The Predictably Irrational audiobook

Predictably irrational : The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions is a 2008 book by Dan Ariely, in which he challenges readers' assumptions about making decisions based on rational thought. 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".تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز نوزدهم ماه آوریل سال2015میلادیعنوان: نابخردی‌های پیش‌ بینی‌ پذیر: نیروهای پنهانی که به تصمیمات ما شکل می‌دهند؛ نویسنده: دن آرییلی؛ مترجم: رامین رامبد؛ تهران، نشر مازیار، سال1393؛ در343ص؛ شابک9786006043111؛ موضوع: جنبه های روانشناسی اقتصاد - اندیشه - رفتار مصرف کننده - از نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده21مدرباره نیروهای پنهانی که بر ما اثر می‌گذارند و خواسته هایمان را شکل می‌دهند؛ «آرییلی» باور دارد آدمی درگیر کارها و خواسته هایی است که از خردمندی به دور هستند، و گاهی از ایده‌آل فرسنگ‌ها فاصله دارند؛ او به گفتار خودش سال‌ها کوشیده، که اشتباهات نابخردانه، بی‌معنی، عجیب، بامزه، و گاهی خطرناکی را که همگی ما انجام می‌دهیم درک کند، به این امید که با فهمیدن عادت‌های عجیب نابخردانه‌، بتوانیم برای تصمیم‌گیری‌های بهتر، جلوی خودمان را بگیریمآریلی در این کتاب سفری دارند به تمامی رفتارهای نامعقولی که انسان‌ها در شرایط گوناگون از خود بروز می‌دهند، مبحثی که آریلی نامش را اقتصاد رفتاری یا قضاوت و تصمیم‌گری نامیده است؛ اقتصاد رفتاری حوزه‌ ای به نسبت تازه است و به هر دو جنبه ی روانشناسی و اقتصاد می‌پردازد، او در این کتاب پس از شرح دادن اقتصاد رفتاری، در هر فصل بر پایه آزمایش‌هایی که سال‌ها انجام داده، به تشریح رفتارهای نابخردانه انسان در عرصه‌ های گوناگون اقتصادی، اجتماعی و فرهنگی پرداخته استنقل از متن: (چرا سردرد ما پس از خوردن آسپرین یک سنتی باقی میماند، ولی بعد از خوردن آسپرین پنجاه سنتی از بین میرود؟ چرا وقتی معده مان دیگر جا ندارد، باز هم سراغ بوفه ی مجانی میرویم؟ چرا بابت یک فنجان قهوه مبلغ4.15دلار میدهیم در حالی که تا همین چند سال پیش، بابت آن کمتر از یک دلار، میپرداختیم؟)؛ پایان نقلنقل دیگر: (چرا نمی‌توانیم خودمان را واداریم که آنچه را که می‌خواهیم انجام دهیم، انجام دهیم؟ در صحنهٔ زندگی آمریکایی، که آکنده است از خانه‌های بزرگ، خودروهای بزرگ، تلویزیون پلاسمای صفحه بزرگ، پدیدهٔ بزرگ دیگری هم وارد شده است: بزرگ‌ترین کاهش در نرخ پس‌انداز شخصی از دوران رکود بزرگ؛ بیست و پنج سال به عقب برگردید، و ببینید که نرخ‌های دو رقمی پس‌انداز چیزی عادی بودند؛ تا همین اواخر در سال1994میلادی نرخ پس‌انداز تقریبا پنج درصد بود، ولی در سال2006میلادی نرخ پس‌انداز به زیر صفر ــ تا منفی یک درصد ــ فرو افتاده بود؛ آمریکایی‌ها نه تنها پس‌انداز نمی‌کردند، که بیش از درآمدشان هزینه می‌کردند؛ وضع اروپایی‌ها به مراتب بهتر است ــ آنان میانگین بیست درصد پس‌انداز دارند؛ نرخ ژاپن بیست و پنج درصد است؛ از آنِ چین پنجاه درصد است؛ پس چرا آمریکا چنین است؟ می‌اندیشم که یک پاسخ آن است که آمریکایی‌ها به مصرف‌گرایی بی‌حساب و کتاب معتاد شده‌اند؛ مثلاً به منزلی سر بزنید که پیش از ساخته شدن این همه چیزی که داریم، ساخته شده باشد، و نگاهی به اندازهٔ کمدهای آن بیندازید؛ برای نمونه خانهٔ ما در کمبریج ماساچوست ساخت سال1890میلادی است و اصلاً هیچ کمدی ندارد؛ خانه‌های دهه ی1940میلادی دارای کمدهایی‌اند که آنقدر بزرگ هستند که بشود در آن‌ها ایستاد؛ کمدهای دهه ی1970میلادی اندکی بزرگ‌ترند؛ شاید عمق کافی برای جا دادن یک خوراک پز، یک جعبه از نوارهای هشت تِرَکی، و چند دست لباس دیسکو؛ اما کمدهای امروز از نسل دیگری هستند؛ «کمد راهرویی» به این معناست که شما تقریبا می‌توانید در آن چند گامی بردارید؛ این کمدها هر اندازه که عمیق هم باشند آمریکایی‌ها راه‌هایی را برای پر کردن آن‌ها تا خرخره پیدا می‌کنندپاسخ دیگر ــ نیمهٔ دیگر مسئله ــ عبارت است از انفجار اخیر در اعتبار مشتری؛ امروزه یک خانواده ی متوسط آمریکایی دارای شش کارت اعتباری است «تنها در سال2005میلادی، آمریکایی‌ها شش میلیارد درخواست نامه برای کارت‌های اعتباری دریافت کرده‌اند»؛ به طرز هراس‌آوری بدهی میانگین هر خانواده ناشی از این کارت‌ها در حدود نه هزار دلار است؛ هفت تا از ده خانوار برای پوشش دادن هزینه‌های اصلی زندگی، مانند خوراک، لوازم منزل، و پوشاک، با کارت‌های اعتباری قرض می‌گیرند)؛ پایانتاریخ بهنگام رسانی 25/03/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 05/02/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

