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The psychology behind irrational decisions - Sara Garofalo

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TEDEd Animation

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Often people make decisions that are not “rational” from a purely economical point of view — meaning that they don’t necessarily lead to the best result. Why is that? Are we just bad at dealing with numbers and odds? Or is there a psychological mechanism behind it? Sara Garofalo explains heuristics, problem-solving approaches based on previous experience and intuition rather than analysis.

Heuristics can be advantageous from an evolutionally perspective. Can you think of a scenario in which being guided by an intuitive decision is actually better than a careful analysis of the situation?

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Sara Garofalo
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Director Hector Herrera
  • Producer Pazit Cahlon
  • Sound Designer Adam Harendorf
  • Narrator Pen-Pen Chen

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