Stop. Pay attention.
Roulette is one of the riskiest games in a casino.
But instead of betting on which number these balls will land on,
we've got a much safer bet for you.
To win this bet, all you have to do
is pick which ball is traveling in a larger circle
the red or the yellow?
Got your answer?
Would you say the red ball was moving in a much larger circle
than the yellow ball?
Seems like a pretty safe bet, right?
If you bet on red, you're like most of the people we surveyed.
And your bet would not pay off.
Want to learn what makes this such a risky game?
Find out on Brain Games.
21!
You know, there's a reason why casinos
are one of the most popular forms of entertainment
on the planet.
And it's because your brain loves the rush that it gets
when you're taking a risk!
Just like in that roulette game from before.
At first glance, it seems like the red ball is moving
a lot more than the yellow one.
So betting on red doesn't seem like too big a risk.
But when we remove the roulette wheel in the background,
it becomes clear that the two balls
are moving the exact same amount,
and you just lost the bet!
Now we promise we're not altering the balls in any way.
We're simply removing the background.
Because the roulette table was traveling in sync
with the yellow ball, and not the red,
it altered the way each ball appeared to be moving.
And while this may be nothing more than a clever illusion,
we tricked your brain into making
what seemed like a safe bet.
And it's not so different from the hidden risks
behind the choices you make every day.
So how good are you at evaluating risk?
Ugh!
You're about to find out.
So you're on a game show,
and you've made it to the final round,
which means you have a chance to make some money.
Now as you can see here, we've got three doors
one, two, three.
Behind one of the doors is $100.
Behind the other two doors are a couple penguins.
If you're like me, you'd rather win the $100.
So let's say you choose door number one.
Before I show you what's behind there,
I'm gonna show you what's behind door number three.
We've got a penguin.
Now here's where things get interesting.
I'm now going to give you another choice.
You can stick with door number one,
or you can switch to door number two.
You might be thinking, what's the difference?
It's 50/50, right?
Or is it?
Now before we reveal the big secret,
let's take a look at what some other contestants did
when faced with a similar choice.
Pick a door.
I'm gonna choose one.
You're choosing number one?
Yeah.
Okay, before we show you number one,
we're gonna open number three and see where we're at.
Ooh, we got a penguin.
Now I'm gonna give you another choice.
You can stay with door number one,
or you can switch to door number two.
What do you want to do?
What would you do?
Would you switch to door number two
or stay with door number one?
Or does it even make a difference?
Should I keep...?
Alright, I'm gonna switch. I'm gonna switch to number two.
Time for you to choose
are you switching doors or staying with door number one?
Got your answer?
Okay, let's open number two.
Let's go.
Alright, dude! 100 bucks!
That's what I'm talking about!
Nice work!
How'd you do?
Did you switch and win, or stay and lose?
Still think it's a 50/50 risk?
We'll hide the money again and give you another shot.
Number two.
Number two, huh?
Alright, so before we open number two,
we're gonna open number one.
And it's a penguin!
You're still in the game.
Alright.
So I'm giving you a second choice now.
You can stay with number two or you can switch to number three.
I'm sticking with two.
I'm not changing my mind.
Are you sure?
I'm positive.
It's a 50/50 chance, so I might as well stick with number two.
Do you agree or would you switch doors?
Got your answer?
Let's open number two.
Oh, you win a penguin!
How'd you do this time?
Think there's a trick to winning, or is it all just luck?
You're gonna switch.
Yeah, I'm doing number three.
Let's open door number three.
Yes! Yay, I won!
Yes, good work.
What's going on here?
Why are people winning almost every time they switch doors?
I'll switch.
- You want to switch? - I want to switch.
Could switching really increase your odds of winning?
I think I'm gonna switch.
I see a money sign.
Nice work, man. Why'd you switch?
I think my odds went up when I switched a door number.
And he's right.
Even though it might feel wrong to your brain,
by switching doors,
these people are actually playing the better odds,
and they won the money about twice as often
as those who didn't switch.
To see how this works, let's go back to the three doors.
When you first start this game, you've got a one in three chance
of picking the door with the money behind it.
That means once you've picked a door,
there's always a two in three chance
the money's behind one of the other two doors,
which means you probably picked a penguin.