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 behavior that is worth pondering over. In the final analysis then, I enjoyed the book and will read it again, and hence, four stars.

Honestly all the business books that talk about psychological research or behavioral economics talk about the same things. I haven't even read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman but all these books literally rehash it again and again so I probably wouldn't even get anything out of reading it now. That said this one's much better written than most of the other books I've read and so if you haven't read anything else about behavioral economics or that way we make decisions this is a good choice. If you have read other books on those things though I'd skip this one because it doesn't add anything new.

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 this fascinating subject. If you are the kind of person (like me) who can't imagine using the words 'fascinating' and 'economics' in the same sentence, don't worry, the primary focus of the book is human behavior and its peculiarities, rather than economic theory. In particular, the author is concerned with elucidating how and why people continue to engage in behavior patterns that are detrimental in the long term.In thirteen well-written chapters, Ariely considers such topics as:• The effect of our need for a reference point before we can judge the value of something, and how clever marketers can exploit this• How we can become trapped by our own behavior - the importance of first decisions• How the prospect of getting something free can override reason and logic (is it really smart to wait for free-entrance night at the museum?)• The effect of social norms (why you are more likely to agree to help your local charity by working for nothing, than for a quarter of your normal professional rate) • The influence of arousal (we behave irrationally in the throes of passion - what you can do about it)• The problems of procrastination and self-control• Our tendency to place too much value on what we already own• The destructive consequences of people's tendency to want to keep as many options open for as long as possible• How our expectations of something can actually influence our ability to enjoy it• The power of price (response to a $2.50 placebo is better than that to a 10c placebo)• In what situations are people particularly likely to behave dishonestly? How can the triggers for dishonest behavior be disarmed?The book is based primarily on work that Ariely has done with colleagues at M.I.T. and elsewhere. Two features make the book exceptional, in my opinion:The ability of Ariely and colleagues to devise really neat experiments to test their hypotheses. All of the conclusions in the book are convincingly supported by often remarkably clever experiments.Ariely does an extraordinary job of making his material interesting and accessible to a general audience. The book was a joy to read.I highly recommend "Predictably Irrational".

