The Mere Exposure Effect Read online Take a look at this image. What do you see? Taken from Robson's brilliant book The Expectation Effect¹ This is a real image, but it's bleached and poor quality. Chances are, you can't spot what this is. Have another look. Spotted anything? I imagine it's still a no. However, if I tell you to look for a cow, you might see the image differently. As Robson¹ writes: Something somehow “clicks,” and the image suddenly makes a lot more sense. Let's try another...

The Faith Effect Read online Watch an England football match and you'll see a lot of praying. Madueke, Toney, Guehi, Rashford and Saka from left to right. How many players are religious? Well, the evidence is thin. The Telegraph¹ confirms that at least four players are openly Christian. And Woman Alive² (a slightly less reputable source) claims as many as 50% of the team follow a god—higher than the UK average. Regardless of the true number, if you watch England, you'll see a lot of praying....

The Authority Bias Read online Here are some not-so-surprising stats. 20% of trades on the stock market are from brokers copying other profitable brokers¹. 60% of traders say they started trading by copying expert online². But do these financial experts really know more than the rest of us? That's what Richard Wiseman looked at in his great book, Quirkology. Investors vs Chimp Back in 1994, a Swedish newspaper ran a light-hearted experiment. The newspaper gave $1,250 each to five experienced...