The Irrational, Season 2: More Key Terms, Explained
If you're looking to understand the social science behind The Irrational (and, perhaps, apply it to your own life), then these terms will help.
I hope you agree that Season 2 of The Irrational started with a bang. In the first three episodes, my cinematic alter ego Alec not only rescued Rose after her kidnapping but successfully deciphered the motives of a notorious serial killer. He also found himself embroiled in a case involving the death of a Wall Street star. Though fascinating, it placed him at odds with his ex-wife, Rose, deepening the tension in their already complex relationship. A lot more is going to happen, unraveling mysteries and deciphering the benefits of applying social learning and social science to life.
Here is a list of the psychological terms that will play out in Season 2…
Episode 201
Status Quo Bias: We tend to stick with the familiar, feeling reluctant to change. Known as status quo bias, this preference for the current state can make us miss out on better options because we feel safer with what we know. It helps explain why people resist new policies or changes, even when they could be beneficial.
Egocentric Bias: When involved in a situation, it’s hard to stay objective. Egocentric bias leads us to view our own perspective as central, often assuming others see things as we do, even when they don’t. This bias can affect decision-making and communication, especially when different viewpoints are essential to consider.
Morality Priming: Morality priming refers to subtle reminders of ethical principles that can make us behave more responsibly. It’s like an internal nudge that brings our conscience to the surface. By focusing on moral standards, people are often encouraged to act more honestly, even in small, everyday decisions.
Perspective Shifting: Perspective shifting allows us to see a situation from another’s viewpoint, often leading to increased empathy and understanding. It’s a powerful skill for breaking out of our self-focused thoughts and seeing the bigger picture. Practicing perspective shifting can help with conflict resolution and deeper social connection.
Hot State: A "hot state" describes a heightened emotional or physiological condition in which individuals are more likely to act impulsively or by reflex rather than carefully weighing options. In a hot state, decisions are driven by intense emotions—such as anger, excitement, or fear—which can cloud rational judgment. This is in contrast to a "cold" state, where individuals are calm and more capable of deliberate, pre-meditated thinking.
Episode 202
Decision Paralysis: Too many options can be overwhelming, leading to decision paralysis—a freeze that comes from fear of making the wrong choice. With fewer choices, we often feel more confident and less anxious about deciding. This explains why people may avoid shopping or decision-making when options feel excessive.
Negativity Bias: We remember negative experiences more strongly than positive ones. Known as negativity bias, this tendency makes criticism sting more than compliments, often skewing our outlook. In relationships, negativity bias can mean we dwell on conflicts more than positive moments, impacting overall satisfaction.
Witness Stress: Witnessing a traumatic event can lead to memory issues and confusion, affecting how accurately we remember details. This stress makes eyewitness testimonies more prone to error. It highlights the role of stress in memory distortion and why additional support is often necessary for witnesses.
Goal Gradient: The goal gradient effect is a phenomenon where individuals’ motivation increases as they get closer to achieving a goal. People often feel a burst of energy or focus as they near completion, which can drive them to push harder in the final stretch. This effect highlights how proximity to a reward or solution can boost persistence and effort.
Limerence: Limerence is an intense romantic obsession that can feel all-consuming, marked by daydreaming and emotional highs. It’s often mistaken for love, though it may not lead to a lasting relationship. The focus in limerence is more on idealization than on genuine connection, making it feel overwhelming but often one-sided.
Zero-Sum Bias: Zero-sum bias refers to the cognitive tendency to perceive situations as zero-sum games, where one party’s gain is perceived as another party’s loss, leading individuals to believe that resources or benefits are fixed and limited. This perspective fosters competition and can skew decision-making by promoting an adversarial mindset, as people often overlook opportunities for collaboration or mutual benefit. In reality, many scenarios can allow for win-win outcomes, but zero-sum bias can hinder cooperation and foster conflict by reinforcing the belief that someone must always lose when another wins.
Episode 203
Contrast Effect: Presenting a minor fault to make a bigger problem seem smaller is called the contrast effect. It’s why admitting a lesser wrongdoing can deflect attention from a larger mistake. This effect is frequently used in negotiations or self-presentation to create a more favorable impression.
Conflict Avoidance: Some people choose to avoid confrontation altogether. Known as conflict avoidance, this habit maintains temporary peace but can leave issues unaddressed, leading to bigger problems later. By not addressing issues, people may also struggle with bottled-up frustration or unresolved misunderstandings.
