Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

by Dan Ariely

We tried this in a series of experiments, and found that consumers who stop to reflect about the relationship between price and quality are far less likely to assume that a discounted drink is less effective (and, consequently, they don’t perform as poorly on word puzzles as they would if they did assume it).

Sepakat.

I generally consider myself a fairly trusting person, but with all the dubious offers and news about the bad behavior of businesses, I feel myself becoming less trusting and more suspicious. It seems that I’m always looking for the catch, and it turns out that I’m not alone in this paranoid mindset.

It is important to realize that in this setting, people did not necessarily have to believe that the money we offered was entirely free. They might have expected to have to do something in return—answer a short survey, for example. But even if they suspected as much, it might still be the case that the payment was a worthwhile return on an investment of answering a few questions.

Of course, if we all cared about the common good or thought about the long-term consequences of our actions, we might not run into resource-sharing problems. But because human beings tend to focus on short-term benefits and our own immediate needs, such tragedies of the commons occur frequently.

When we all cooperate, trust is high and the total value to society is maximal. But distrust is infectious. When we see people defect by lying in their advertisements, proposing scams, etc., we start acting similarly; trust deteriorates, and everybody loses, including the individuals who initially gained from their selfish acts.

Imagine that you are an honest person and you want to remain that way. How should you behave in a world where most people are untrustworthy and most individuals don’t trust others anyway?

When market defectors spread false claims, more and more of us increase our level of distrust, and this distrust then gets diffused into everything we hear. We cast obvious truths into doubt, and we suspect everything. The cable company that betrayed my trust stung itself, for sure, but it also hurt its industry by causing consumers like me to mistrust telecommunications companies in general. And that mistrust, like a pebble dropped into a still pond, ripples throughout the telecommunications industry; creating tiny waves that end up affecting business and society as a whole.

Are decisions about honesty and dishonesty based on the same cost-benefit analysis that we use to decide between cars, cheeses, and computers? I don’t think so. First of all, can you imagine a friend explaining to you the cost-benefit analysis that went into buying his new laptop? Of course. But can you imagine your friend sharing with you a cost-benefit analysis of her decision to steal a laptop? Of course not—not unless your friend is a professional thief. Rather, I agree with others (from Plato down) who say that honesty is something bigger—something that is considered a moral virtue in nearly every society.

We can hope to surround ourselves with good, moral people, but we have to be realistic. Even good people are not immune to being partially blinded by their own minds. This blindness allows them to take actions that bypass their own moral standards on the road to financial rewards. In essence, motivation can play tricks on us whether or not we are good, moral people.