Gresham College provides outstanding educational talks and videos for the public free of charge. There are over 2,500 videos available on our website. Your support will help us to encourage people's love of learning for many years to come.
Amelia Dyer was one of the most prolific murderers in Victorian Britain. She made a living as a “baby farmer”, or someone paid to care for unwanted or abandoned infants – except she killed around 400 of them. How could a mother and nurse murder so many defenceless babies?
Sound investment decisions are critical for our long-term financial future. But psychological biases can lead investors to make costly mistakes – overconfidence can cause them to trade too much, and the reluctance to take a loss can encourage them to throw good money after bad.
The Brothers Grimm’s tale of Snow White has been retold dozens of times in print and the cinema over the past two centuries. A central character is the Evil Queen, Snow White’s malevolent stepmother, who tries to kill her with the help of the occult.
Psychological studies show that humans overweight tangible factors and underweight intangible ones when making decisions. This talk shows how these biases affect the stock market – it focuses excessively on short-term profit, but ignores environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
Eve was the original Evil Woman. She was tempted by Satan, introducing sin into the world. In turn, she seduced Adam, bringing the wrath of the Creator upon humanity for all eternity.
The Efficient Market Hypothesis argues that stock markets are rational – they take into account all relevant information, and incorporate it in an unbiased way. This talk will present evidence that stock prices are instead driven by human psychology.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating. But one silver lining has been the tremendous responses from businesses and individual citizens, as we’ve realised how even small actions can have a substantial effect on society.
This talk will explore the “growth mindset”, the evidence-based view that talents are developed rather than genetic. It provides practical tips on how to develop new skills with limited time, and highlights the importance of pushing yourself outside your comfort zone.
This talk will explain how to discern what and who to trust, how to know whether evidence is causation or just a correlation, and how to overcome the temptation to accept views that we agree with.
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