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 just as large as the gap between 9 and 10, but it feels much more significant. We might drive out of our way to get a $15 meal for free, but we won't make that same drive to save $15 on a $500 coat.Ch4:Social norms vs. Market norms. People will do a good job for free, or for a good salary, but not for a lousy salary. Living a life based on social norms can be more fulfilling.Ch5: The influence of arousal. When we are calm and rational we fail to be capable of predicting how we will act when we are instead hot and emotional. Dr. Jekyll may imagine when the time comes he will be able to control his Mr. Hyde, but perhaps it would be better to plan ahead for the irrational emotional state (having a condom on hand for instance).Ch6: Procrastination & Self Control. Use the power of precommitment to reign in your future self. In a classroom setting students do better when given explicit due dates for their assignments (or even when they choose them themselves) than if they can put it all off to the end of the semester.Ch7: The high price of ownership. We value things more once we own them than before. This is related to our intrinsic loss aversion. ex: Final Four ticket holders valued their tickets in the thousands, while potential buyers only considered paying $100-$200, even though they were pulled fromt the same original pull.This idea of ownership and loss aversion also applies to ideas. Once we learn a particular "fact" about economics, for example, we are not prone to let go of it even if it is shown to be wrong.Ch8: Keeping Doors OpenIf we have too many options available, we may delay or be inactive which can lead to greater losses than if we had just chosen the "weaker" of our options. The differences between our choices are often negligible and we don't take into account the cost of not deciding. It is vital to begin shutting doors when we are overwhelmed with choice.Ch9: The effect of expectationsSo much of what we like or dislike is based on preconceived notions. If we want something mundane to taste exciting, throw an "exotic" ingredient into the description. Our expectations based on previous life experience color pretty much everything we come into contact with.(Beer with vinegar in it: If you're told ahead of time, it was not liked at all. If told after, it was enjoyed much more.Asian women do better on math tests if they are primed with questions about their race than if primed with questions about their gender)Ch10: The Power of PriceHigher priced pain medication works better than cheap pain medication. The effect goes beyond pain medication as well.Also, more things should be placebo tested.CH11: The Context of our Character pt1People will cheat a little when given the chance. The amount they cheat will not necessarily increase as the chance of getting caught decreases. If people are reminded of the idea of honesty through and ethics code or something before a test they do not cheat.CH12: The Context of our Character pt2We adhere to a certain level of honesty when it comes to cash. But nonmonetary abstractions can make us dishonest cheats. We may not take $1 sitting on top of someone's desk, but many will take one of their cokes from the breakroom fridge with few qualms. We just view money differently.This has huge implications when you think of how business' use nonmonetary abstractions (think frequent flyer miles and the crazy fiscal abstractions on wall street)CH13: Beer and Free lunchesbehavioral economics takes into account human irrationality while standard economics assumes humans maximize assumes people are rational actors maximizing their happiness and costs in accordance with their preferences.The irrationalities illustrated in this book don't mean we are stupid or weak minded. It's like a visual puzzle. You may KNOW that image A is the same size as image B, but you can't deny image B LOOKS bigger.We should take irrationalities into account and PLAN for them.

