Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

Oct 09, 2008 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: behavioural-economics, social-theory, science

It is important that you move this one up your list of books that you have to read. This is a particularly great book. My dear friend Graham recommended I read this book. He has recommended four books to me – and the only one I couldn’t finish was “My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist: A novel” by Mark Leyler – but he did recommend, “The Tetherballs of Bougainville” also by Leyler and that is still one of the most remarkable books I’ve ever read. I haven't written a review of that book, but where th...more

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Mar 24, 2008 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2008

All classic economic theories are based on the assumption that consumers behave rationally, despite a considerable body of evidence to the contrary. It is only in the last 25 years that economists have begun to investigate the irrational side of consumer behavior. This field of investigation, which started with the pioneering work of Tversky and Kahneman, is usually referred to as behavioral economics.

Dan Ariely's book, "Predictably Irrational", offers a clear and comprehensive overview of thi...more

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Jun 23, 2008 Darin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ariely is a good writer whose book catches onto the _Freakonomics_ craze by taking a look at times when people make different decisions that typical "laissez faire" economic theories would expect. His book is a fairly easy read and does include some surprising results through social-science experimentation.

However, the text is not without its flaws. For instance, some of the breathlessly-reported "surprising" results aren't all that surprising or even controversial. For instance, the effect of...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, nonfiction, read-2012, brain

There’s a generalization that people make that really gets me. It’s the idea that people naturally prefer or practice competition over collaboration or cooperation. Usually this is said as a way to dismiss any attempt to address inequalities in America and to explain why capitalism is the only choice. And socialism or any hybrid economic system is doomed. Doomed! There are several reasons the acceptance of individual competition over striving for the group’s overall well-being seems to be a soci...more There’s a generalization that people make that really gets me. It’s the idea that people naturally prefer or practice competition over collaboration or cooperation. Usually this is said as a way to dismiss any attempt to address inequalities in America and to explain why capitalism is the only choice. And socialism or any hybrid economic system is doomed. Doomed! There are several reasons the acceptance of individual competition over striving for the group’s overall well-being seems to be a social norm rather than an innate human trait. And even if it was an innate human trait, I believe we can rise above it. While working together is a shared value in my family, living in Japan showed me it could be a bigger social norm. There are other reasons I question the all-out assumption that competition trumps collaboration, but let’s go with those two.

When I picked up Predictably Irrational, I was worried that the book was going to give me absolute arguments similar to the one I outlined above. It’s the way it is because people practice it that way. Instead, I believe if I brought this observation to Ariely he would say something like: Why do you think that is? How are the innate human traits reinforced by society to make something more commonly practiced?

Ariely describes his interest in understanding individuals and their behavior in groups based on a fire accident. Ariely suffered third degree burns from an explosion. The recovery period isolated Ariely. And that isolation brought him a new perception of people. I believe that it can also happen when you live in another country. Living in Japan, I frequently felt separate from those around me. And while my feelings of isolation were not as deep as Ariely, there many occasions where I felt like I was observing people around me with new eyes. In other words, I take Ariely to be the kind of person who could acknowledge that people are both competitive and collaborative. And he would be equally interested in what social norms brought out one behavior more so than the other.

That said – his tests (usually of MIT, Harvard or Stanford students) often left me with more questions. For example when given three choices – with one being a decoy choice – 75% of students took the bait and chose the one researchers wanted them to choose. And I would think – what’s happening with that other 25%. Because in my mind – 25% is still a lot of people. What were they thinking?

Another section discusses how people see themselves as mostly honest. When given the opportunity to cheat, they mostly self-regulate even with intentional leeway to cheat more and not get caught. However the further people are from money the more likely they are to cheat. For example, if you take an expense account and have a procedure of receipts and involve another person (an assistant who submits them), these buffers (from the actual cash) lead to a situation where people are more likely to cheat on their expense accounts.
In July 2010, my house was flooded. I experienced five feet of water in my basement. FEMA and then later the SBA visited me. And there was a procedure much like Ariely describes. If anything, I underestimated the cost of the damages. This may be because I was warned that if I was found to be lying, I would have to return the money. But at several times I was encouraged to really be sure that I was certain of my reporting because the estimate could go down, but it could never go up. And I should include things that could later be taken out. Perhaps those conversations were a bit like signing an honesty code. However, I do the same thing – underreport my expenses – with my expense account at work. Perhaps that's just me being part of the (figurative) 25%.

