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Predictably Irrational

The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

By Dan Ariely

(108)

| Hardcover | 9780061353239

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Book Description

Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin?

Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?

Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to saveContinue

Critics

Emonomics

For years, the ideology of free markets bestrode the world, bending politics as well as economics to its core assumption: market forces produce the best solution to any problem. But these days, even Bill Gates says capitalism’s work is “unsatisfactor ... (read full critics)

nytimes published on Sat, 18 Sep 2010

11 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

Recommended Reading

We humans think we have a pretty good idea of what we want and how we make decisions and choices. This book makes it clear that our ideas about how we think may not be as accurate as we think. Standard economic theory is based on the idea of a rational consumer following certain rules (Homo Econimus ... (continue)

We humans think we have a pretty good idea of what we want and how we make decisions and choices. This book makes it clear that our ideas about how we think may not be as accurate as we think. Standard economic theory is based on the idea of a rational consumer following certain rules (Homo Econimus). Through a series of interesting experiments, Ariely demonstrates that the way we operate is much more complicated and interesting than we may think. These tendencies which are outside the traditional notion of human behaviour are called "irrational" and Ariely shows us that these irrational tendencies can occur in predictable ways.
The book is written in a conversational tone and is easily read by anyone. Ariely mentions a bunch of anecdotes in the course of describing his experiments which give the book a personal feel.
The major drawback of the book is that he deduces sweeping generalizations about irrational behaviour from simple experiments that may or may not be valid. This is important because he sometimes gives policy suggestions based on these generalizations. These items almost seem tacked on and reduce the sizzle of an otherwise crisp book.
You should read this book because it will change the way you think about how your mind operates. It has practical implications for how you make decisions. People in business and marketing should pay special attention to this book.
P.S. A good companion book is "Stumbling on Happiness" by Daniel Gilbert.

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audioreader said on Oct 11, 2008 | 1 feedback

Entertaining experiments and easy to understand. A good read after reading the Economic Naturalist

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weiweiwei said on Sep 24, 2011 | Add your feedback

I fall in behavior economics after reading Dan's work. His view that what we understand the reality is base on how w comprehend the reality instead of how the information the reality present to us is really cool. Can't agree with him more on how the 'free lunch" means to us: it is actually a method ... (continue)

I fall in behavior economics after reading Dan's work. His view that what we understand the reality is base on how w comprehend the reality instead of how the information the reality present to us is really cool. Can't agree with him more on how the 'free lunch" means to us: it is actually a method to help all of us better off after we realized our shortcoming and then think of how we can tackle that.
A very good and easy reding if you want to have a look on how our brain really react to the surroundings. :)

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Polar Bear said on Apr 9, 2011 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Interesting experiments on human behaviour. However, aren't we all perfectly familiar with all sorts of irrationality? They are predictable enough. But it's great that the author published these research findings that would otherwise languish in academic journals with little popular appeal.

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Holmes said on Jan 1, 2011 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Good! It illustrates various social psychology or sociology phenomena with interesting experiments!

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小白 said on Nov 27, 2010 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

full of very good insigths, though something is recycled :-)

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Stiledorico said on Aug 11, 2010 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback