1. The shadow on the wall:
a (safe) dose of science
to understand perceptions
of insecurity

2. “My heart was pounding. I was
sweating. I was desperately want to
hide – but where? I was feeling sick. I
couldn’t think straight. I was sure
something awful was going to happen,
I thought of my daughter, what would it
become of her without me?”

3. What’s that feeling?
The emotion
The behaviour
The way out

4. Seeing is believing
We see
We interprete
We feel
We make decisions

5. WYSIATI

6. I told you it was there…
What we believe
isn’t necessarily real

7. Does this matter?
YES!

8. Look, I know…
…this is going to happen
…this is dangerous
…this will cost me a lot
…they can’t protect me
…what to do to be ok
(Do I?)

9. Look,
I always think twice before I make a
decision
(Do I?)

10. But, are we really rational when we
make decisions?
We are NOT

11. Behaviours are,
“poorly defined, highly malleable and
strongly dependent on the context in
which they occur”
(Schneier, the psychology of fear, 2008)

12. Feeling good

13. No dissonance

14. the wonderful 5
• feeling safe
• minimum of effort or no effort
• the Joneses
• my routine
• No strain

15. A tale of two planets

16. On Earth…
K
System I
R
K

17. On Vulcan…
System 2
P
O
C
K

18. Hot
« Desperate times
call for desperate actions »
(Lyrics by Ben Sidran)

19. Subjective reality
discomfort
irrational decisions
…
Are we clueless before fear?

20. « Trying to find some meaning
in a world there is none »
(Lyrics by Ben Sidran)

21. Luckily…
We are « predictably » irrational
(and that’s a chance!)

22. The science
Behavioural Economics
Why we behave the way we do
(and what we can do about it)

23. Risk…
“… does not exist ‘out there,’ independent
of our minds and cultures, waiting to be
measured. Instead, human beings have
invented the concept of risk to help them
understand and cope with the dangers and
uncertainties of life. Although these
dangers are real, there is no such thing as
‘real risk’ or ‘objective risk.’” (Slovic 1999).

24. Coping with uncertainty
I don’t know better - Heuristics
therefore
I don’t judge well - Biases

25. When I don’t know better
Past experiences
Educated guesses
Common sense
intuition

26. Predictably irrational
Patterns against chaos
(This is not so irrational after all…)

27. You know,
you could never
fool me…

28. 1 in 20 million
1 in 19000

29. 1
Availability

30. Recent
Frequent
Personal significance
Emotionally loaded
Easy to imagine

31. 2
Representativeness

32. 3
Similarity

33. Why does this matter?

34. I deal, they deal

35. Do I know myself?
Irrational? Me?

36. Do they know about me?
They craft messages
They implement measures
But do they know
how I make decisions?

37. The white coats and me
« In the usual story, what is
accounting for the stubborn
conflicts is less what experts see
that other people miss, but what
ordinary people feel about risk that
experts neglect » (Margolis
1996:81)

38. The dis-illusion
Behavioural economics:
Looking behind the mirrors

39. Slicing fear in the lab…
(…and beyond)

40. « You want to change their thinking
You’d better change your mind »
(Lyrics by Ben Sidran)

41. WHERE DOES All THAT LEAVE US?

42. Mind the heart
Know thyself
’’You gotta picture him happy’’
(Lyrics by Ben Sidran)

43. My doggy bag
our own reality
strategies to feel good
possibly bad decisions
mind the human mind

44. Want to make people do
whatever you want them
to do?
Ask me!

45. theodora@enlexis.com
Dr. THEODORA ZIAMOU
Behaviour change/decision-making Expert
Expert at the European Commission