Dan Ariely: Beware conflicts of interest

Dan shares a personal story about a proposed tattoo treatment for facial symmetry, which he declined due to a guilt trip and ulterior motives. He relates this to his own lab experiment, highlighting how biases and conflicts of interest can affect decisions. Dan emphasizes the importance of recognizing personal biases and understanding failures to improve outcomes.

What was the doctor's proposed solution to the narrator's facial asymmetry?

• Tattooing black dots on the right side of the face

• Surgery to remove scars

• Laser treatment to grow hair

• Using makeup to cover the scars

Why did the narrator ultimately decide against the treatment?

• He was allergic to tattoos

• He was concerned about future hair color changes

• He found a better treatment

• He didn't trust the doctor's skills

What was the real reason behind the doctor's insistence on the treatment?

• He needed a third patient for a research paper

• He wanted to help the narrator

• He was testing a new technique

• He was trying to win an award

In the narrator's experiment, what was the issue with the participant who skewed the results?

• The participant was too young

• The participant was too inexperienced

• The participant was too experienced

• The participant was too old and drunk

What lesson did the narrator learn from the experiment with the skewed results?

• Always exclude outliers

• Biases can affect decision-making

• Older participants are unreliable

• Drunk participants should be avoided

What is a key challenge in recognizing conflicts of interest according to the narrator?

• Ignoring them in decision-making

• Avoiding them in research

• Recognizing them in ourselves

• Identifying them in others

What positive perspective does the narrator offer about understanding biases?

• It prevents us from making decisions

• It makes us more critical of others

• It allows us to fix our mistakes

• It helps us ignore them