INTRODUCTION

Beyond Groupthink

Did you recently finish a project a lot later than you expected? You are subject to the planning fallacy, which means that you expect to complete tasks far more quickly than you do.

Are you confident that your friend will like that movie you recently loved? You might well be vulnerable to egocentric bias, thinking that if you like something, other people are going to like it too.

People tend to ignore the long term; to be unduly afraid of losses; to display unrealistic optimism; to make self-serving judgments (“what’s fair is what’s best for me!”); and to deal poorly with risks. For these reasons, and many others, each of us—as individuals—can get into a lot of trouble.

The last few decades have seen pathbreaking ...

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