Inattentional Blindness: When we’re focused on one task, we may miss something obvious around us. Inattentional blindness shows our brain’s limits, like when we fail to notice a friend waving while engrossed in a text. This explains why even major details can be missed when our attention is tightly focused elsewhere.
Barnum Effect: The Barnum Effect is a psychological phenomenon in which individuals believe that general or vague personality descriptions are highly accurate and specifically tailored to them. This effect occurs because the statements are broad enough to apply to a wide range of people, making them feel personally relevant. Often utilized in contexts such as horoscopes, fortune-telling, and personality tests, the Barnum Effect demonstrates how people can be easily persuaded by seemingly insightful predictions, as they are inclined to find meaning and validation in ambiguous statements about themselves.
Episode 204
Inattentional Blindness: Inattentional blindness is a psychological phenomenon where individuals fail to notice unexpected stimuli in their visual field when their attention is focused on a specific task or object. This occurs because the brain prioritizes processing information relevant to the task at hand, leading to a temporary inability to perceive other, potentially significant details in the environment. Experiments, such as the famous "invisible gorilla" study, illustrate how people can completely miss prominent objects or events when their attention is directed elsewhere. Inattentional blindness highlights the limitations of human perception and attention, emphasizing that what we see is often influenced by where we focus our cognitive resources.
Episode 205
Grandiosity Complex: A grandiosity complex is an inflated view of one’s importance or abilities, often exaggerated without supporting evidence. It’s like living in a personal myth of greatness, overlooking flaws and limits. This exaggerated self-image can lead to difficulties in relationships and unrealistic expectations.
Hierarchy of Needs: Basic needs like food and safety form the foundation of human motivation. Known as the hierarchy of needs, this framework suggests people seek higher goals, like connection and fulfillment, only after meeting these essentials. As needs are met, individuals move upward toward personal growth and self-actualization.
Optimism Bias: We often believe that good things are more likely to happen to us than bad. This optimism bias makes us underestimate risks and assume we’re more likely to succeed than fail. While it can boost confidence, optimism bias can also lead to overconfidence in risky situations.
Selective Mutism: Some people experience selective mutism, a condition where intense trauma or anxiety leaves them temporarily unable to speak. It’s a defense mechanism that shields them from emotional overwhelm. For many, this silence is involuntary, reflecting how deeply emotions affect speech.
Episode 206
Groupthink: Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a cohesive group when the desire for harmony or conformity leads to dysfunctional decision-making. In this state, group members suppress dissenting viewpoints, fail to critically analyze alternatives, and prioritize consensus over rational evaluation. This can result in poor decisions, as the group may overlook potential risks and ignore relevant information in order to maintain agreement. Symptoms of groupthink include an illusion of invulnerability, collective rationalization, and a lack of independent thinking, often hindering creativity and effective problem-solving.
Pseudo Family Bonds: Shared experiences can create family-like bonds between non-relatives, forming what’s known as pseudo-family bonds. These relationships are common in settings like the military or boarding schools, where support systems form naturally. Such bonds often provide a sense of belonging and mutual understanding.
Sympathy Mining: Sympathy mining is the act of exaggerating personal problems to gain sympathy or attention. While it may fulfill a need for validation, it can strain genuine connections. Over time, sympathy mining can erode trust, especially if it’s clear that issues are exaggerated.
The Ben Franklin Effect: Doing someone a favor can make you like them more—a phenomenon known as the Ben Franklin effect. By helping others, we become emotionally invested, building a positive feeling toward them. This is due to cognitive dissonance, as our brains justify the effort by seeing the person in a favorable light.
In-group Bias: We tend to favor those in our own group, even if the differences are minor. In-group bias makes us offer special treatment to those we see as similar, creating loyalty but potentially fostering division. This bias is why people are often more supportive of those with shared characteristics or affiliations.
Confirmation Bias: Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias that involves the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. Individuals exhibiting this bias will often disregard or minimize evidence that contradicts their views while overvaluing information that supports them. This selective processing can lead to distorted thinking and reinforces existing beliefs, making it difficult for individuals to consider alternative perspectives or engage in objective analysis. Confirmation bias can significantly impact decision-making, critical thinking, and the evaluation of evidence in various contexts, including politics, science, and everyday life.
Episode 207
Outcome Bias: Outcome bias occurs when people judge a decision based on its result rather than on the quality or reasoning behind the decision. Positive outcomes can lead people to assume the original choices were sound, even if luck played a significant role. This bias can obscure critical thinking, as good outcomes don’t always reflect good decision-making processes.
