Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

by Dan Ariely

That's a lesson we can all learn: the more we have, the more we want. And the only cure is to break the cycle of relativity.

Most transactions have an upside and a downside, but when something is FREE! we forget the downside,

One of my friends spent three months selecting a digital camera from two nearly identical models. When he finally made his selection, I asked him how many photo opportunities had he missed, how much of his valuable time he had spent making the selection, and how much he would have paid to have digital pictures of his family and friends documenting the last three months. More than the price of the camera, he said. Has something like this ever happened to you?

In the end, and with all my foreknowledge of the difficulty in this decision-making process, I was

how could any two parties look at precisely the same event and interpret it as supporting their opposing points of view?

expectations can influence nearly every aspect of our life.