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The speaker discusses the concept of the default effect and how people often choose the status quo, even when a better option is available. They emphasize the importance of taking risks and stepping out of one's comfort zone in order to be successful. The speaker also mentions strategies for overcoming the default effect, such as practicing deliberate decision making and being aware of one's own thoughts. They relate the default effect to real-world problems, such as staying in a job one dislikes out of fear of change. The speaker also touches on social identity theory and how people categorize themselves into groups. They believe that psychology can help improve mental health and understanding of people's thoughts and actions. In conclusion, the speaker questions how the default effect and social identity theory can be minimized for individuals. Hello and welcome from my apartment here in Columbus, Ohio. It is currently 7pm here on Monday. I definitely should have done this podcast a lot sooner than I was supposed to, but it's been a lot busy for me. But this is something that I find easy communicating, especially when it's not in the public. So something that I wanted to speak about today in my conversation here was about the default effect. So there was an article by Anne Laurel Leigh Kuhn, and she speaks about the default effect in a very interesting way and in a way that was already brought up similar in class. She explains it as, it is the choosing of the status quo even when a better option is ahead. And she also states that multiple studies conclude that people take the predetermined route rather than choosing something else. Now, this is very true simply because I've seen many people have different options but feel as though it might not work out or things might not go the way that they planned them to go. And so they choose the option that's the safest system that they've been used to. And you know, you got to take risks. You got to do things that are differently and you got to do things that make you uncomfortable in order to reach a place where you feel satisfied and comfortable. And you have to do things basically that you have never ever experienced before in order to be successful. She also states that as humans, we don't like to fail or lose something. Meaning, if we were to pick another option for the default turnout better, this would then cause an individual to become even more likely to choose the default option later on. And she also goes on to say, this gets us back because we will now see those who choose default options more often will lead into less than ideal or even unwanted situations. So when you choose a default option today, tomorrow, the next day, this is only going to make things worse in the future. The future won't be very easy for you if you just choose the option that you're comfortable with. Being comfortable is fine, especially, you know, when it comes to doing things such as being at work or having to work on a different project or just having to be somewhere in general, you want to feel as though you're comfortable in what you're doing. But in life, being comfortable is not always the right answer. Then there's times and not saying that they have to last very long, but there has to be times in your life where you're in a position where you don't, you know, you're kind of lost, you don't know really how to work things out yourself. Because that's the excitement of it all. That's the excitement of, you know, doing things and making decisions, critically thinking of plans on how to progress. And that's kind of what she says, getting back into the article, that's really what she says here. Later on in the article, towards the end, she gives three simple strategies on how people can fix choosing default option, because it's pretty simple, people just have to work at it, practice it just like anything else, just like school, sports, anything you do, you have to practice it to get better. So one thing that she states is that you have to make space for metacognition. Now, I've heard of the term metacognition. But it's something that I had to kind of, you know, research up a little bit more to understand. But the way she, Miss Anne Laurel LeCoumf, the way that she explains it is, metacognition is thinking about thinking, and having an awareness of your own thoughts, and examination of the underlying patterns that guide the making of your decisions. So you have to always be thinking, to be aware of what you're thinking about, so that when things come up, you're able to easily make those decisions because you're prepared. And when you're prepared for things, it makes things a lot easier. You know, my apologies for the short little break there. Things were a little complicated with videos popping up in the back from the Audacity website. But nevertheless, the other thing that she says is to practice deliberate decision making. So something that you can do to practice your decision making is easily to just, you know, try and find methods, right? Finding methods, and how to do these things. You know, maybe, if you do the same thing, most of the time, mostly every day, change it up, make it different, because this will now condition your body, your mind, that change is happening and change is good. And if you like change, change it up again. You know, don't let it stick. Just keep changing up things, but keep changing them. Don't change drastic things. You know, just small changes in day to day routines can really go a very long way for decision making later on in the future, because then your mind will be programmed. And it's not I'm not saying you have to always choose the alternate option, but trying to train your body in doing so so that when it does come to that point, when you don't feel comfortable in, you know, doing something that, you know, is away from what you regularly been doing, then you go back into your method, and you figure out, okay, now I know what I need to do in order to make this right. And that's just something that I've always, you know, wanted to do myself as well is try to be proactive in trying to practice things that you want to get better. If you want things to get better, I don't know how you expect them to get better without making changes. That's the important thing here about default effect. And another thing that I want to relate when it comes to real world problems when it comes to the default effect, I mean, many people right now, including myself, unfortunately, we work jobs that we just don't enjoy going to, we don't like doing. But that security of having that job, and knowing that it's, it's held down and knowing that we don't have to go out and find another one, you know, make new relationships with different employers, or different colleagues, we don't have to do those things. When you're already at a place and you've been there, you've been doing the same thing. So it's hard for us to make a change. So we stay with the default option that we've already been at. And so that's a really main thing that I feel as though a lot of people get themselves caught up in when it comes to placing themselves in a default category. And it's just not the way things should be. Now, another thing, such as social identity theory, it applies to everyone. Let's get that out the way. You know, it applies to literally every single person, because every single person thinks of themselves and put themselves in a category. And they identify, identify themselves in a different way, they put themselves in a group. Everybody tends to do so. Everyone knows what group they are in by now, by the time they, you know, get to be in college, everyone knows kind of what group they want to be in, or they're searching to find a group. But everyone wants to be in a group. But everyone is a part of many different groups already prior to coming to college. You know, it relates to everyone around the world because of skin colors that puts you into a different category than someone who doesn't have a dark skin color, a light skin color, or whatever the case may be. Different ethnicities, races, these things are putting you into a group. You're categorized into a group. Political parties, you know, obviously, you have this side and this side that agrees with this, doesn't agree with this, disagrees with this, disagrees with this. It's just, you know, it's just how things have always been. And, of course, obviously, you know, on a lower scale, friend groups, who you hang out with, who you talk to, who you interact with on a day-to-day basis is really important when talking about groups because it shapes you into who you are truthfully. In an article by Jake Harwood, he speaks on how the social identity theory and how it affects people and truthfully just what it is. He talks about it providing the framework for explaining intergroup behavior and intergroup communication based on the inherent value humans place on social group memberships and the desire to view their specific social group in a positive light. Everyone wants their social group to be seen good. Everyone wants people to like their social group because they're in that social group. So how this all affects, you know, psychology, I feel that psychology helps improve mental health and well-being and understanding of people's feelings, thoughts, and actions. That's what I feel as though psychology does for people and that's what it continues to do for people. It continues to help the world in that way because the studies that come out and the studies that are placed in order to help people to see how people are thinking and acting and, you know, and the things that they're saying, we just want to, I feel as though, even though I'm not a psychologist, but I would love to see the advancements of how we can get more information from people and how we can start to help more people out for the things that they may think in their head that, you know, might get to their head sometimes. So basically, in conclusion, the social identity theory and default effect will always be around, but how can we tweak it a little bit? How can we make it a little bit lesser for some people?