This is a wonderfully interesting and amusing book. Every time I had a few spare minutes, I would leap back into it with gusto. Some of the things I read I had already seen elsewhere - but much was new to me. The author is described as a behavioural economist.....and I think this book would interest anyone who is interested in psychology.This book is tops. There are enough reviews here singing its praises already. I shall simply end with some notes for my own record(view spoiler)[ Everything is relative: We don't know what we want, unless we see it in context. eg we don't know what sort of racing bike we want until we see a champion cyclist ratcheting gears on a particular model in the Tour de France. We don't even know what we want to do with our lives until we find a friend or relative who is doing what we think we should be doing.ThinkingThis is difficult, and often unpleasant. It is much easier just to follow our intuition (which can often be based on the silliest things.)The Middle Option (Everything is relative...)Given three options, we usually choose the middle one. eg if an electrical shop wants to sell a certain television set it will put it in the window with a more expensive and less expensive television set on either side. We will make comparisons....and go for the middle option.Envy and one-upmanshipThese are often big motivating forces in people's lives. Take the example of escalating salaries and perks given to senior executives in US companies.1976: The average CEO was paid 36 times as much as the average worker1993: The average CEO was paid 131 times as much as the average workerAt this point the Federal securities regulators stepped in. In an effort to stop this ridiculous escalating of executives' salaries, they forced companies to reveal pay and perks given to their top executives. They thought this would deter the greed.Instead, after the legislation about transparency was put into effect, CEOs were paid 369 times as much as the average worker! When CEOs saw how much other CEOs were being paid, they felt envious, and demanded equity - and their salaries and perks crept up and up!How to combat the envy driveMake a conscious decision to try and lead a basic/simple life. The alternative is 'The more you have the more you want,' Don't be a greedy CEO. Be sane.Stay away from social circles where spending and one-upmanship are a part of how they do things.When buying a house, or other major investments - just don't look at products outside your budget.There is no merit in increasing the luxury in our lives. We just get used to more and more expensive things, and saving becomes more and more difficult.Realise that the price of many products is arbitraryUsually a product's price is affected by the initial price at which it was sold. This then become the accepted price for that product. (My example) If people go to an art gallery and pay £1.00 for a beautiful pebble they will think this is a fair price for future pebbles they buy. If people pay £10.00 for that first beautiful pebble - they will regard this as the norm.We reinforce our own behaviourIf we like something once, we will do it again, and this builds up into a self-affirming belief of 'liking' something. Each time we do something we initially liked, we increase the degree we decide we like it. Sometimes we need to step back and see how much this is still true.*How did this habit begin?*How much pleasure will |I really be getting from it?*Would I be better off spending the time/money elsewhere.We get seduced by glamour and the appearance of sophisticationThis is why Starbucks succeeded over Dunkin'Donuts.We do what is expected of usThe author read some poetry to his students. He then asked half if they would pay $2.00 to hear them again. They agreed.He asked the other half if they would listen to them again if he paid them $2.00. Again they agreed.The lure of the free offerThe author argues that the attractiveness of two for the price of one (ie one free) is hugely more powerful than just offering a single product more cheaply.He cites other examples as well. We love things that are free, and are inevitably seduced by offers of things for free.This is why Coca Cola have a cola product called Zero. Zero calories. Zero = free. Free from calories! Free, free, free! Market exchanges versus social exchangesWe live in two worlds, one governed by market exchanges, and the other governed by social exchanges.Market exchanges are business...sharp-edged, prices, rates, interest, cost and benefits.Social exchanges are friendly...warm and fuzzy.People are happy to do things for free, eg give their time to charities, but you can't taint this by mixing in market exchanges with what is basically a social exchange.eg lawyers were asked if they would help poor elderly clients for £30.00 an hour. They refused.Then another group were asked to do the same thing again for free, and they all accepted.eg A yoga master taught his students for free in his home town. One day they said they loved his classes and would be happy to make a financial contribution towards the class. He replied "If I charged you for this class you could not afford me." Again - they were transgressing the market exchange/social exchange divide.A lot of businesses nowadays try and introduce the warmth of social exchanges into their work practices. They want the work environment to be more friendly and cosy. But when you have practices like zero hour contracts, or sending employees work-related emails outside working hours, a cloak of chummy friendliness wears a bit thin. It's the same with relations between businesses. Friendliness is good for business. But then one business pays its bill late and gets charged an extra fee for delayed payment. This again puts a strain on the chumminess. Today many companies try and market themselves as social companions, but this makes it hard for them when they have to contravene social norms and become businesslike.Don't make decisions when you are emotionally arousedThe author and his colleagues did computer experiments with students who were sexually aroused, and their decision-making abilities went haywire. The author feels that this is the same for other emotional states. eg It is not good to make decisions when you are angry, hungry, fearful or in pain. It is far better to walk away and calm down, and yes, don't send that email....It is better to avoid provocative situations than to try and walk away from themRates of saving in different countriesAmerica - people spend more than they earn Europe - 20%Japan - 25%China 50%Reasons for American rates of spending.