May 28, 2009: Thomas Gilovich (Cornell University)

Greenwald Distinguished Scholar

• http://www.psych.cornell.edu/people/Faculty/tdg1.html

Where the Mind Goes

Whenever we confront a stimulus, consider a prospect, or entertain a question, the mind automatically goes somewhere. And where it goes has consequences; even if it goes there only briefly, it tends to leave some tracks, which influence judgment and behavior. In this talk, I will examine various ways in which a consideration of the computations the mind automatically performs in response to particular stimuli or questions allows one to predict the occurrence of some common biases of judgment and some curious elements of everyday behavior.