What I appreciate about Ariely’s presentation of research is that he doesn't box himself into saying this is the way humans behave. Rather – if you consider these conditions – asking people to sign an honor code – you encourage this kind of behavior – greater rates of honesty.
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Feb 22, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Nishant Singh

Shelves: reviews, favorites

Written in the tried-and-tested and bestselling tradition of the Malcolm Gladwell books and the Frekonomics clones, Dan Ariely's book too is an entertaining and counter-intuitive look at the world around us.

While I am getting more and more inured to this way of analysis of behavioral economics and physchology, these kinds of books are still hard to resist - that is because they do, no matter if they have now become an industry doling out similiar books by the dozens, still stretch our perspecti...more Written in the tried-and-tested and bestselling tradition of the Malcolm Gladwell books and the Frekonomics clones, Dan Ariely's book too is an entertaining and counter-intuitive look at the world around us.

While I am getting more and more inured to this way of analysis of behavioral economics and physchology, these kinds of books are still hard to resist - that is because they do, no matter if they have now become an industry doling out similiar books by the dozens, still stretch our perspectives about the things we normally take for granted or think unworthy of a second thought. In that sense then, this book was "unputdownable" and "highly instructive".

One of my favorite passages from the book is as follows -

"I suspect that one answer lies in the realm of social norms. As we learned in our experiments, cash will take you only so far—social norms are the forces that can make a difference in the long run. Instead of focusing the attention of the teachers, parents, and kids on test scores, salaries, and competitions, it might be better to instill in all of us a sense of purpose, mission, and pride in education. To do this we certainly can't take the path of market norms. The Beatles proclaimed some time ago that you "Can't Buy Me Love" and this also applies to the love of learning—you can't buy it; and if you try, you might chase it away.

So how can we improve the educational system? We should probably first rethink school curricula, and link them in more obvious ways to social goals (elimination of poverty and crime, elevation of human rights, etc.), technological goals (boosting energy conservation, space exploration, nanotechnology, etc.), and medical goals (cures for cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc.) that we care about as a society. This way the students, teachers, and parents might see the larger point in education and become more enthusiastic and motivated about it.

We should also work hard on making education a goal in itself, and stop confusing the number of hours students spend in school with the quality of the education they get. Kids can get excited about many things (baseball, for example), and it is our challenge as a society to make them want to know as much about Nobel laureates as they now know about baseball players. I am not suggesting that igniting a social passion for education is simple; but if we succeed in doing so, the value could be immense."

This is in the same wavelength as some of my thoughts on education -

The point is not to have a vocation oriented educational system, but rather to have a Goal-Oriented one...

I think that the abstractness in what the students want to achieve is a problem arising directly from an abstract education.

A system which promotes and encourages students to fix goals in life early and then helps them in moving towards it and rewards them for moving towards it is my vision of Utopia in Education :) -

There will not be specific courses and subjects being taught in schools and universities but there will be Goal-oriented teams formed with advisors for them and they work together to learn, understand and develop themselves in any field or knowledge that is required to fulfill their stated goals...

I am hoping to convert this idea on education into a short story or incorporate it into my ongoing novel. So the book helped me crystallize that thought.

Sorry for the tangent. Getting back to the book, one more caveat - the author loses the plot a bit in the middle chapters. The beginning chapters about relativity and the power of zero were amusing and fun and the last two chapters on honesty is amazing, but the chapters in between was a bit of a drag.

Despite my mocking tone and slightly negative review, I will hurry to say that it is a very good purchase for anyone who enjoyed Gladwell's books or others of that genre, and also for marketeers and businessmen and maybe even for policy makers.

Despite sugar coating the book with the requirements of this genre/industry, Dan does raise some poignant questions about human nature and consumer behaviour that is worth pondering over. In the final analysis then, I enjoyed the book and will read it again, and hence, five stars.(less)

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May 06, 2011 Verycleanteeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ch1:
Explores the ability of a decoy option to determine outcomes.
(The economist subscription, travel to rome or france w/free breakfast)

Ch2:
Our first experience becomes our anchor point that future instances are pegged to and rebound towards like a rubber band.

