Choiceology with Katy Milkman

Teamwork is an essential part of everyday life. Discover how candid cultures that invite ideas from every level of an organization can be the difference between failure and a miracle.

Transcribed - Published: 1 June 2026

When progress falters, our confidence often goes with it. This episode explores why short-term performance can carry more psychological weight than it deserves.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2026

From market booms to historic downturns, learn how major economic events impact us and influence how much risk we're comfortable taking.

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2026

Ranked lists are everywhere—top hospitals, best colleges, must-visit cities. Yet behind these rankings are hidden assumptions, and they don't always reflect what matters most to you.

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2026

Katy Milkman explores why people tend to keep investing time, money, or effort into something even when future benefits no longer justify continuing.

Transcribed - Published: 6 April 2026

Explore the high-stakes friction between human intuition and algorithmic guidance.

Transcribed - Published: 23 March 2026

Each episode tells true stories involving high-stakes moments and explores the latest research to help you make better judgments and avoid costly mistakes.

Transcribed - Published: 9 March 2026

When your emotions flare or temptation calls, what does it take to hold back? Learn how self-control can be one of the hardest—and most important—skills we ever learn.

Transcribed - Published: 20 October 2025

From the Choiceology episode "The Power of Self-Control," experience Katy's full interview with Angela Duckworth, where they explore the relationship between self-control and grit.

Transcribed - Published: 20 October 2025

Learn how approaching new skills or challenges with openness, effort, and curiosity can take you farther than you might expect.

Transcribed - Published: 6 October 2025

Even when turning back is the smartest option, there's a strong pull to keep moving forward. In this episode, we explore why people push ahead even when a better path is available.

Transcribed - Published: 22 September 2025

What makes an effective team? Talent? Discipline? Courage? Learn about the ingredients that research shows make teams more successful than the sum of their parts.

Transcribed - Published: 8 September 2025

It can feel like the whole world is watching you—and judging you—in those embarrassing moments. But are people paying as much attention to you as you think?

Transcribed - Published: 25 August 2025

It must be great if everyone is talking about it, right? Learn how we overweight a single source of information when exposed to it through multiple channels.

Transcribed - Published: 11 August 2025

It’s a new season of Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. New episodes arrive every two weeks, so please follow us in your favorite podcasting app.

Transcribed - Published: 28 July 2025

Learn how the way we separate life's highs and lows can influence our happiness.

Transcribed - Published: 2 June 2025

Why do tiny gaps near round numbers alter how we perceive value? Learn how small thresholds can drive big differences in decision-making.

Transcribed - Published: 19 May 2025

How can streaks be both motivating and demotivating?

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2025

We're wired to interpret our challenges as bigger than our advantages, even if the reality is more balanced.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2025

What if our biggest blind spot is thinking we don't have a blind spot?

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2025

Why do we tend to fixate on numbers even when words or graphs represent the same information?

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2025

It’s a new season of Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. New episodes arrive every two weeks, so please follow us in your favorite podcasting app.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

Framing the narrative of your life as an epic journey can give you control and meaning.

Transcribed - Published: 21 October 2024

Is it possible to structure our experiences to remember them more fondly?

Transcribed - Published: 23 September 2024

The simplest answer isn’t always the right answer, despite how much we might want it to be.

Transcribed - Published: 9 September 2024

In a great bit of irony, to truly know if you're good at something, you have to be good at it already.

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2024

Can resistance to authority be leveraged for positive change?

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2024

Pursuing a difficult goal can be lonely work—but it doesn't always have to be.

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2024

Why do we tend to seek more risk in the face of losses when those losses are only on paper and aren't yet finalized?

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2024

What are some strategies that can help you mitigate cognitive biases and make better decisions?

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2024

Why do we allow our judgments of one trait of a person (or product or company) to overly influence our judgments of another, unrelated trait of that same person or product or company

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2024

How do strict and relaxed cultures affect the quality of our decisions? And how can you find the sweet spot between the two, depending on your goals?

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2024

Daniel Kahneman explains why risky propositions tend to look different when you’re already behind.

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2024

Why do we weigh recent events so heavily? And how does this tendency impact important decisions, like whom to vote for or how to conduct medical procedures?

Transcribed - Published: 25 March 2024

Why is it that when we see the same statement multiple times, we are more likely to believe it's true?

Transcribed - Published: 11 March 2024

In this episode of "What It's Like to Be …," former Choiceology host Dan Heath interviews Chris Ekimoff, a forensic accountant.

Transcribed - Published: 18 December 2023

Friction gets in the way of behavior—and it can become "sludge" when it's used to prevent you from reaching a goal

Transcribed - Published: 23 October 2023

Why do people tend to over-respond to weak signals and under-respond to strong ones?

Transcribed - Published: 9 October 2023

Performances often rise and fall, but how and why do they usually regress to a mean?

Transcribed - Published: 25 September 2023

Why do people think they understand things better than they actually do?

Transcribed - Published: 11 September 2023

Grouping choices together so that you make a bunch of selections all at once can seem daunting, but it can help you reach your goals faster.

Transcribed - Published: 28 August 2023

How can events outside of our control create opportunities for accidental insights?

Transcribed - Published: 14 August 2023

Are there proven ways to improve our predictions?

Transcribed - Published: 5 June 2023

One of the most common mistakes we make with data involves choosing the wrong population to study.

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2023

How effective is diversity training, and what can be done to eliminate hiring bias?

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2023

How can you strike the right balance between risk tolerance and risk aversion, and why do women and men so often view risk differently?

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2023

How can feeling connected to someone who is essentially a stranger impact your decision-making?

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2023

How can the fear of missing out on a trend have lasting consequences?

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2023

When faced with a challenging goal, is it better to give yourself some slack?

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2023

It seems like every other week there's a news report about how coffee will help you live longer or will shorten your life. There are similar reports about vitamins and water consumption and any number of other health-related studies. So why do we see so much conflicting information around scientific research in the media? In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, a look at the slippery problem of separating correlation from causation.

Transcribed - Published: 7 November 2022