This engaging XPRT talk by Newristics’ Lisa Baer and Samantha Burstein, shines the spotlight on all the heuristics at play in the irrational decision-making processes that are a part of modern-day dating. Gone are the days of serendipitous meetings with potential suitors in coffee shops or even deliberate ones at local bars; today is all about swipe-based apps, where an online dating profile is the lens through which people are scrutinized. Some of the heuristics that one can hope to sample in this talk brimming in examples and experiences, are:

Customization Bias - This heuristic explains the human tendency to want to customize their options even when there is no need for customization.

Choice Overload - The pool of options for the modern dater has exponentially grown. So, shouldn't that make finding the right person a slam dunk? Not necessarily. What ends up happening in reality is that the seemingly endless supply of possible choices can lead to a state of inaction often referred to as Choice Overload.

Open Option Bias - It is human to want to keep options open whenever possible to avoid feeling locked down, even if it doesn't make any sense to do that. Why invest in an individual if there could possibly be someone significantly better just a few swipes away?

Distinction Bias - This is the tendency to view two options as being more distinctive when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately.

Interview Illusion - This heuristic describes the tendency of people who are interviewing an individual to overrate their ability to choose the best candidate by wrongly assuming that they can pick people based on a single interaction.

Fundamental attribution error - This heuristic is defined as the tendency to overestimate the effect of personality and underestimate the effect of a situation when explaining the behavior of a person.

Religious beliefs are core elements of people’s identities and this very fascinating talk helps shed light on the many different cognitive biases at play in the realm of religious practice.

Some heuristics addressed in this talk include:

Belief bias: the human predisposition to accept an argument that supports a conclusion that aligns with their beliefs, while rejecting counter arguments.
Salience effect: the tendency to see a purpose to coincidental occurrences.
Ingroup bias: the tendency of humans to give preference to people in their own group.
Distinction bias: the tendency to view two options as more distinctive when evaluating them simultaneously than when evaluating them separately.
Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to assume that a person's actions depend on what "kind" of person that person is rather than on the social influences.

This very relevant XPRT talk by Newristics' Chelsea Burkey and Rex Parks focuses on emotional and mental health in the context of social media and how this can be explained using decision heuristic science. Heuristics are mental shortcuts that we use to interpret ourselves and the world around us. Chelsea explains how heuristics like Sensationalism bias, Conversational Bias, Faulty generalization and Distinction bias in the context of excessive social media exposure can be damaging to emotional and mental health of an individual. She also explains how excessive social media usage can lead us to a place of constantly seeking validation through Facebook and Twitter and how mimicry heuristic and instant gratification heuristic can explain certain behaviors.

This first episode of 'XPRT Talks' by Newristics will take you through the factors driving decision making across shareholders in the healthcare ecosystem. You will also learn about which industries currently underutilise heuristics but can benefit hugely from their prolific use and what new behaviors are emerging as a result of new technologies.