Faulty Learning Cycle: When people repeatedly engage in risky behaviors without harm, they develop a false sense of safety. This faulty learning cycle can lead to dangerous decisions based on a limited, skewed perspective. The pattern encourages people to continue risky behavior under the mistaken belief that it’s safe.
Social Utility: Social utility reflects our instinct to protect others, especially loved ones, over ourselves. It’s an altruistic drive that deepens social bonds and can lead to self-sacrifice for the good of others. This instinct is crucial in emergency situations, where people may risk their own safety to help others.
Episode 208
Idol Identity Diffusion: This occurs when someone’s identity becomes entwined with that of a celebrity. Idol identity diffusion often stems from admiration and low self-esteem, blurring the line between self and idol. It can lead people to mimic their idol’s behaviors, feeling connected to their sense of fame.
Team Identification: Fans often feel deeply connected to their favorite team, seeing its wins and losses as their own. Team identification gives people a sense of belonging and pride, tying their self-worth to the team’s performance. This connection explains why some fans feel emotional highs and lows tied to their team’s outcomes.
Not Invented Here Bias: We’re more likely to reject ideas that come from outside our group. Known as the not-invented-here bias, this tendency makes us dismiss useful suggestions, especially when they don’t come from within. It’s a barrier to collaboration and can hinder innovation if outside ideas are ignored.
Obedience to Authority: Obedience to authority is a psychological phenomenon where individuals comply with directives or commands from an authoritative figure, often even when such orders conflict with their personal beliefs or ethical standards. This strong motivator is driven by the inherent respect for authority figures and societal norms that dictate compliance. Studies, such as those conducted by Stanley Milgram, illustrate how individuals may prioritize obedience over moral considerations, leading them to perform actions they might otherwise find objectionable. This behavior can have significant implications in various contexts, including workplaces, military settings, and social hierarchies.
Episode 209
Dissociative Amnesia: When memories become too painful, the mind may block them out. This is dissociative amnesia, where memory loss serves as a defense mechanism against traumatic events. This type of amnesia shows the mind’s capacity to protect itself from overwhelming emotional pain.
Adaptive Thinking: Adaptive thinking is the ability to quickly adjust strategies as challenges change, enabling flexibility and resilience in uncertain situations. It’s a key skill for problem-solving, as it allows people to alter their approach when conditions are unpredictable or unexpected.
Myopic Optimization: When people focus on immediate rewards rather than the bigger picture, they engage in myopic optimization. This short-sightedness can lead them off-course, especially in unfamiliar situations. It’s why people may take the “best-looking” path without evaluating longer-term outcomes.
Ulysses Pact: A Ulysses pact is a commitment made with oneself to accomplish a tough goal by limiting the choice to back out, boosting the chances of success by removing tempting alternatives. It’s a self-control strategy that’s especially useful for resisting short-term temptations.
Direct Eye Contact: Though we often see eye contact as a sign of honesty, two-thirds of people make deliberate eye contact even when lying. It’s a social cue we trust, yet it’s not always a reliable honesty indicator. This can complicate efforts to detect deception based on eye behavior alone.
Episode 210
Endowment Effect: The longer we own something, the more we value it. Known as the endowment effect, this makes personal possessions feel more valuable simply because they’re ours. It explains why people may overprice items they’re selling, as they perceive these items as holding more worth.
Gamification: Gamification involves applying game-like elements—such as points, rewards, or challenges—to non-game activities in order to increase engagement and motivation. By adding elements of play, mundane or challenging tasks can feel more enjoyable, often leading to greater participation and persistence.
Mob Mentality: In unfamiliar groups, social cues disappear, and behavior becomes influenced by the crowd. Mob mentality shows how people sometimes act in ways they wouldn’t alone, following the group’s lead. This effect can create a loss of personal accountability, leading to behavior that may not align with personal values.
Escalation of Commitment: Once we’ve invested in something, it’s hard to let go. Escalation of commitment explains why we often stick with losing causes, unwilling to "cut our losses." It’s a form of sunk cost fallacy where we invest further in hopes of justifying prior commitments.
Collector’s Completion Motivation: For collectors, the value of an item increases if it completes a set. Known as collector’s completion motivation, this phenomenon drives people to fill gaps in collections, enhancing each item’s worth. It’s a strong psychological motivator that keeps collectors striving to complete their chosen sets.
Episode 211
Choice Architecture: Choice architecture involves structuring options in a way that influences decisions. Though we think we’re making choices freely, often our options have been shaped to steer us toward a specific choice. Marketers use this principle to highlight certain choices without restricting freedom.
