Can you resist a good research discovery?
Decision making lies at the heart of every genealogical process: which record set to look at, how to search, and how to interpret what we find. Each new page in a family’s narrative has the power to intrigue, shock or delight us with its revelations – yet our research can sometimes be a delicate dance between the joy of discovery and the battle with biases as we try to judge the evidence before us.
In this talk, I’ll lift the lid on how we make decisions in family history research. Taking inspiration from Mischel’s famous “marshmallow test” of willpower, we’re going to hunt down the genealogical marshmallows in our work: those moments where the tempting promise of a new discovery might sway our judgment. Journeying through some real-life examples, we’ll identify common cognitive biases, explore how they can influence our work and how we might combat them, and embrace genealogical thinking for the digital age.
