Deal! With Guests Daniel Kahneman, Colin Camerer & Luis Green

Choiceology with Katy Milkman

Charles Schwab

Investing, Social Sciences, Behavioral Economics, Science, Society & Culture, Decision Making, Charles Schwab, Dan Heath, Business, Katy Milkman

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 popular TV game show Deal or No Deal. The game is largely one of chance, but there are moments during play where the contestant has an option to accept a cash offer to quit. At one point in the game, Luis was offered $333,000 to simply walk away. A guaranteed win! It seems like an obvious choice. But as you’ll hear from the story, there are other factors that influenced his decision. Katy illustrates these factors with a version of a famous experiment. Volunteers are presented with two differently worded but mathematically identical scenarios. A simple shift from framing the scenario as a potential gain to one of potential loss results in starkly different choices from the volunteers. Next, Katy speaks with special guest Daniel Kahneman about the underlying theory that explains human behavior in these types of situations. Daniel Kahneman is a professor of psychology and public affairs emeritus at the Woodrow Wilson School and the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University. He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for his pioneering research with Amos Tversky. Their work helped establish the field of behavioral economics. Kahneman is also the author of the bestselling book Thinking, Fast and Slow. Finally, Katy speaks with Colin Camerer about some of his favorite studies on risk seeking in the domain of losses, as well as practical approaches for avoiding this less-than-ideal behavior. Colin Camerer is the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Finance and Economics at the California Institute of Technology, where he teaches cognitive psychology and economics

Transcript

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0:00.0

Let me just say something. This is going to be your final offer. Listen to me. There's only two cases left in plan.

0:11.6

One case is worth $750,000 and one case is only worth

0:18.0

five dollars.

0:21.0

This is an offer.

0:22.0

Hello.

0:24.0

Hello.

0:25.0

Okay.

0:27.0

Okay.

0:30.0

Okay. Okay.

0:31.0

Last offer.

0:35.0

$333,000.

0:37.0

$333,000.

0:38.0

For the last time in this game, Louis Green.

0:47.0

Deal or no deal?

0:52.0

Deal or no deal? That's a nail biting decision faced by one contestant on the game show

1:00.6

Deal or no deal. What did he do? Today we're looking at how your approach

1:08.0

to risk changes based on whether you're focused on what you stand to gain or what you stand to lose.

1:15.0

You'll hear from contestant Louise Green on the thinking behind his agonizing choice.

1:21.0

And to help dissect these types of decisions, I'll be speaking with Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman.

1:26.0

Danny and his friend and colleague, the late Amos Tversky, were the first to explore how gains and losses distort our judgment.

1:34.3

They founded the field of behavioral economics,

1:36.7

which means we couldn't have a podcast about behavioral science

...

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