Anchor points are hard to change, but new anchor points can be created wholecloth by giving people a new experience (starbucks vs. dunkin donuts)

Ch3:
The power of FREE! to disguise the actual cost we pay. The difference between 0 and 1 is...more

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Aug 01, 2008 Jamie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's only about the middle of the year, but I think Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational is a shoe-in for my favorite non-fiction book of 2008. When I was studying psychology one of my favorite topics was judgment and decision-making, which dealt in large part with the kinks in the human mind that could lead us to irrational behavior and decisions. Why are you likely to pay more for something if you are shown a large number completely unrelated to the price? Why do people who read words like "eld...more It's only about the middle of the year, but I think Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational is a shoe-in for my favorite non-fiction book of 2008. When I was studying psychology one of my favorite topics was judgment and decision-making, which dealt in large part with the kinks in the human mind that could lead us to irrational behavior and decisions. Why are you likely to pay more for something if you are shown a large number completely unrelated to the price? Why do people who read words like "elderly," "decrepit," or "senior" tend to walk more slowly when they get up and leave the room? Why does losing a dollar cause us more pain than gaining a dollar gives us pleasure? Why are we more likely to buy a product we're not even shopping for or don't even need if we're given a free sample? And, perhaps most importantly, how do people in the know --people like advertisers, politicians, and psychology graduate students-- use these ideosycracities to subtly manipulate us?

These are the kinds of questions that Ariely, a professor at MIT, discusses under the rubric of "behavioral economics." Each chapter is dedicated to a particular concept, like the anchoring effect, priming, social norms, supply and demand, procrastination, loss avoidance, the effects of price on perception, and the like. Ariely usually chats you up a bit about the concept, then walks you through a scenario or hypothetical situation that invites you to make predictions about human behavior, then comes at you with some findings from scientific research (often experiments that he's done himself) that turns your assumptions on their little figurative ears.

Ariely's style is great --conversational, to the point, made relevant to some part of your life, and easy to follow despite navigating some tricky twists of the human psyche. And it's not just dry recitations of clinical psychology experiments --everything talked about here is ensconced in everyday life. For example, this book should win some award for describing some fascinating research on the effects of sexual arousal on decision making. Let's just say that it involved naughty pictures, experimenter issued laptops covered in protective Seran Wrap, and answering some very odd questions while in the throes of ...well, you know. I'm now more disappointed than ever that all of my extra credit in college psychology classes was never earned from anything so interesting. I just had to look at ink blots and fill out the MMPI over and over again.

Really, anyone with even an ounce of curiosity about how the human mind works --or fails to work-- within the context of every day life should find a lot of fascinating material in this book. You should definitely pick it up. And then, preferably, read it.(less)

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Apr 03, 2008 MattA rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

A thought-provoking book on behavioral economics. Why do we make the choices that we do? What is our motivation? Why are seemingly irrational choices made over and over? The author's natural, readable style allows the laymen easy access to his academic research and the conclusions he draws on these topics. I especially liked the author's basic emprical approach. There isn't hardly a proposition or theory in the book that hasn't been tested via experiment.

I don't agree that everything the author...more A thought-provoking book on behavioral economics. Why do we make the choices that we do? What is our motivation? Why are seemingly irrational choices made over and over? The author's natural, readable style allows the laymen easy access to his academic research and the conclusions he draws on these topics. I especially liked the author's basic emprical approach. There isn't hardly a proposition or theory in the book that hasn't been tested via experiment.

I don't agree that everything the author presents as "irrational" is actually "irrational." What does "irrational" mean, anyway? In the introduction, the author casts irrationality as "distance from perfection." To me that definition doesn't fit. Just because you aren't making perfect choices, doesn't make you irrational. It may mean that you simply lack perfect information about your situation or about the final outcome stemming from your choices. Or it may mean that the economist studying the situation (and judging things to be irrational) simply doesn't understand all of the costs and benefits being considered by the consumer. If a researcher doesn't fully understand what motivates a person, how can he consider them "irrational?"

Or it could mean that the economist isn't using the right tool to judge the behavior. I especially dug into the third chapter, on "The Cost of Zero Cost." I think if the author had analyzed that chapter's examples in terms of benefit/cost ratio rather than absolute benefit, then the consumer behavior described would make a lot more sense.

Toward the end of the book, however, the author started digging into topics that did start to cut closer to the irrational, specifically on the topic of dishonesty. Via a variety of experiments the author shows how people's honesty can be nudged this way or that way by exposing them to different conditioning (like being told to think about the Ten Commandments before a test). Or how people are more likely to steal things rather than money, even if the value of the money matches the value of the item being stolen. The book demonstrates how stark economic assessments of cost and benefit can be fundamentally different from the way people actually view the world.

In the end I found this a readable and captivating book. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in "popular economics", if you will. If you liked "The Undercover Economist" you'll probably like this book too.(less)

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Apr 01, 2008 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: business-economics, psychology, non-fiction, own

As a social psychologist, I have been trained to scoff at all "behavioral economists" because they often claim to have recently discovered that individuals do not always behave "rationally". Furthermore, they seem to brilliantly deduce that the only way to accurately predict how humans actually behave is to test behavior/decision making empirically. Of course, social psychologists have been doing this for over half a century without much public fanfare or guest spots on "MSNBC" or "CNN" every ti...more As a social psychologist, I have been trained to scoff at all "behavioral economists" because they often claim to have recently discovered that individuals do not always behave "rationally". Furthermore, they seem to brilliantly deduce that the only way to accurately predict how humans actually behave is to test behavior/decision making empirically. Of course, social psychologists have been doing this for over half a century without much public fanfare or guest spots on "MSNBC" or "CNN" every time people want to know how consumers make decisions.

With this clear bias of mine in mind, this isn't a bad book. Ariely at least gives full credit to Tversky and Kahneman's influence on his work (both psychologists), and he describes his experiments in clear, easy-to-understand language for the non-scientist reader. The big "however" with this book is Ariely's tendency to extrapolate beyond the results of his studies with recommendations concerning public policy and personal solutions for individuals. Not that his advice is necessarily wrong, but it should always be made clear where the data stop and the personal advice begins. I would recommend this book to my non-social psychologist friends.

My notes and quotes:

Ariely is a behavioral economist from Israel. Much of his work is closely related to Tversky and Kanneman’s work, although he has taken it in many new directions, but it is usually related to consumer behavior in some way.

*** He describes how money is often the most expensive way to motivate people. Instead, he suggests using social norms to do so. But he also warns the rules are different when you enter social norms into a relationship as opposed to market norms. The same rules that you use in relationships apply rather than the financial assessment of how much certain behaviors are worth. So if a business tries to develop social norms to increase productivity, they can’t all of a sudden introduce market norms without expecting a decrease in loyalty, etc.

*** He spends some time talking about the influence of arousal on decision making, or specifically how we believe we will make a particular decision when in cold, rational states than we end up making when we are highly aroused. His specific studies have examined sexual decision making and how people are more than twice as likely to rate their likelihood of engaging in various sexual behaviors as high when they are aroused vs. when they are not. This is highly relevant to things like abstinence training programs and even safe sex programs. The best prevention is to prevent the high level of arousal or the opportunity in the first place, but if arousal does occur to make sure people are trained to have what they need available “just in case”. The same principles apply for the faulty predictions of how we would behave under any emotional or motivational state, such as hunger. Another example is pregnant women not wanting to use pain medication during birth. They make the decision beforehand, but often change their mind once the pain begins because they cannot predict how they will feel during that state. One technique he offers to test this is to have a woman hold her hand into a bucket of ice for two minutes while practicing her breathing. If she is able to handle it without trouble she might be able to handle childbirth more reasonably.

*** His next section concerns procrastination and various methods of dealing with it. He divided his class into three sections, one where they got to pick their own deadlines, but once they were chosen they were firm; one where the deadlines were firmly established by the instructor; and one where there were no deadlines, they just had to submit their papers by the end of the quarter. The forced deadlines condition did best, the ones who chose their own deadlines did second, and the no deadlines condition performed the worst on the paper. He suggests the development of more external controls that we can select to prevent us from having to face temptation (to procrastinate, to spend, etc.) in the first place. By setting up our own deadlines/goals that are set in stone, we can head off our self regulation tendencies and just follow the designated structure.

*** His next section relates to when and why people cheat. He found that for many tasks where people are unsupervised, they fail to cheat as much as they possibly can, even when no one will find out, but they almost always cheat a little. This is because in small circumstances like that people don’t really consider what they are doing as wrong. In other words, small infractions don’t typically bring to mind codes of conduct we have available for moral decisions. Instead they just sweep the transgression under the rug without thinking about it. But if people were reminded of a moral code (like the 10 commandments) they wouldn’t cheat at all. The key is to make morality accessible so that the decision will be framed in moral terms. He also suggests oaths and guilds might make ethics in business more likely because people would frame their decisions more on the code of conduct of their organization/profession instead of not really thinking about it.

*** He continues on with his cheating work, but extends it to the difference between cash and non-cash currencies. When people are playing a game for cash they are much more likely to tell the truth about how much they earned (because the cash is a concrete reminder of how important the decision is) compared to when they play the game for tokens or credit of some kind. The problem is that people think there decisions are always made based on the same moral code regardless of the form of money they use. But in reality, the more concrete and meaningful a currency is, the more likely we are to frame our decisions in terms of market norms, and moral judgment. Some of the examples for non-monetary transactions are wardrobing or returning clothes after wearing them once; expense reports; taxes; insurance overestimations; or stealing anything that isn’t directly related to cash in general.

*** He ends his book with a website for his book (www.predictablyirrational.com), and mentions that you can sign up for one of his studies from the site. (less)

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Apr 06, 2008 Yulia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Besides being a prolific researcher, Ariely is a very lucid writer and he's good at explaining the logic behind his study designs and the broader implications of their results. I just find it amusing that MIT classifies him as a behavioral economist when in any other university he'd be a member of the psychology department (like the other academics whose work he cites).

On a somewhat tangential note, he lists the Ten Commandments in an appendix (after noting a study on how listing as many as you...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Steven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone with the mildest interest economics or psychology

Shelves: non-fiction, economics

This is a really interesting and accessible read about behavioral economics. Ariely pokes holes in the economic supposition that all people act in their rational best interest by showing ways in which people consistently make irrational decisions. The book is set up in an easy to understand manner; each chapter poses a simple question about human decision-making, demonstrates that most or all people are irrational in this type of decision with an experiment or two, and then muses about implicati...more

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Nov 07, 2008 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Another book that looks at human behavior, and how we don't behave logically even when we are sure we do. This follows the same well-worn path of Sway, Freakonomics, and Blink, and after having read those, there wasn't a lot new here.
Yes, humans see credit differently than cash. Ariely uses that premise to show how easy it is for companies such as Enron to steal vast sums without feeling the same as a mugger taking money from an old lady's purse, despite the end result being the same.
People are...more

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Oct 22, 2008 Anthony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone. seriously.

Recommended to Anthony by: npr

Shelves: law-school-procrastination, cogsci, science

This is the best book I've read all week (never mind that it's the only book I've read this week). While not philosophy, it should be required for all philosophers who talk about rationality and agency, as well as social scientists, and for that matter everyone. Ariely gives concise and clear descriptions of his experiments going back several years, and extrapolates general forces affecting our choices and motivations. These vary from findings that basically prove what should be common sense (SU...more

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Sep 28, 2008 Mary rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was somewhat entertaining, but I can't really recommend it. The author does experiments with college students and beer, and extrapolates this into a world view. Most of his applications are anecdotal.
Here's an example on p. 215: "Iran is another example of a nation stricken by distrust. An Iranian student at MIT told me that business there lacks a platform of trust. Because of this, no one pays in advance, no one offers credit, and no one is willing to take risks. People must hire with...more

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Jul 30, 2008 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: librarybooks

‘Think how hard physics would be if particles could think.’

While it is comforting to know that so many decisions are made on from irrational bases, it is discomforting to be made quite so aware of it. No, I take that back: it is quite reassuring to know that while the principles of logic have their place, people are influenced by other factors.
Professor Ariely explains some of the factors that influence our decisionmaking: from the influence of emotions to the sometimes agonising choice between...more

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Jul 13, 2008 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Here are just a few tidbit's I've learned:

-If you're ever going to a bar, trying to score a little bit of lovin', bring a friend who looks very similar to you - only a little uglier. That way you'll look like the ideal candidate, not just compared to your friend but to everyone else there.

-People are more likely to steal things once removed from cash than cash - ie. the Enron crew who stole millions of dollars from the retirement pensions of little old ladies, but would they ever have snatched 1...more

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Nov 19, 2008 Jess rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just finished it Nov. 18th 2008. Great look at how psychology intersects with economics and influences our behavior. We are not rational creatures but studies can predict how we will deviate from expected economic principles.

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Jan 12, 2013 Donna Brown rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amazon-vine

Any book that seems to predict your behaviour is both intriguing and, let's face it, a bit scary. I started this book with a measure of cynicism - everyone seems to be cashing in on the self-help style book these days. Well, I don't mind eating some humble pie - I was wrong.

To start, this isn't a self-help book. It's a study of human nature. But that's not to say it doesn't offer some advice on how we can combat these 'hidden forces'. Each chapter covers an area of our 'predictable irrationality...more Any book that seems to predict your behaviour is both intriguing and, let's face it, a bit scary. I started this book with a measure of cynicism - everyone seems to be cashing in on the self-help style book these days. Well, I don't mind eating some humble pie - I was wrong.

To start, this isn't a self-help book. It's a study of human nature. But that's not to say it doesn't offer some advice on how we can combat these 'hidden forces'. Each chapter covers an area of our 'predictable irrationality' and Ariely uses straightforward experiments to support his theories. For example, let me tell you one part of the book that applied to me.

I used to pick up a coffee on the way to work two or three times a week for about £1.20. It was decent enough coffee and a nice treat. One day I passed by my local Cafe Nero. I bought a cup for £2.15. It's a bigger cup, much nicer coffee. Next time I pass I'm buy it again. Soon I'm buying it five days a week because that's become normal. I don't even think about it - it's as habitual as my three meals a day.

Then I read this book and to tell the truth I felt slightly sick when I read the part of the book where Ariely describes exactly this type of scenario. I sat back and thought, "I've gone from spending £2.40 a week to £10.75". I went cold turkey and stopped my daily coffee!

It's a bit of a waffly point I know but what I'm trying to highlight is that Ariely's book holds up a mirror. Think you're above irrationality? Think again. I have a friend who has now bought the book and half way through she admits to being as freaked out as me.

It's well written, not too wordy, not condescending, funny in parts and I should imagine most people would be able to identify with some parts. The downside? Ariely offers some ways to rise above this 'predictable irrationality' but by the end of the book I almost felt like there was a sort of resigned 'well, we can try but we are who we are' feel. However, let's be fair, Ariely is one man and one man can only do so much.

An excellent book and one I would certainly recommend but don't be surprised if it makes you look a little harder at yourself. But you never know - it might save you the £8 a week it's now saving me, so it's got to be worth it!(less)

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Aug 07, 2011 Roberto Macias added it · review of another edition

Predictably disappointing. Don't get me wrong, there is a reason why the book got 3.5 stars, and it is a book worth reading. It is not, however, a giant paradigm shift, as the author claims. He does have some interesting research results to share with the reader, and the narration is delectable. For one who assumes that people make mistakes (including oneself), there is only a few revealing chapters.

There are some that show interesting results and provide some insight into decission making. The...more

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Jun 08, 2009 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: marketing, audible, brain-related

This is an interesting look at how an individual's decision-making process is often at odds with what is objectively beneficial for him or her. Seems a tad repetitive at times, but the examples and studies outlined are undeniably fascinating and help illuminate factors that producers and marketers need to take into account in approaching a potential audience. This would be a great tandem read with Martin Lindstrom's Buyology, which looks at the brain science underlying human desires and wants.

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Mar 01, 2009 Kwame rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This interesting book adds to the infusion of psychology into the arena of economics aka Behavioral Economics. Through a series of experiments, the author confirms the idea that the assumptions of perfect rationality that standard economics texts make do not always stand. Unlike many who argue that these findings overturn the classical view, I am not at all sure that that assumption is correct because the author still confirms that despite the inability of most people to make quick comparisons a...more

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Feb 22, 2009 Peeds rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

This is a very absorbing book about Behavioral Economics by Dan Ariely that makes you wonder if you really think rationally when making choices. It is about how “decoys” are used by merchants to confuse you about your choices, and how you would typically react to them. This book gives you numerous examples that show how we can be influenced to make irrational decisions in making choices such as buying magazine subscription, a DVD player, or a house. There are many experiments that the author des...more

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Jan 22, 2009 Marius rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent book by an MIT professor describing various experiments in the field of behavioral economics. This field attempts to give some practical insights into why classical economics fails to reliably predict marketplace behavior; further, he argues that these irrational tendencies are predictable and measurable parts of human nature with far reaching consequences for interpersonal relations, commercial choices and public policy. Written in a very accessible style which allows the reader to ge...more

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May 30, 2013 Lark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ariely presents fifteen different ways where humans believe they are acting rationally - but in actuality, environmental factors and other secondary circumstances impact us so much that we behave counter to how logic would predict we should act. Essentially he tells us when we are predictably irrationally, as the title implies.

