Product Description

Why do our headaches persist after taking a 1p aspirin but disappear when we take a 50p aspirin?

Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?

Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full?

When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we?

In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.

Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same types of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable--making us predictably irrational.

From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. Predictably Irrational will change the way we interact with the world--one small decision at a time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-03
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and New York Times bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness
"Filled with clever experiments, engaging ideas, and delightful anecdotes. Dan Ariely is a wise and amusing guide to the foibles, errors, and bloopers of everyday decision making."

Charles Schwab, Chairman and CEO, The Charles Schwab Corporation
"The most difficult part of investing is managing your emotions. Dan explains why that is so challenging for all of us, and how recognizing your built-in biases can help you avoid common mistakes."

Jerome Groopman, Recanati Chair of Medicine, Harvard Medical School,and New York Times bestselling author of How Doctors Think
"A marvelous book that is both thought-provoking and highly entertaining, ranging from the power of placebos to the pleasures of Pepsi. Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us, and shows us how we can prevent being fooled."

Customer Reviews

Have you ever wondered . . . . ?
Have you gone to the shops for something and come away with something completely different? Do you make decisions that you sit back later and wonder what on earth led you to make them? Dan Ariely is a researcher at MIT who has looked at our decisions in the world, why we make them and also what use is made of the decisions in the marketplace. Reading this has given me a depper understanding of some of the Psychology behind marketing and I think I have actually changed my approach when out shopping. What does the second item cost when you "buy one get one free"?

And you thought you could not be manipulated!!
This book is one of a very small group of books where I can say they really changed my views. I fell into every trap - of course I knew how I made decisions, and I was far too sensible to be manipulated by others - wrong!! This is a fascinating books which describes clearly, simply and credibly how (amongst other things) our purchasing decisions are not based on real value but on perceived values, and how those perceived values can be imprinted by otherswithout our realising. This book should be mandatory reading for all, in order to give us a fair chance against the clever people whose sole aim is to control our actions for their own benefit. PLEASE READ THIS!!

People Are Predictably Interested In More Than Money
Only a professor of behavioral economics would conclude that when people respond to motives other than money they are being predictably irrational. If you want to see some clever experiments that demonstrate that people are interested in things other than money, read this book.

I would like to observe, however, that such experiments have to be taken with a grain of salt when people know that they are experiments or reflect unexpected questions rather than serious looks at on-going behavior in areas where people have a lot of experience. For instance, the book looks at whether and at what price Duke students will sell basketball tickets they have just put a lot of effort into getting. Clearly, there are factors other than profit that motivated the buying in the first place. Most students probably wanted to get lucky and go to the game. Selling a ticket under these circumstances denies the opportunity to go to the game. A ticket broker would make a rational decision about whether to hire students to try get a ticket this way, but a student who does this a few times wouldn't. Study the ticket broker and you'll get more economic behavior. Study the student who wants to go the game and you won't. So why should we be surprised?

I remember being a subject of a lot of these experiments as a student. If the experiment struck me as particularly stupid, I would often feel rebellious and do things to act in noneconomic ways just to prove I was a person. I didn't see that effects like those are being studied here.

If you want to learn about human behavior, I suggest you study all of the motives . . . not just try to understand the economic motives.

In addition, some of the experiments probably depend in part on the common meaning of certain words being different than the definition that a professor would use. I think the experiments about certainty and probability wording may be tainted by that problem.

Professor Ariely is a clever fellow, but I think he stretches his conclusions further than they deserve. He's also interested in finding ways to make people look stupid rather than appreciating the genius that most people exhibit routinely. I couldn't help feeling that there was too much economic motive in his desire to write this book (a P.T. Barnum approach rather than trying to truly educate).