That’s All, Folks

In this final episode of GossipINT, our hosts talk about their favorite structured analytic techniques, what they hope listeners have learned from this podcast...and the Jonas brothers!

Did someone have it out for actors Anne Hathaway and Richard Gere? What’s the relationship between Ray-Ban sunglasses and the movie ”Top Gun”? In this episode, we talk about how covert influence is used in Hollywood and in marketing to sway us.

Is Stevie Wonder faking being blind? Was Walt Disney cryogenically frozen? Does Mattress Firm act as a front for money laundering? In this episode, we talk about about our favorite crazy conspiracy theories.

Why did the short-form streaming platform Quibi fail within six months? Do viewers prefer white, male superheroes? Has Mark Zuckerberg misread demand for the Metaverse? In this episode, we talk about how mirror image bias can have major economic consequences.

Why would someone knowingly torture someone else? How did Sam Bankman-Fried dupe investors? In this episode, we talk about how authority bias tricks us into trusting untrustworthy people.

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories like QAnon and chemtrails? Did President Putin release 500 lions in Moscow to keep people at home during the start of the COVID pandemic? In this episode, we talk about how the third-person effect gives us false confidence in our ability to distinguish fact from fiction.

Why do people forget about the female action heroes of yesteryear? Why are Google search results so skewed to recent events? In this episode, we talk about how the recency bias causes people to over-value the present over the past.

How do celebrities get away with terrible crimes? Why are some people acolytes of the cult of Apple? In this episode, we talk about how the halo effect dazzles us into ignoring common sense.

Was the haunting in Amityville real or a big con for money? Is Elon Musk Twitter’s biggest problem? In this episode, we talk about how anchor bias distorts our ability to process new information.

Why did people in Salem, Massachusetts believe there was a witch infestation? What caused the Challenger shuttle to explode? In this episode, we talk about how the groupthink bias leads groups of people to make bad decisions.