* Consumerism* An explosion in consumer credit. The average American family has six credit cards.Why have we got such little self controlImmediate gratification versus long term goals.The best way to curtail our urge for immediate gratification....*Set ourselves deadlines*Start a blog discussing our efforts to keep to our goals.We value what we own hugely more than other people value itThe author did an amazing test re basketball game tickets at Duke University, which has a small stadium.Students had camped in a line to buy tickets for several days, for a special game. Not only did they camp, but they had to report regularly to the ticket office, or they were sent to the back of the queue.Afterwards the author did a test...The average price people who managed to get the tickets were prepared to sell them for...$2,400.The average price those who didn't get tickets were prepared to buy them for $170.(And no, that is not a typo)Because we love what we possess, we over-value it. We also exaggerate to ourselves the sense of loss we would have if we lost one of our possessions.We expect other people to value our possessions as much as we do - but they don't.This is why 'trial' promotions are so successful. After people have something on trial for a couple of weeks they want to keep it. Emotionally it has become one of their possessions. Ownership doesn't only apply to material things, it also applies to points of viewOnce we take ownership of an idea we value it more than we should. Frequently we can't let go of it because we can't bear the thought of its loss. What are we left with? An ideology that is rigid and unyielding.(Me - Re the above....I couldn't relate to this concept at all!)Downgrading anything is experienced as a losseg moving to a smaller house. The challenge of making choicesIn today's world we have far too many options. It is important to try and prioritize - if necessary just choose any particular options, rather than having too much on our plate and finding life stressful as a result. We have to commit ourselves to just a few paths, interests, courses in our lives. Human nature wants to keep all options open (the author has done copious experiments to prove this), but this is bad. We must simplify.Another downside of following too many things in your life, is that the important things get overlooked, or don't get enough attention.Placebos in medicineExpensive aspirin and paracetamol is more effective than cheap aspirin and paracetamol.Several operations have been proved to be pure placebos. Patients given fake operations have recovered just as well as those given genuine operations (needless to say this only applies to certain operations!)The author conducted various experiments - eg giving gym goers a stimulant tonic which said it would "improve performance". When told it was more expensive, the gym goers performed better and said it was more effective. When told it was cheaper - the gym goers found it less effective.The good news about our weakness for 'expensive' pills and tonics.... Once we are told that the cheaper options is exactly the same as the more expensive one - we get equal help from both products.DishonestyMost of us are prone to being a little bit dishonest. The author cites several experiments to show this. But most of us have a cut off point re dishonesty. We might nick a pencil from work, or cheat a bit on expenses, but we wouldn't take money from a colleague's purse.The author argues at some length in the book for the importance of honesty in creating a safe and trustworthy society. He talks about the dishonesty of major institutions, as well as individual dishonesty.He talks about the fact that a lot of lawyers now complain that their profession has become unethical, and he feels that doctors, bankers and other professional are equally affected. He feels this can be blamed on a movement in the 1960s to deregulate the professions.The author feel passionately that good ethics and honesty are an important and valuable asset to society, and they need to be encouraged and protected as much as possible. (hide spoiler)], and links to some more of Ariely's work (the TED talks are fantastic!) -----------------------------Dan Ariely's website. (Letters to him from the public and his responses.... He seems to be a sort of agony aunt for The Wall Street Journal.)http://danariely.com/Dan Ariely's TED talks... Are we in control of our decisions?https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_...What makes us feel good about our work?https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_...Our buggy moral codehttps://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_...Beware Conflicts of interesthttps://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_...How equal do we want the world to be? You'd be surprised...https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_...Predictably Irrational: Basic human motivationshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcro...A great interview with Dan for Valentine's Day 2015, about dating & relationships.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS8R2...A series of interviews/podcasts done by Dan Ariely for Duke University, under the umbrella title "Arming the Donkeys"http://danariely.com/tag/arming-the-d...

