Logic is a challenge for all of us. To get through life we make a lot of leaps that are probably not justified. That said it is helpful to sit back and think through the leaps we are making. Bo Bennett has put together a compilation of logical fallacies. These range from some classic ones…
Category: Decision Making
Machine Learning And The End Of The World
This week I have a second (and last) post on Agrawal, Gans and Golfarb’s Prediction Machines. This interesting books discusses the difference between machine learning and traditional statistics. The idea being machine learning is more functional, more concerned with a useful result than a precisely accurate one. The challenge is that machine learning predicts not…
A Holmesian Dual Process Model
Dual system approaches are all the rage in psychology. A popular book suggests a Holmesian dual process model. Dual Process Models The idea is that our brains use two separate processes to come to decisions. I don’t think anyone literally thinks there are just two separate systems as such. The brain is massively complex with…
Do Facts Matter To Persuasion?
One of the major debates in marketing is: Do Facts Matter To Persuasion? The good news is that it will never be finished. Sometimes they do, sometimes less so is probably the answer. Still, it generates debate. Understanding People Who Don’t Think Like Us I really wanted to like Scott Adams’ Win Bigly. What was…
Research And Popular Advice
Daniel Levitin’s The Organized Mind is a curious book. It is highly influenced by academic research (the author is an academic). Yet, I wouldn’t say it was an academic book. It tells us something about research and popular advice and how they mix. Academic Self-Help Levitin’s doesn’t read like the standard academic book: “here —…
Big Data And Understanding Human Behavior
What do we know about big data and understanding human behavior? New Data, New Insights The premise in Everybody Lies seems sound to me. Here we have an entirely new dataset that reveals things about people that they are not willing to reveal. Advice: don’t listen to the audiobook in the car with kids. It…
Do We Always Fall For Cons?
Maria Konnikova goes through an exciting review of a lot of psychological findings in her book — The Confidence Game. At times I wondered, do we always fall for cons? Confidence Helps Konnikova is an engaging writer and her book is well informed by academic research. She has the fascinating story of a con man…
Price Wars
The problem of price wars is a significant one for businesses. The Problem of Price Wars Consumers generally love price wars. It is possible for such conflicts to hurt consumers long-term but in the short-term lower prices share more of the value created by the business. This makes consumers happier. Managers can more easily see…
Taste and Categorization
Tom Vanderbilt examines the problem of taste and categorization in his book: “You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice”. He examines the way taste matters in modern life. His focus is mostly on business. He discusses food, music, art, beer…. Vanderbilt details such things as how recommendation agents work to suggest…
Avoiding Decision Traps
How can we go about avoiding decision traps? Decision Traps The book Decisions Traps is a generation old now. Still, it remains a useful book on decision making. Occasionally it veers a bit too far with its claims. For instance, it has “brilliant decision making” in the title. Yet, I can forgive that as it may…