Sampling Bias: When study participants don’t represent the population, the results are skewed. Sampling bias highlights how unbalanced samples can distort findings and lead to inaccurate conclusions. This can compromise the validity of studies, especially when applied to broader populations.
Episode 212
Confabulation: Confabulation is the creation of false memories without the intent to deceive. Our brain fills in gaps, sometimes creating memories that feel real but are entirely fabricated. This can happen especially when memory gaps are subconsciously filled to maintain coherence.
Cellular Memory: The idea of cellular memory suggests that experiences may be stored not only in the brain but within individual body cells, hinting at a holistic memory system beyond just the mind. This theory proposes a broader view of memory that may explain experiences like organ transplant recipients feeling new inclinations.
Intellectual Humility: Intellectual humility is the recognition of one’s knowledge limits. It’s the wisdom to acknowledge gaps in understanding, fostering openness and continued learning. This quality is essential in academic and social settings, as it promotes a balanced, less defensive approach to discussions.
Rules of Conversation: Implicit social norms guide how we take turns speaking and responding. Known as the rules of conversation, these unspoken guidelines ensure smooth and respectful exchanges. Breaking these rules can make conversations feel awkward or disruptive.
Typicality: Typicality is the cognitive bias where something is perceived as plausible or "true enough" because it aligns with common patterns or expectations, even if it is factually untrue. This occurs because the scenario or information "makes sense" based on past experiences or stereotypes, leading people to accept it as true simply because it feels familiar or probable. Typicality can contribute to the spread of misinformation, as people often believe information that fits within typical patterns.
Mental Hyperarousal: Mental hyperarousal is a heightened state of cognitive activity often triggered by stress, anxiety, or trauma, characterized by an overactive mind that makes it difficult to relax or sleep. This state can lead to insomnia, as the mind remains highly alert, preoccupied with intense or intrusive thoughts, and unable to disengage from stressors. Mental hyperarousal is common in people who have experienced trauma or ongoing stress, leading to prolonged sleep disturbances and potential impacts on mental and physical health.
Memory is Falliable/Memory is Impressionable: This concept refers to the inherent unreliability of human memory and its susceptibility to distortion and manipulation. Memory is not a perfect recording of events; instead, it is reconstructive, meaning that when we recall information, our brains can inadvertently alter or fill in gaps based on existing beliefs, emotions, or narratives. This can lead to the incorporation of false details that align with what we already know or expect to be true, resulting in vivid but inaccurate recollections. Consequently, our memories can be influenced by suggestion, context, and social pressures, making them susceptible to biases and inaccuracies, much like a "con man" leading us to believe things that may not reflect reality.
Episode 213
Motivated Reasoning: Motivated reasoning is the tendency to interpret information in a way that aligns with one’s desires or pre-existing beliefs. Rather than objectively analyzing facts, people in a state of motivated reasoning will subconsciously favor evidence that supports their views while dismissing or undervaluing opposing information. This bias can lead to selective thinking and reinforce beliefs even in the face of contradictory evidence.
Task Switch Cost: Switching rapidly between tasks decreases our performance, known as the task switch cost. Focusing on a single task optimizes output, while constant switching creates mental strain. It’s why multitasking often feels exhausting and less productive.
Running Blind Effect: When escaping a perceived threat, both humans and animals often panic, which can worsen the situation. Known as the running blind effect, it shows how fear can cloud judgment. This reflexive response can prevent careful decision-making in critical situations.
Artificial Scarcity: Artificial scarcity refers to the intentional limitation of the availability of a product or resource to create a sense of rarity, which often drives up its perceived value and price. By creating a temporary shortage, sellers or producers can increase demand and capitalize on consumers’ fear of missing out, thereby influencing market dynamics to their advantage. This strategy is frequently used in marketing, particularly for limited-edition items or high-demand products.
Ego-Protection: Ego-protection refers to psychological strategies individuals use to defend their self-esteem and sense of self-worth against threats or failures. This can include attributing failures to external factors, minimizing the importance of negative feedback, or comparing oneself to others in ways that maintain a positive self-image. Ego-protective mechanisms help people cope with setbacks and maintain mental well-being, although they can sometimes prevent individuals from learning from mistakes or accepting constructive criticism.
Episode 214
Weaponizing Success: Using someone’s achievements against them to undermine their credibility is weaponizing success. This tactic turns positive accomplishments into ammunition for criticism or manipulation. It’s common in competitive or adversarial settings where success is spun to appear negative.
