2018 Message from the Chairman

Dear Members – Dear Colleagues of the Management Board – Dear Supporters and Advisors – Dear Readers and Followers – From outside, one might have thought the Rational Think Tank entered belated hibernation last January until we hosted the 1st Panel on Nudging and Design Decisions in November. But I am glad to assure you…

Rational Roundup #5 – Part III/III: Recreation through Behavioral Vacation?

The Rational Roundup, as previously announced, provides our readers with regular updates on rational thinking and current discussions among cognitive scientists. This is the third part of the latest edition, addressing positive psychology and the behavioral enhancement of your professional productivity. In this short briefing, I will share further thoughts on how to improve your…

All you need to know on the Hindsight Bias

A few months ago, I published a #30in30 regarding the hindsight bias. As I promised, during this essay, I will give you more information on the impacts on the legal profession as well as on debiasing this classic behavioral bias. This article will be a thorough introduction. Hence, there is no need to read the…

Rational Roundup #4 – Anchoring News

When we created this publication format, our aim was to launch a medium where our members get updated on recent developments in behavioral science. Our Roundups will now be celebrating a comeback for a while. Continuing in the spirit of previous publications, the aim is to provide you with a number of interesting topics too…

#30in30 – Hot to Cold or Cold to Hot?

People generally underestimate how their body (or more precisely: their visceral drives, including hunger, thirst, drug cravings, physical pain and mere emotions) is influencing their behavior and decision-making. The legal profession is prone to this bias as much as anyone, as we will discover in the following. While workings of this bias within our private…

All you need to know on Anchoring

Anchoring is a cognitive effect with utmost importance to legal professionals’ work. Its applicability ranges from mediation to negotiation to court trials. Almost every legal professional will discover its impact on his own daily work. Research shows, that especially legal professionals are not immune but rather prone to the anchoring effect. Hence, this article will…

#30in30 – Unveil your blind Eyes

An individual has been described by a neighbor as follows: “Steve is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful but with little interest in people or in the world of reality. A meek and tidy soul, he has a need for order and structure […], and a passion for detail.” Is Steve more likely to be…