I liked this book a lot. Some of it was new, some of it I had already heard and read about (such as the trust in companies, the bit of price and pills like Tylenol correla...more

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May 07, 2013 Jorge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: social-science

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

"Predictably Irrational" is a fascinating look at irrational human behavior. Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, Dan Ariely leads the readers on what makes us tick by presenting a wide range of scientific experiments, findings, and anecdotes that are amusing and enlightening. This insightful 384-page book is composed of the following fifteen chapters: 1. The Truth about Relativity Why...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Theerasak Maneeneim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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เป็นเรื่องราวทางวิชาการแบบสนุกๆ อ่านไปก็แอบยิ้มไป เพราะผู้แต่ก็ชอบใส่เรื่องราวให้เราได้ อึ้ง ทึ่ง เสียว ปนขำๆ เป็นระยะ

หนังสือเล่มนี้เป็นเรื่องราวแนวๆ จิตวิทยา + เศรษฐศาสตร์ ให้เราได้เข้าใจถึงพฤติกรรมของตัวเราเอง โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่ง ... มนุษย์เนี่ยเป็นพวกที่โคตรไม่มีเหตุผลเอาเสียเลย

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เป็นเรื่องราวทางวิชาการแบบสนุกๆ อ่านไปก็แอบยิ้มไป เพราะผู้แต่ก็ชอบใส่เรื่องราวให้เราได้ อึ้ง ทึ่ง เสียว ปนขำๆ เป็นระยะ

หนังสือเล่มนี้เป็นเรื่องราวแนวๆ จิตวิทยา + เศรษฐศาสตร์ ให้เราได้เข้าใจถึงพฤติกรรมของตัวเราเอง โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่ง ... มนุษย์เนี่ยเป็นพวกที่โคตรไม่มีเหตุผลเอาเสียเลย

ไม่เชื่อเหรอครับ ...

อืมมม สมมตินะครับ ... สมมติว่าคุณต้องการซื้ออะไรบางอย่างถามว่า

- ถ้ามันลดราคาจาก 50 บาท ลงมาเหลือ 20 บาท คุณจะซื้อมันไหม .... คุณอาจจะคิดดูก่อน
- แล้วถ้ามันลดราคาจาก 50 บาท เหลือ 10 บาทหล่ะ ..... คุณอาจจะยังลังเล
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คุณสงสัยบ้างไหมว่าทำไมไอ้ 0 บาทเนี่ย เป็นสิ่งที่คุณปฏิเสธมันได้ยากเย็นเหลือเกินทั้งๆ ที่บางทีมันอาจจะไม่ใช่สิ่งที่คุณต้องการ บางทีเอากลับบ้านไป ก็ต้องเอาไปวางทิ้งไว้ที่มุมไหนซักมุมของบ้านอีกแถมเกะกะแถมรกอีกต่างหาก

คุณไม่สงสัยบ้างเหรอ ว่าทำไมคุณเลือกซื้อของที่มัน "ซื้อ 1 แถม 1" ทั้งๆ ที่บ้างทีมันอาจจะไม่ใช่ยี่ห้อที่คุณตั้งใจจะไปซื้อตอนแรก

Dan Ariely เป็นศาสตราจารย์ อยู่ที่มหาวิทยาลัย MIT ได้เล่าเรื่องราวการทดลองสนุกๆ ของเขาเกี่ยวกับพฤติกรรมที่ไม่มีเหตุผลเหล่านี้ของมนุษย์ แล้วอธิบายเราว่ามันเกิดอะไรขึ้นกับสมองของเรา ทำไมมนุษย์มักทำสิ่งที่ไร้เหตุผล (แต่คาดเดาได้เหล่านี้)

เป็นหนังสือวิชาการสนุกๆ แจ่มๆ ที่อยากจะแนะนำให้เพื่อนๆ อ่านจริงๆ ครับ(less)

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Apr 16, 2013 Claire-France Perez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Why is too much never enough? Why did she pick him? Where is reason?

These questions about our own or about the behavior of others are what motivated Arely to follow through as a social scientist after a long experience of suffering at the hands of "kindly nurses."

To remove the bandages quickly or to remove them inchingly was his question; and no one ever asked him what his preference might be. At the age of eleven, the author suffered burns over most of his body, but the accident is not his focu...more Why is too much never enough? Why did she pick him? Where is reason?

These questions about our own or about the behavior of others are what motivated Arely to follow through as a social scientist after a long experience of suffering at the hands of "kindly nurses."

To remove the bandages quickly or to remove them inchingly was his question; and no one ever asked him what his preference might be. At the age of eleven, the author suffered burns over most of his body, but the accident is not his focus. He wanted to know what motivated his nurses to be so cruel as he repeatedly suffered their "get it over with quickly" ethic.

"Whose pain were they trying to save?" The author asked himself.

His later social experimentation involved no such pain, but curiosity about ethics. Who would buy what, and for how much? What was the price of survival or despair? How much inflicted pain could someone impose? All these questions were answered by numerous experimental scenes on college campuses and shopping malls, using ruses and money to set the volunteers into making choices one could only describe as irrational.

