Consider how much of your decisions are based on things you cannot really explain. Better than assuming or expecting that every event is under your control is to consciously choose how you respond to them. Accept responsibility for the things you can influence, but know that for many others there is not much you can do. Although it may be hard to fathom or even admit it, some things are just random - in the sense that they don’t depend on your effort at all. Understand that randomness is part and parcel of life.While some of the outcomes can be traced back to our own choices, a part of them will surely remain just as well out of our direct control. It’s hard to assess to what extent we’re responsible for the results we get. Unfortunately, contrary to the lottery example above, the outcomes of our decisions are usually complex and interconnected. Of course, it’s always easier to illustrate this trap with chance games, but the tendency to overestimate our personal control of events influences every aspect of our daily lives. Have you noticed that the vast majority of lotto players pick their own numbers instead of using the sometimes available ‘auto-pick’ option (where the point of sales terminal chooses the numbers for you)? We all know that however the numbers are chosen doesn’t change the chance of winning, so why the strong preference for picking our own numbers?Ĭuriously, even in situations we clearly can’t control, we still tend to irrationally believe that we can somehow influence results. The Illusion of Control Trap: Shooting in the Dark Don’t be afraid to point out that the Emperor wears no clothes.ħ. Be willing to overcome obstacles and defend your viewpoints, despite their unpopularity. Always raise a flag when someone tries to convince you arguing primarily on the popularity of a choice, instead of on its merit. This is the best way to decide without being subconsciously swayed by popular opinions. When analyzing information, shield yourself from others’ opinions - at least at first. People like to consume what “everybody else” is consuming. Businesses often sell us products not based on their features, but by showing how popular they are: since others are buying it in droves, why would we not join them?Ĭonformity is also one of the main reasons why once a book makes into a well-known best-sellers list, it tends to “lock in” and continue there for a long time. This tendency to conform is notoriously exploited in advertising. There’s always peer pressure to adopt the behaviors of the groups we’re in. We fear looking dumb: failing along with many people is frequently not considered a big deal, but when we fail alone we must take all the heat ourselves. Even if we hate to admit it, other people’s actions do heavily influence ours.
This “herd instinct” exists - to different degrees - in all of us. This time around, many more students provided wrong answers based on the leads from the researchers’ assistants.
In another group, they asked the same questions but this time there were actors posing as students, purposefully pushing wrong answers.
1. the anchoring trap series#
In a series of experiments, researchers asked students in a classroom a series of very simple questions and, sure enough, most of them got the answers right. The Conformity Trap: Everybody Else Is Doing It Now it’s time to complete the list and expose the remaining 5 dangerous traps to be avoided. The Incomplete Information Trap: Review Your Assumptions.The Confirmation Trap: Seeing What You Want to See.The Sunk Cost Trap: Protecting Earlier Choices.The Status Quo Trap: Keeping on Keeping On.The Anchoring Trap: Over-Relying on First Thoughts.In the first part of this article, we focused on 5 traps that hinder our ability to think rationally.
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