After we reveal the penguin
behind one of the doors you didn't pick,
we narrow it down to two choices.
To the fast acting part of your brain,
the choice to switch doors now seems like a 50/50 risk.
I'm either gonna pick one or the other, it's 50/50 chance.
But actually, your odds haven't changed.
Because if you slow down and think about it,
you'll see the odds you picked the money on your first try
are still one in three,
which means the money is still twice as likely
to be behind one of the other two doors.
Only now you have a big advantage
by knowing the money isn't behind door number three.
So by choosing to switch,
you automatically double your likelihood of winning the money.
And even though we showed you
the mathematical trick to winning,
don't worry if this all seems a bit confusing it is.
That's because anytime you're making a risky decision,
there's a battle going on inside your brain.
While one part of your brain is busy crunching the numbers
and weighing the odds,
an older, more primitive system is running off raw emotion.
And that older system can often win these battles,
letting your emotions dictate the risks you take,
even when those risks don't always make logical sense.
To find just how far your brain will go
when it comes to risks that make no sense,
we've brought in illusionist Eric Leclerc.
I've always been curious about risk.
Why are some people willing to risk a lot
while others hardly take risks at all?
I know it has something to do with your brain,
it's just a little hard to put your finger on it.
To find out more about how much people are willing to risk,
let's play a little game.
Do you have a cell phone I can borrow, sir?
- Um, yeah. - Yes?
Yeah, I got it right here.
- Okay, perfect. - Okay.
So I'm going to ask you,
can you put two fingers out like this, sir? Like this?
Yeah, yeah, perfect.
And we're just going to balance it
between our fingers like that.
This part of the challenge is pretty low risk.
If the phone falls,
the worst that could happen is a cracked screen.
Whoa!
Now we're gonna do exactly what we just did,
except we're gonna do it over this fish bowl.
Are you serious?
Are you willing to risk it, sir?
Huh! That's a $150 phone!
If the phone falls in the water,
all its contents are probably history.
Would you risk your phone just to see a cool trick?
If you're nodding your head yes,
you might be a born risk-taker, and you're not alone.
I'll try it. Yeah, yeah.
Alright, put your hands like this, alright?
Oh, my gosh. Alright.
Alright, sir. You good?
I'm gonna let go, okay?
Yeah! Alright, Alright.
Alright.
Whatever you do, don't sneeze!
Somehow, Eric has gotten this guy
to risk losing his phone.
But can he take it a step further?
I'm gonna ask you to do something crazy.
I'm gonna ask you to take your fingers
away from under the phone.
Oh, my gosh.
Are you willing to risk it?
Would you remove your fingers from your phone?
Well, so maybe you can start with one.
Oh, my gosh.
Good?
Are you ready, sir?
Remove your second finger. Do you trust me?
Would you trust your phone's life to this guy?
That's crazy!
It seems like a no brainer
if he takes his fingers away,
his phone will be sleeping with the fishes.
Is he crazy enough to take the risk?
Are you ready?
Yes.
Take off your finger, bro.
Oh, ho ho, snap!
Did you just say, "Oh, snap?"
Yes. That's crazy!
Eric rewarded this man's risk by blowing his mind.
When he told me to pull my finger away...
Take off your finger, bro.
I was like, wow, this is a bad idea.
I didn't know what to expect.
Oh, ho ho!
This man was willing to take the risk.
But will anyone else?
Are you serious?
Uhh...
As crazy as it seems, almost everyone went for it.
Oh, my God.
Get the out of here.
Ohhh!
Of course, not everyone was willing to risk it.
I don't think so.
These people took a big risk...
Ah!
...that seemed certain to end in disaster.
So why did they take the plunge?
I wanted to see if he could pull it off.
He kind of looked trusting, so I don't know,
I thought maybe I would get to see something cool.
The reward for taking such an irrational risk
was simply to find out what would happen.
What?
Curiosity is a trait hardwired in your brain.
It's why you're willing to take big risks
if it means reaping the rewards
of potentially mind-blowing discoveries.
Of course, curiosity doesn't mean you can be careless
when taking risks.
What was going through your mind
while we were holding the phone above the water? You must...
