Since it’s so easy to fall prey to them, it’s no surprise cognitive biases are rampant in politics. The most common bias in politics is the confirmation basis. The confirmation bias is the tendency to look for or interpret information in a way that confirms preexisting beliefs or assumptions. We not only don’t look for…
“It’s true I deceived you but I wasn’t lying.” The statement, spoken brazenly by a work colleague, momentarily floored me. They claimed they were deceiving without lying but I thought deception and lying were the same thing. A little bit of research suggests there may be a difference. In ‘Why Leaders Lie: The Truth About Lying in…
With the U.S presidential election imminent, not surprisingly politics are dominating everyone’s conversations. Last week I had an on-going discussion with a work colleague on whether brands have political connotations. We decided to try to figure out the politics of brand. The conversation started with my colleague’s observation about cars in our office parking lot: more…
Have you ever noticed that you rarely see a gas station by itself? Instead multiple gas stations seem to be clustered close to each other. Wouldn’t it be better if they were more spread out? Presh Talwalkar noticed this phenomenon and used game theory to explain why it’s a rational decision for the gas stations,…
The February 2012 edition of Esquire Magazine contains a feature called “79 Things We Can All Agree On” which ranges from the assertion we were better off during Bill Clinton’s presidency (#1) to things are not so bad now (#79). Regardless of your politics, the list is one part humor and one part intentional controversy. We…