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Here's a Better Way to Deal With Life's Risks
Part of the expected value is estimating the chance or probability of the situation.
Many people have poor judgement calculating real probabilities. They overstate the chance of rare events and underestimate the possibility of common events.
For example, many people don't like to fly on planes because they are scared they might be in a crash, yet the actual chance is close to zero.
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A common occurrence of heuristics in which we use an initial starting point as an anchor that is then adjusted to yield a final estimate or value.
Example: estimating the value of an o...
People who are told that the risk of something bad happening is lower than they expected, tend to adjust their predictions to match the new information. But they ignore the new information when the risk is higher.
Part of this overly optimistic outlook stems from our natural tendency to believe that bad things happen to other people, but not to us.
Sometimes we make poor comparisons or the compared items are not representative or equal.
We often decide based on rapid comparisons without really thinking about our options. In order to avoid bad decisions, relying on logic and thoughtful examination of the options can sometimes be more important than relying on your immediate "gut reaction."