How cognitive bias affects your draft strategy with neuroscience professor Dr. Renee Miller

Small, subtle, instinctual biases in our heads affect our everyday decisions. Many of them are helpful: don't go into the woods alone at night. Some of them can be less helpful. The fact of the matter is that human psychology is with us everywhere we go: especially when it's fantasy draft season.

On today's episode, Matt Harmon welcomes professor of brain and cognitive science Dr. Renee Miller onto the podcast to discuss how psychology affects our draft decisions, how to be aware of when our brains are lying to us and how to recognize when they're telling the truth.

Common offseason situations that all fantasy managers experience have a correlated cognitive bias that can be explained, and if you know how to take advantage of your awareness, it can give you a leg up on your leaguemates. Matt and Renee discuss how your brain gets excited about pre-season hype, overvalues the first few weeks of the regular season and doesn't take variance into account with rookies.

Give the show a listen — we promise you'll learn something about yourself that will help you make better decisions this draft season.

(2:30) - What is cognitive bias and how does it relate to fantasy football?

(12:45) - What are some strategies to combat your biases in draft season and beyond?

(35:00) - Specific player/team situations where you might fall into bias traps

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at Yahoo Sports Podcasts

Subscribe to the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast on your favorite podcast app:

🎧 Apple Podcasts

🎧 Spotify

🖥️ YouTube

📢 Check out the Yahoo Sports podcast network or yahoosports.tv

And check out Matt Harmon and Yahoo Fantasy on our socials:

📷 @YahooFantasy: https://www.instagram.com/YahooFantasy

⌚ @YahooFantasy: https://www.tiktok.com/@yahoofantasy

🐦 @YahooFantasy: https://x.com/YahooFantasy

🟦 @YahooFantasy: https://www.facebook.com/YahooFantasy/