Predictably Irrational

The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

by Dan Ariely

Number of pages: 280

Publisher: HarperCollins

BBB Library: Psychology and Strengths

ISBN: 9780061353239



About the Author

Dan is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. Through his research and his (often amusing and unorthodox) experiments, he questions the forces that influence human behavior and the irrational ways in which we often all behave.

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Editorial Review

Let us talk about human “irrationality”, about our distance from perfection. I believe that recognizing where we depart from the ideal is an important part of the quest to truly understanding ourselves, and one that promises many practical benefits. Understanding irrationality is important for our everyday actions and decisions and for understanding how we design our environment and the choices it presents to us.

Book Reviews

"Another sign that times are changing is Predictably Irrational, a book that both exemplifies and explains this shift in the cultural winds. Here, Dan Ariely, an economist at M.I.T., tells us that 'life with fewer market norms and more social norms would be more satisfying, creative, fulfilling and fun.'" The New York Times

"With Predictably Irrational, Ariely seeks “to help you fundamentally rethink what makes you and the people around you tick” (p. xii). Describing dozens of field experiments, Ariely explores the phenomenon of people making the same mistakes time and again in predictable ways .." The Objective Standard

"Unfortunately, as behavioral economist Dan Ariely points out in his book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions,” human beings cannot be counted on to act rationally. In fact, our irrational behavior is so ingrained, it’s possible to predict individuals’ illogical reactions in almost any dilemma." Money Crashers

"We are not as smart as we think we are. And as independent as we may think we are, we make decisions that are both irrational and predictable, even quantifiable. In his New York Times bestseller, Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, explores the impulses behind our decisions and our misguided trust in our ability to always see past our emotions." The Discarded Image

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Wisdom to Share

Expectations shape stereotypes. A stereotype, after all, is a way of categorizing information, in the hope of predicting experiences.

Research on stereotypes shows that stereotyped people react differently when they are aware of the label that they are forced to wear.

When our irrational self comes alive in an emotional place we think is familiar but in fact isn’t, we might fail to protect ourselves.

We must be wary of situations in which our Mr. Hyde may take over.

Once market norms enter our considerations, the social norms depart.

It is difficult for us to imagine that the person on the other side of the transaction, buyer or seller, is not seeing the world as we see it.

Much of our life story can be told by describing the ebb and flow of our particular possessions; what we get and what we give up.

The concept of zero also applies to time; time spent on one activity, after all, is time taken away from another.

It’s no secret that getting something free feels very good. Zero is not just another price, it turns out.

We should also pay particular attention to the first decision we make in what is going to be a long stream of decisions.

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