Therapy Speak or Conspiracy Theory? with Amanda Montell

About this episode

Amanda Montell discusses cognitive biases and their relation to magical thinking and misinformation.

What do vision boards and Princess Diana conspiracy theories have in common? They both rely on a kind of magical thinking called proportionality bias. It's one of many cognitive biases that Sounds Like a Cult host Amanda Montell demystifies in her book, The Age of Magical Overthinking . From the sunk cost fallacy of toxic relationships to the halo effect of female celebs to the declinism of everyday doomsday speak, Amanda makes even the most mindboggling and brainrotting realities of today's misinformation overload more bearable.  Originally aired on Unladylike in 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Unladylike

Guest: Amanda Montell

Topics covered

• cognitive biases
• magical thinking
• misinformation
• toxic relationships
• celebrity culture

Keywords

• cognitive biases
• magical thinking
• proportionality bias
• sunk cost fallacy
• halo effect
• declinism
• misinformation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Unladylike

Books & works: The Age of Magical Overthinking

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