Oh, God.
Oh, no.
I'm so sorry.
Oh!
And while outcomes like this are simply unbelievable,
risk is often not as risky as it might seem.
That's amazing.
Oh, God. Oh, thank God.
If you can accurately predict the outcome of an event,
then betting on it becomes less risky.
We're going to play a game.
I'm going to make what might seem like a risky bet.
On your screen there are 16 squares.
I want you to choose any blue square.
It's entirely up to you.
During this game, you'll be making four simple moves.
Each move might have you going across one square,
or several squares.
And even though I can't exactly read your mind,
I bet when it's all over,
I'll accurately predict the square you landed on.
So would you bet that you can outsmart me?
Here we go.
Starting on the blue square of your choice,
move left or right to the nearest red square.
Next, move up or down to the nearest blue square.
Now, move diagonally to the nearest red square.
Finally, move either down or to the right
to the nearest blue square.
And that's it.
So clearly, you're not on any of the red squares,
so I'm going to remove them now.
That leaves eight choices.
Remember, if I take away the square you landed on,
you win the bet.
So I'm going to start with these two.
And I don't think you chose either of these two.
Or even this one.
Should I take away this one, or this one, or maybe this one?
So now it all comes down to these final two squares.
And I predict you are not on this square.
So that just leaves your square!
Which means my risky bet was actually a sure thing.
Pretty wild, huh?
Using a simple formula,
we were able to predict exactly where you were going to land
no matter what blue square you started on,
thus eliminating our risk of losing the bet.
And now that you know how the game works,
you can bet your friends, without any risk of losing!
But if you think we're just playing games, think again.
Insurance companies and casinos use complex mathematical models
to calculate risk to make sure they always make a profit.
It's why they say the house always wins.
But evaluating risk correctly
isn't always about winning or losing.
Sometimes it can mean the difference
between life and death.
Stop. Pay attention.
Which of the following activities
do you think is riskier
riding a roller coaster or riding a merry-go-round?
Riding a bicycle or walking down the street?
Being a shark diver or a cattle rancher?
If you said the riskier options are roller coaster,
bicycling, and shark diving,
you're just like most of the people we surveyed.
And just like them, you got it wrong.
It turns out that less than 10%
of amusement park-related injuries
are due to roller coasters,
while 20% are from merry-go-round mishaps.
And while bicycling can be tough,
over 4,000 pedestrians die each year
just walking down the street.
And even though Jaws seems a lot scarier than Bessie,
you're 11 times more likely to be killed by a cow.
When it comes to risking life and limb,
our brains' assumptions aren't always correct,
which makes it surprisingly difficult to evaluate risk...
correctly.
Just ask this guy.
Reptile expert Dr. Brady Barr.
He's a monster!
Brady's reward for taking huge physical risks
is getting up close and personal with some amazing animals...
and living to tell about it.
Here in South Africa,
Brady has spotted what looks to be a gigantic rock python,
Africa's largest species of snake.
That's the biggest snake I've ever seen!
Brady's job is to capture the snake
and measure its length.
I got it!
I lost it.
Dang it!
And follow along to find out
where you would call it quits if this was your job.
Here we go.
I see her, she sees me, too.
I don't know how we're gonna get this thing out of here.
Ahh! Ahh!
She got my hat!
Whoa! Would that be your signal to leave?
Ahh!
My face is within ahh!
To reduce the risk of injury,
Brady's using a bait to disarm the snake's jaws.
Would you risk a bite?
Come on. Bite it, bite it!
Ah! Ahh!
The snake bit Brady's wrist!
She got me on the wrist!
Are you ready to call it quits?
Most viewers would stop now.
But not Brady.
That's because his job is all about calculating big risks
for big rewards.
And we ended up capturing the python,
and she measured a whopping 13 feet, 4 inches.
Some people simply have
a higher tolerance for risk than others.
But why?
Are they simply born that way?
What if I told you there's a way to influence
how much you're willing to risk
that simply involves you keeping your eyes open?
Would you believe me?
I'll prove it in the next game.
We're here in the beautiful Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas
taking a look at how far people will go to win some money.
Alright, so here's how this is going to work.
