I am not sure whether the saying “to bury one’s head in the sand” is known worldwide. In Germany it is associated with ostriches, allegedly burying their head to avoid danger. Of course, this is a mere fairy tale. But from the image in our mind, we can draw interesting conclusions – for our personal…
(Reading time: 3 min read)
Long before starting to study brain behavior and beginning to understand a little bit about how we make certain decisions, I – as a litigation lawyer – had to try to convince judges to rule according to my client’s claim. To reach my objectives, of course I did my part of the job: I understood the case, went through the documents, made all the legal research, and tried to write the facts in a clear and coherent way. As much as I believed in the case, however, I could never know for sure what to expect from another human’s mind. That is why my lucky amulet and my special prayer for a “judge’s good mood” were always there before a hearing or the submission of an important motion.
(Reading time: 6 min read)
Although the Framing Effect is widely known in modern medicine, it likewise has a great impact on the legal profession. Research shows that the human mind is prone to errors in connection with different ways of framing choices. By reading this article you will discover how different ways of presenting options affect the decision-maker. You might be surprised that the Framing Effect is strongly connected to age – and that in your case it can only get worse.
(Reading time: 2 Min read)
The Base Rate Fallacy is a formal fallacy. It occurs when too little weight is placed on the probability base rate of an event. People are succumbing to the base rate fallacy when erroneously judging the likelihood of an event without taking into account all the relevant data. The underlying mechanism is an overt focus on new information without acknowledging how this impacts the original assumptions. Old information is still evaluated and taken into account, however the newer pieces of information are given too much weight.