Blind Obedience: Blind obedience occurs when authority overrides personal judgment, leading people to follow orders they might otherwise question. This explains how individuals sometimes commit harmful acts under direction. It highlights the need for critical thinking even in authoritative contexts.
Episode 215
Modus Operandi: A modus operandi is the habitual way someone approaches tasks or challenges. Recognizable patterns in action can reveal motives and underlying traits. This concept is often used in criminal profiling, where behavior patterns offer clues about intent.
Psychological Gravity: Psychological gravity suggests that mental states or actions, like objects, are bound to come back down. It implies that intense experiences often find balance over time. For instance, emotional highs or achievements may be followed by natural periods of rebalancing.
Outside View: The outside view is a decision-making approach that involves assessing a situation based on similar past cases or broader statistical data rather than solely on internal, case-specific details (the "inside view"). This perspective helps counter biases that often arise from overly optimistic or subjective assessments, as it draws on historical patterns and outcomes to make more realistic predictions. By focusing on comparable examples, the outside view can improve forecasting accuracy and help manage expectations, especially in uncertain or complex scenarios.
Episode 216
Overview Effect: The overview effect refers to a cognitive shift in awareness reported by astronauts when they see Earth from space. This experience often evokes a deep sense of connection, perspective, and responsibility for the planet and all its inhabitants. Seeing the Earth as a small, fragile, and interconnected sphere in the vastness of space can profoundly impact one's worldview and understanding of humanity's collective impact.
Social Comparison Theory: Social comparison theory, developed by Leon Festinger, posits that people determine their own social and personal worth by comparing themselves to others. This can drive motivations and self-perceptions, as people assess their abilities, opinions, and attributes relative to those around them. Social comparisons can lead to both positive self-improvement and negative effects like envy and dissatisfaction, depending on the context and the comparisons made.
Instrumental Aggression: Instrumental aggression is a type of aggression used as a means to an end rather than as an emotional reaction. This calculated, goal-oriented behavior is intended to achieve a specific objective—such as control, status, or material gain—and typically lacks the intense emotional arousal seen in hostile aggression. In this context, aggression is used strategically rather than impulsively.
Gottman’s Four Horsemen of Divorce: Criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling are Gottman’s four horsemen of divorce. These communication patterns signal relationship distress and, if unaddressed, can lead to separation. Gottman’s research highlights how these behaviors, when persistent, erode relationship satisfaction.
Subconscious Framing: When our mind associates an image with past memories, that’s subconscious framing. It subtly connects new experiences to familiar ones, shaping our perceptions. This framing can affect judgments, as the brain connects new stimuli to stored emotional or situational memories.
Episode 217
IKEA Effect: The IKEA effect describes our tendency to value things more when we build them ourselves. This sense of personal contribution adds worth to objects, enhancing our attachment. It explains why people often feel proud of DIY projects and willing to overlook imperfections.
Social Identity Theory: Social identity theory explores how belonging to a group shapes our self-perception, even if the group’s influence isn’t always positive. It explains our pursuit of comfort within social connections. This theory highlights the way group affiliations influence self-esteem and social behavior.
Episode 218
Decoy Effect: The decoy effect involves presenting two less appealing options to steer someone toward a third, “preferred” choice. This tactic nudges decisions by making one option appear most attractive. It’s frequently used in marketing to guide customer preferences without restricting their options.
Evolutionary Defense Mechanism: Defense mechanisms evolved to help us cope with threats. These psychological strategies aid in managing fear and stress, promoting adaptive behavior for survival. Evolutionary defense mechanisms include responses like fight-or-flight and social bonding for safety.
Watching Eyes Effect: Seeing someone receive an unexpected gift triggers a rewarding sensation in us. Known as the watching eyes effect, this feeling of vicarious joy motivates altruism and empathy. It reflects the brain’s tendency to experience social pleasure, even indirectly.
Reciprocity: Reciprocity is a social norm and principle that entails a mutual exchange of behaviors, resources, or feelings between individuals. When one person shares something intimate or private, there is often a strong expectation or obligation for the other party to respond in kind, creating a sense of balance in the relationship. This norm fosters trust and cooperation, as it encourages individuals to support and engage with one another. Reciprocity plays a significant role in building social bonds and maintaining interpersonal relationships, influencing everything from personal connections to broader societal interactions.
I hope you find this interesting! And, in case you want to learn more about these biases, feel free to check out Predictably Irrational, where I explain some of them in more depth.
Irrationally yours,
Dan Ariely
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