Predictably Irrational
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Ratings120
Average rating4.1
A look into what motivates us and how our hidden desires contribute to our behavior.
A look into what motivates us and how our hidden desires contribute to our behavior.
Predictably Irrational informs how ignorant we are about our irrational behaviors through stories and experiments. The ingenuity of the experiments, and the mere knowledge that the author himself is the one (of the many) who conducted them made the book much more enjoyable. Definitely the book to read if you want to feel smarter.
I read the book after watching Prof. Ariely and Prof. Kariv's debate in my college. Very interesting and makes you think about the daily decisions you take.
I literally just finished this yesterday. It came recommended by a good friend of mine.
It's all about how we are all not only irrational, but predictably so. A good example is seen in his example of the advert for a subscription to the Economist. The web-only subscription is $59, the print-only subscription is $125 and the print AND web subscription is $125. Most of his students picked the print and web subscription. But when the print-only subscription was removed, most students went for the web only. Nobody in either case picked the print-only subscription.
He explains that none of this has anything to do with rationality, but that the print-only subscription is placed deliberately as a decoy.
He looks at why we behave irrationaly when offered anything free, why a cheap asprin doesn't cure a headache quite so well as an expensive one, and so on. It was an enjoyable read, however I did find it to be a little repetitive and over long.
https://bigthink.com/the-present/honesty-pledge-study-fraud-dan-ariely/
The data was fake.
Great book if you're into behavioral economics or just fascination about human failures.
Full review at http://bookwi.se/predictably-irrational-by-dan-ariely/
Short review: If you want to know why people consistently make the same bad decisions, read this book. Great discussions about how to set up boundaries to help us make better decisions once we understand why we often make bad decisions.
This was a pretty interesting book, interesting enough to finish, but maybe not so much that I read it to the exclusion of all else. Regardless, I learned some cool things about how irrational we all are. Things like the effect of a thing's price on our decision to buy it or determine its effectiveness... the influence of arousal on decision-making (careful there!)... overvaluing possessions... the effect of expectations... and our propensity to cheat when the option is available to us. The author details many little experiments that he and his colleagues used to bolster his conclusions and I was amused at how many of them involved beer in some fashion. Clearly he's a smart man.
This book is useful psychology for the everyday person who just wants to understand why in the world people don't make any sense! It is based on scientific experiments rather than just anecdotes, but is written in a casual, understandable way. I had loads of fun with it, and learned something, too!
Ariely explains, “My goal, by the end of this book, is to help you fundamentally rethink what makes you and the people around you tick. I hope to lead you there by presenting a wide range of scientific experiments, findings, and anecdotes that are in many cases quite amusing. Once you see how systematic certain mistakes are—how we repeat them again and again—I think you will begin to learn how to avoid some of them.”
This YouTube playlist provides a decent overview of the main points made in the book.
Read my full review HERE.