You're each going to get a balloon
and a turn at our pump station, okay?
Now for the first five pumps, you're each going to get $10.
For the next five pumps, we're taking it up to $25 per pump.
Now after that, each pump is going to give you $50, okay?
Now keep in mind you can stop at any time
and take your money, or you can risk it all and keep going
and possibly burst the balloon and lose all your money.
Okay?
Seems simple enough.
But to make things more competitive,
we're splitting these volunteers into two teams
the green team and the red team.
The two teams won't see each other's scores
until the very end, so it's up to each player
to risk as much as possible for their team.
And to add another twist, we showed each team a short video
before they started the game
to see if it would influence their behavior.
We'll reveal the videos later,
but for now follow along to see who's going play it safe
and who's about to burst their bubble.
Here's our first player from the red team.
- Okay. - Feeling good?
- I'm ready. - Alright, brother.
One. Two pumps.
- Okay. - Three pumps.
- I'm ready. - Four pumps.
I'm ready.
That's $50. You want to keep going?
Yeah. Yeah. Keep going.
Would you keep pumping?
- That's $75. - Oh, my gosh.
- That's $100. - I'm ready.
- That's $125! - Oh!
Oh!
Man, you had 100 bucks in your pocket.
Oh!
I got too amped up.
That's zero for the red team.
Not a great start.
Here's our next player from the green team.
Alright, I'll count with you.
That's one, that's two, three, four, that's five.
You got $50. Do you want to keep going?
A little bit.
That's nine pumps.
Ah, ten is my goal.
Okay.
Would you stop here, or keep going?
I'll stop at ten, I'm good, I'm good.
I'm going to stop. That's it.
Nice work!
$175 a good start for the green team!
Now let's check in with the red team.
You're at $100. Are you sure you want to keep going?
That's nothing. I'm a gamblin' man.
Oh, oh! 125. 150.
Nah, that's not enough.
175.
The red team's catching up. Would you risk it?
That balloon don't blow.
That's $200!
But no! He went one pump too far!
Let's see how much this green player risks.
$125.
Alright, I'm going to stop right here.
- Nice work, man. - Alright.
The green team's in the lead at 300.
The red team's still at zero.
Does it seem like they're taking more risks?
Hopefully this woman plays it safe.
Alright, so you got 150 bucks. You sure you want to keep going?
Yeah, let's keep going.
And it looks like she could tie the green team.
Keep it up.
What's going on here?
Another red player risked too much!
Meanwhile, the green team is pulling ahead.
That's $100, man.
125.
I think that's good enough.
Would you have risked more than that?
It seems like the green team is playing it safe!
Now they're at 425,
and they've still got one player left to pump.
Come on, let's get 200.
Oh!
The red team is still down zero to 425 with one player left.
Can she win it for her team?
I'm doing it again, Jason.
Oh!
You are really going for it, aren't you?
No guts, no glory. I'm doing it again.
Okay!
Oh, that is a big balloon right there.
Oh!
Oh, I'm nervous for you now.
I'm going for it!
You're going for it.
Oh, you're gonna be rich!
Oh!
Although she doesn't know it,
she has single-handedly tied the green team's total.
She could stop now and take the money.
So you're at $425 right now.
Do you want to keep going? You could lose it all.
Would you risk it all for one more pump?
I want another $50.
You had $425! Why did you keep going?
I wanted more!
I was so hyped and I just wanted to just go, go, go.
So what's going on here?
No money, but you get a hug.
Why was the green team so cautious?
And what made the red team risk it all?
Remember those videos we mentioned before the game?
The green team saw one like this.
While the red team saw one like this.
Whoa!
You're enjoying that.
Wondering how these little videos
could have such a big influence?
Well, a recent study found that the faster your brain thinks,
the riskier you behave.
And even something as simple as a fast-paced video clip
can prime your brain...
Oh, my God!
...to think faster,
causing you to take bigger risks!
And what's fascinating about that is
the pace of your thinking can be manipulated!
You can speed it up with caffeine or sugar,
or slow it down through meditation.
So the next time you're about to take a big risk,
try to slow things down.
Take a long, deep breath and ask yourself,
is my brain being manipulated
or is this risk really worth the reward?