If a baseball and a bat cost $1.10 together, and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, how much does the ball cost?
Solution
5 cents. System 1 thinking often leads to mistakes in this type of problem.
A father and son are in a horrible car crash that kills the dad. The son is rushed to the hospital; just as he’s about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate—that boy is my son!” How is that possible?
Solution
The surgeon is the boy’s mother. This puzzle illustrates the persistence of gender discrimination.
In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
Solution
47 days. To answer correctly, you need to ignore your system 1 and use your system 2.
Alan is smart, hard-working, impulsive, stubborn and jealous.
Ben is jealous, stubborn, impulsive, hard-working and smart.
Who should you hire?
Solution
They are the same, but a priming effect often make people prefer the first candidate.
07-01-2021
Listen to the podcast below on Soundcloud or on your favorite podcast platform.
We speak to Dr. Michael Hallsworth, Managing Director – North America for the Behavioural Insights Team and an Assistant Professor (Adjunct) at Columbia University. Michael has been a leading figure in developing the field of applying behavioral science to government and public policy and is co-author of the book, Behavioral Insights.
Listen in to hear about:
– How a hand washing study helped Michael realize the power of behavioral science
– What Michael has learned from working with David Halperin and helping launch the BIT
– The three elements that define behavioral insights
– Two primary communications challenges tied to the COVID vaccine
You can also download the transcript of the podcast episode:
[hubspot portal=”5261255″ id=”84f3ed78-f0c0-430e-88f7-61dcdabad313″ type=”form”]Want to keep listening? Check out other episodes of the B.E. GOOD! Podcast.
Let us know what you think about the episode on Twitter @BVANudgeUnit