The Cognitive Bias Podcast

In the bonus season finale, we speak to content designer Sarah Winters about clear language, the role of ego in government work, and why you should count the adjectives in news articles.

In this episode, we chat with digital strategist Jeff Eaton about the difficulty of picking the right metric, how we determine our values, and his new company, Autogram.

In this episode, we talk to Writing Is Designing authors Michael J. Metts and Andy Welfe about inclusive language, how salary negotiations are problematic, and founding of one of the most welcoming UX and content communities on the planet.

Just Enough Research author Erika Hall and I discuss the pitfalls of polling, the need for humility in research, James Baldwin, and why design needs to interrogate capitalism. And that's just for starters.

On this episode we talk once again to Ruined by Design author Mike Monteiro about the value of discomfort, the need for workers to organize, and why folks who look like him should absolutely not be deciding the future.

In this episode I talk to content strategist and speaker Eileen Webb about ethics, trauma-informed bias, and how hard it is to measure values.

In this episode I chat with Tiny MBA author Alex Hillman about the psychology of money, our false assumptions about business, and what we can learn from the 90's sitcom "Dinosaurs".

We chat with content strategist and comedy event organizer Malaika Carpenter about bias in comedy, the value of plain language, and how our language choices change how we design.

In this episode, I talk with content strategist, speaker, and author Margot Bloomstein about her upcoming book Trustworthy and how brands and even governments can build trust in a cynical time by leaning into their values and showing vulnerability at scale.

I sit down with Seer Interactive founder Wil Reynolds to discuss bias in algorithms, how tech can disproportionately single out Black people for injustice, and how to treat people ethically at a company.

In this episode, we talk to content strategist Margo Stern about fighting bias by slowing down users and setting sensible goals.

On this latest episode of the live podcast, we talk to Active Voice founder Sara Wachter-Boettcher about leadership, white supremacy, and the ways in which design perpetuates systems of oppression.

In this live recording we interview Kristina Halvorson, CEO of Brain Traffic and founder of Confab Events, about topics ranging from the role content strategy plays in mitigating bias, the value of plain language in politics, and the power of active listening.

Special announcement about an upcoming limited series run of The Cognitive Bias Podcast LIVE!

In our final episode, we talk to my son, Kiran Thomas, about the biases in schoolwork, The Amazing World of Gumball, and why General Grievous is so misunderstood. Thanks to everyone for listening!

Bias is so powerful, you can run a $300 billion industry on it.

After years of no solutions, we look at a few approaches for mitigating bias and applying some quality control to your decision-making.

For our 100th episode (yay!!), special guest Mbiyimoh Ghogomu walks us through some of the ways in which language influences our thinking without us even knowing it.

If something is unresolved, you'll remember it way better.

Even the most important decisions can succumb to hanger.

We talk to special guest Luca Passani about the biases that are playing out in Italian politics today.

We talk with Calm Clarity founder and CEO Due Quach about the neuroscience behind bias and concrete steps to overcome it.

We talk with Dan Singer, Senior Experience Designer at Think Company, about a survey of Philadelphia designers talking about their salaries and both the biases it uncovers and the biases he had to avoid when helping to create it.

What's in a name? Far too much.

It is disturbingly easy to influence our behaviors or memories.

We talk to Mike Monteiro, author of "Ruined by Design", about the biases plaguing tech today and what we can do about them.

We talk to developmentalist Mike O'Bryan about the nature of trauma and trauma-informed care and how it can influence how we think about school, community development, and policing. We also talk about how, on the 400th anniversary of slaves being brought to this country, the trauma of slavery is still affecting us today.

We remember positive feedback better than negative feedback, unless we have anxiety.

Our brains are excellent at making us think something happened, even if it didn't.

The day of the week might influence the decisions you make in everything from whether or not to miss a doctor's appointment to, yes, how you vote. We talk with Jet G. Sanders, Ph.D., assistant professor at the London School of Economics, about her research into how the day of the week impacts our tolerance for risk.

Live from the Philadelphia Podcast Festival we talk to Alex Hillman, co-founder of the legendary coworking space Indy Hall about building community, being an entrepreneur, and how to avoid bias along the way.

Your ideas may not be your own.

Our need to be consistent can be used against us.

Our brains treat memory like totalitarian regimes treat history, with a LOT of fabrication.

For the fourth season premiere we have very special guest Meredith Broussard talking about her book, "Artificial Unintelligence", and the biases that infect the technologies we use.

My wife is the smartest person I know, so it's about time we had her on the show. In the season three finale, she walks us through why bronze medalists feel better than silver medalists and why it feels worse to miss a flight that was delayed than one that took off on time - and a whole lot more.

Way number 1,049 we think our group is better than everyone else's.

I'm complicated. You're basic.

The system draws power from the very people it hurts believing in it.

In which I take the Implicit Association Test and find out just how biased I really am.

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. Except for science and racism or sexism.

When bias leads to good leadership.

MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" confronts us with biases that we are still dealing with today.

Special guest Erica D. Frantz, Ph.D. joins the podcast to talk about priming, and how it impacts everything from police shootings to job interviews.

If it went well, that's on me. If it went poorly, that's on everything and everyone else.

Why are we constantly throwing our future selves under the bus?

We're diverse; they're all the same. Sound familiar?

The choices we're offered can erase entire populations.

What if there was a bias that was driven by income inequality?

We'll throw anyone under the bus to make sure we think the world is a good place to live. (Trigger warning: Discussion of sexual assault, mostly at the 10:30 - 11:30 mark)

Ingroup bias affects politics today, but it doesn't have to come from a strong affiliation. It can be generated by a coin toss.