What an interesting book. It complemented my last reading ~ Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman ~ in some ways. The examples in the book suggests that `The Neo Cortex` is such a funny dude that tricks us into thinking that we are making logical decision, that we are rational beings. In the meanwhile the other machinery that actually makes and executes the decision is pulling our strings. As stated in the book, we are a true Jeckll and Hyde dilemma. Very funny and the joke is on us.

Absolutely loved this book and all the examples it gives of how we think we are making rational decisions, when in fact we aren't. The book concludes by saying many of these irrational decisions we make are entirely predictable (thus the title of the book), and thus we should as a society do better to factor them in. I would have loved more suggestions of how this could be done, but that was beyond the scope of the book. This book seems to be a must for anyone studying or dealing with pricing. Which is all of us given we all buy things. For instance, the advice that "given three choices, most people will take the middle choice" is simultaneously obvious and also very useful. "humans rarely choose things in absolute terms. We don’t have an internal value meter that tells us how much things are worth. Rather, we focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another, and estimate value accordingly."I loved the chapter on social norms vs market norms. Also stuff that seems obvious, but I hadn't ever put it into that mental model, and seeing it that way is very interesting. Good reminder that money isn't the best motivator, but if you go with social norms, you have to keep it entirely that way (eg Burning Man barter economy)."we live simultaneously in two different worlds—one where social norms prevail, and the other where market norms make the rules." ... "when a social norm collides with a market norm, the social norm goes away for a long time. In other words, social relationships are not easy to reestablish."Another gem was the study that showed that how when we are in an emotionally charged state, we make consistently worse decisions. It would be great if my smart devices (Garmon, Oura, Fitbit, Apple Watch, etc) could detect this and give me a warning somehow. "every one of us, regardless of how “good” we are, underpredicts the effect of passion on our behavior. In every case, the participants in our experiment got it wrong. Even the most brilliant and rational person, in the heat of passion, seems to be absolutely and completely divorced from the person he thought he was."Another interesting study compared the same coffee served in a mediocre setting with that served in a upscale setting, and found the same coffee tasted significantly better in the upscale setting. Good to remember - the entire experience matters, design matters, the little details matter. I loved the study on food ordering, which showed "When people order food and drinks, they seem to have two goals: to order what they will enjoy most and to portray themselves in a positive light in the eyes of their friends." Thus if people order out loud, they are more likely to order different things from those before them, and if they order blindly, more likely to order the same things. This is why blind voting on hiring and anything else where groupthink is so key is important. Also, I can't wait for restaurants to have barcode ordering and checkout :)

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 10 bucks from the purses of little old ladies?-The 800 dollar bottle of wine is on the menu not because the restaurant ever expects to sell it, but because now you're going to buy the 799 dollar bottle of wine.-Out of the goodness of my heart I will help you move into your new aptm for free. Tell me you're going to pay me to do the same thing, say 5 bucks, and I'm suddenly going to be busy that day.-When given the slightest opportunity we will all cheat! On test I mean, not necessarily on people.-A Tylenol pill that costs a penny is not as effective as a Tylenol pill that costs 50 cents, ceteris paribus.-All rules, bets, and lessons learned are off when I have a hard on. Also animals and rape may look attractive to me.BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Only you'll have to go to your local library to pick it up.

