The decisions we make may be further out of our control than we’d like to imagine. Today we are joined by Professor Eric J. Johnson to discuss choice architecture and its role in financial decision-making. Eric is a decision science expert and the author of the book, The Elements of Choice: Why the Way We Decide Matters. In this episode, we learn about the various factors that impact not only decision-making but the effort required to make a decision. Eric shares his philosophy on free will and shares advice for making important decisions and guiding clients to find the right choice as a financial advisor. Tune in to discover how to minimize the influence of the choice architect and take charge of your decisions! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:16 Describing the "Hidden Partner" that accompanies us in our decisions 6:46 Plausible paths, and how we choose them 10:06 Tactics to combat recall and memory issues in decision making 12:15 The impact of recent events on our decision making 19:02 Importance of default choices in determining what we ultimately choose 21:48 Other effects that drive the influence of defaults 26:02 The optimal number of options to present for a choice 28:18 How to determine if too many options are presented 34:23 The way options are described affects decisions 41:56 The role a choice engine plays in influencing choice 45:00 The role a choice engine can play in educating its users 51:23 Is absolute free will an illusion? 54:31 Suggestions to minimize the influence of choice architecture 59:08 Eric's recommendation for making broad decisions involving financial advisors 1:00:45 Eric defines success in his life Participate in our 23 in 23 Reading Challenge: 23 in 23 Reading Challenge — https://rationalreminder.ca/23in23 23 in 23 Reading Challenge on Beanstalk — https://pwlcapital.beanstack.org/ Participate in our Community Discussion about this Episode: https://community.rationalreminder.ca/t/episode-240-prof-eric-j-johnson-choice-architecture-and-financial-decisions-discussion-thread/22037 Book From Today’s Episode: The Elements of Choice — https://theelementsofchoice.com/ Links From Today’s Episode: Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582. Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/ Shop Merch — https://shop.rationalreminder.ca/ Join the Community — https://community.rationalreminder.ca/ Follow us on Twitter — https://twitter.com/RationalRemind Follow us on Instagram — @rationalreminder Benjamin on Twitter — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix Cameron on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CameronPassmore Prof. Eric J. Johnson on Twitter — https://twitter.com/profericjohnson