Today we watched a Ted Talk by Dan Ariely.
This Ted Talk discussed behavioral economics. The main idea behind it was that when a choice is presented to us, it is the way the choice is presented that decides how we answer the question. This is done in two major ways.
1. First, we tend to lean to the default choice when faced with a difficult decision. When we can't decide, it's easier to just not decide. Answering with the easy choice is letting others decide for us.
2. The second way we aren't in charge of decisions is that when two of three or more choices are similar we tend to pick the more attractive of those two, regardless of what the third option is. By making two similar, we are given a relative point to judge the value of each choice, and base our decision off of this.
During the talk he gave vision tests that seemed easy, but were actually difficult to get correct.
"And if we have these predictable repeatable mistakes in vision,which we're so good at, what's the chance that we don't make even more mistakes in something we're not as good at?"
He then used this to explain why we make mistakes.
I was able to relate this talk to Oedipus Rex. It discussed fate and choices, and asked if we are really in control of our lives. The character Oedipus was placed in a similar situation. He felt that he was making choices, but in reality he was being controlled by a prophecy. This TED Talk shows that real life is similar to tragedies: we often have no choice in our own "decisions". What seems to be completely our own choice is really us being manipulated by a higher power. In Oedipus' case, this is the prophecy. In our case, this may be societal standards, parents' expectations, or subliminal advertising.
Here's the link to the Ted Talk.
Embedded above Ted Talk that discusses another way we can be swayed in our preferences. This is one of my favorite Ted Talks of all time.