We like to think of ourselves as rational actors who carefully evaluate our options, and make decisions based on cool, dispassionate logic. Not bloody likely, especially after we’ve had a few drinks. Just ask the author of this book, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely. We all come loaded with preconceived ideas and past experiences and can nudge ourselves, or be nudged by those wanting to manipulate us, without our ever suspecting a thing. This book describes a number of cleverly designed experiments that reveal some unexpected facts about how we respond to the world, and it has some startling observations. Everyone knows that teenagers are worse drivers than adults, but how much worse came as a surprise to me, for instance “a recent study found that a teenager driving alone was 40 percent more likely to get into an accident than an adult. But with one other teenager in the car, the percentage was twice that—and with a third teenager along for the ride, the percentage doubled again.” The book looks at a number of different types of situations where we often behave irrationally even though we think we are being logical and consistent. One of the more interesting ones involves setting points of reference as a means of valuing things. A friend of mine owned a picture framing business and said she was advised to have one very expensive piece of framing -- something like $100 a foot. Her previous most expensive samples were around $60 a foot, but very few people bought them. However, once she set out the $100 sample, the $60 ones seemed cheap by comparison, and she greatly increased their sales.There are also some experiments which show that money is often the worst way to motivate people, and I have certainly found this true in my experience. Company rules limited on-the-spot awards to very nominal sums, which I always gave out with a smile to let the employee know I was in on the joke. Otherwise, they were often insulted, thinking that the company valued their time and exceptional effort at such trivial amounts. On the other hand, non-money awards were often greatly appreciated, especially time off, but also things like reserved parking spaces and permission to work from home.It is well known that placebos often work, but in many cases they work even when the person knows they are a placebo. Also, people often report that an expensively priced placebo works better than a cheap one. Along these line once, long ago, my girlfriend asked me to pick up a bottle of Acetaminophen, and said to make sure I got the “extra strength” version. When I got to the drug store I saw that the extra strength version had 500mg of the active ingredient and the regular one 325mg, so three of the regular ones were the equivalent of two of the others, but the extra strength pills were more than twice as expensive. I did the math* and then bought the cheaper ones, then went home and explained my logic to her, but the next day she went out and bought a bottle of the 500mg version, saying that the others just didn’t seem to work as well.Other chapters in this book cover things like who cheats and who does not, and experiments in self-discipline. Students who were given strict deadlines for assignments did better on them that students who could set their own submission schedules, and also better than students who had no schedules at all but only needed to turn in their work by the end of the semester. Knowing that you will be held accountable for work by a certain date acts as a motivator to get it done on time, while flexible deadlines simply encourage procrastination. That is a useful message for managers.The author also reminds us that we should be very wary of any company that says they want us to be a friend and not just a customer. Some of them will make gestures in that direction, such as helpful customer service and other niceties, but you can never count on them when you need them. After every natural disaster there are stories of insurance company claims adjusters taking advantage of homeowners by offering immediate cash settlements for far less than what the insurance policy actually covers. Many people desperately need money to start getting their lives back together, so they accept the offer, and this is all legal, but what a crappy way to treat “family.” Like a good neighbor?, oh please....My only concerns about this book are those that other reviewers have mentioned. First, the author sometimes extends specific experimental results into broad observations about society, and seemed to be pushing his conclusions too far. There was also a set of experiments with male undergraduates to show how their judgments on the attractiveness of women were affected when they were masturbating. I suppose there is some good science in there somewhere, but the ick factor of that chapter was unsettling.Overall, I enjoyed the book and readers can learn some useful things that can help them become better decisions, but perhaps only theoretically better. If this book has shown me anything it is that many of the biases that affect decision making are entirely subconscious, so even knowing what I now know may not help me.* for demonstration purposes, assume that both bottles contain 100 pills; the regular strength (325mg) bottle costs $3, and thus each pill is three cents, and the extra strength (500mg) bottle costs $6, or six cents a pill. Three of the regular strength pills would cost nine cents, and two of the extra strength ones twelve cents, or 33% more for essentially the same amount of active ingredient. Q.E.D.

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.

While there is nothing truly new in this book, it is written very clearly and concisely. Unlike some other books of this genre, this book does not ramble on and on about irrelevant subject. The author makes this book a very interesting read.