All this to say that what we buy and how we buy anything is based on these behaviors and if you are marketing or selling, it's a helluva finding to know how to present your offer in the "best light" of these insights.

For instance, socially we say we are attracted to someone, but if they are accompanied by someone more or less attractive by comparison, our own perceptions change. Similarly when someone wears an expensive item, we are impressed about that person in ways that would not otherwise occur.

In presenting an offer, it's important to create choices for the buyer. As a seller, we may say "Don't want the competition!" (such as someone wearing an expensive coat may attract glances otherwise undeserved) but the buyer wants to see the item you are selling in context.

Selling inside a context (think of Goldilocks and the Three Bears) creates a selection of choices, and allows that buyer to decide. In sales it is not whether someone wants something, it's whether you can close the deal. So the most basic of selling principles says "Don't ask whether they want it, close the deal by asking which one do you select?"

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Mar 09, 2013 Benjamin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a fun read. Ariely talks about quirks of human nature such as the way we can be primed to either pay more or ignore the costs of certain choices, the placebo effect, and ways in which we can be influenced to be more or less honest than we normally would be. He often refers to the book as explaining why these things are true, but, barring the occasional speculation, these are more observations and less explanations.

One chapter of note explores just how much people are willing to sacrifice...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Books about behavioural economics are generally good fun, and this one is especially entertaining. I enjoyed it considerably more than 'Nudge', which takes itself far too seriously. In 'Predictably Irrational', Ariely describes a series of behavioural quirks through experiment and anecdote. The quantity of empirical research described in the book is a definite strength. It's impressive that the writing remains entertaining and accessible despite this relatively high level of academic rigour.

When...more Books about behavioural economics are generally good fun, and this one is especially entertaining. I enjoyed it considerably more than 'Nudge', which takes itself far too seriously. In 'Predictably Irrational', Ariely describes a series of behavioural quirks through experiment and anecdote. The quantity of empirical research described in the book is a definite strength. It's impressive that the writing remains entertaining and accessible despite this relatively high level of academic rigour.

When I started this book I wondered what it would add to my knowledge of behavioural economics, as I studied the subject years ago. What I found new and interesting in particular was the section on social and market norms. This makes the important point that when the sphere of market norms of expanded, it changes how people interact. Moreover, the switch from one set of norms to the other is hard to reverse. This has important implications for public services, in my view.

As with any quasi-academic book, two of my responses were, a) clearly more research is needed! (It always is), and b) I wonder how this fits with other disciplines? Although Ariely grounds himself securely in behavioural economics, much of what he says is also social psychology and in some cases neuroscience. This reinforces to me that way that economics seems to have occupied the social sciences in recent decades. Public policy research is now an outgrowth of economics, which I'm sure never used to be the case. Human behaviour is increasingly interrogated in relation to money and resource allocation, the sphere of economics. Of course, I much prefer that behavioural economists try to bring some reality into the idiotic rationality assumptions of standard economic theory. Nonetheless, it seems to me salutary (especially having just read a book about Marxism, a form of thought that spanned the social sciences) to consider that human activity is now studied with a relentless emphasis on economic costs.

Be that as it may, I highly recommend this book as both an accessible introduction to behavioural economics and a thought-provoking read for those familiar with the basic concepts. Ariely writes in an engagingly humble style and entreats the reader to examine their own behaviour for irrationality. Personally I have definitely found that studying economics and thinking carefully about my own economic behaviour has made me more rational, and possibly less ethical in some respects. What I think behavioural economics needs, though, is to take it a step further and challenge perfect rationality as a desirable model, regardless of its practicality. Entering the realm of philosophy, is the rationality that economics worships possible? Can we even approach it? Is there some quirk of our brains that causes us to reach for it? Or is rationality-worship a purely cultural trend, perhaps a way to deal with the complexity and ambivalence of late-modern capitalist life by waving it away?

It certainly seems that this book made me quite thoughtful. For that I'll upgrade it from four stars to five. (less)

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Mar 01, 2013 Lage von Dissen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought that this book was a decent read. We often think of ourselves as rational beings, and within a standard economic model, a free market assumes that we are rational consumers and that supply and demand based on rational decisions will balance any errors made within the market. This book throws that incorrect view flat on its face, illustrating how we make irrational decisions all the time. There is a plethora of evidence in marketing, psychology, and other disciplines that illustrate the...more

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