Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: predictably irrational, pleasure units, market norms, Ten Commandments, The Economist, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioral economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Drawing on psychology and economics, behavioral economics can show us why cautious people make poor decisions about sex when aroused, why patients get greater relief from a more expensive drug over its cheaper counterpart and why honest people may steal office supplies or communal food, but not money. According to Ariely, our understanding of economics, now based on the assumption of a rational subject, should, in fact, be based on our systematic, unsurprising irrationality. Ariely argues that greater understanding of previously ignored or misunderstood forces (emotions, relativity and social norms) that influence our economic behavior brings a variety of opportunities for reexamining individual motivation and consumer choice, as well as economic and educational policy. Ariely's intelligent, exuberant style and thought-provoking arguments make for a fascinating, eye-opening read. (Feb.)
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Review

From The New York Times Book Review
"Obviously, this sly and lucid book is not about your grandfather’s dismal science…. Predictably Irrational is a far more revolutionary book than its unthreatening manner lets on. It’s a concise summary of why today’s social science increasingly treats the markets-know-best model as a fairy tale….he and his fellow social scientists want to replace the "rational economic man" model with one that more accurately describes the real laws that drive human choices."

From USA Today
"Surprisingly entertaining. . . . Easy to read. . . . Ariely’s book makes economics and the strange happenings of the human mind fun."

More Praise for Predictably Irrational
"A marvelous book that is both thought-provoking and highly entertaining, ranging from the power of placebos to the pleasures of Pepsi. Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us, and shows us how we can prevent being fooled."
Jerome Groopman, Recanati Chair of Medicine, Harvard Medical School,and New York Times bestselling author of How Doctors Think

"Dan Ariely is a genius at understanding human behavior: no economist does a better job of uncovering and explaining the hidden reasons for the weird ways we act, in the marketplace and out. Predictably Irrational will reshape the way you see the world, and yourself, for good."
James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds

"Filled with clever experiments, engaging ideas, and delightful anecdotes. Dan Ariely is a wise and amusing guide to the foibles, errors, and bloopers of everyday decision making."
Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and New York Times bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness

"This is going to be the most influential, talked-about book in years. It is so full of dazzling insights--and so engaging--that once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down."
Daniel McFadden, 2000 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Morris Cox Professor of Economics, University of California at Berkeley

"Predictably Irrational is wildly original. It shows why--much more often than we usually care to admit--humans make foolish, and sometimes disastrous, mistakes. Ariely not only gives us a great read; he also makes us much wiser."
George Akerlof, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California at Berkeley

"The most difficult part of investing is managing your emotions. Dan explains why that is so challenging for all of us, and how recognizing your built-in biases can help you avoid common mistakes."
Charles Schwab, Chairman and CEO, The Charles Schwab Corporation

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 save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?

Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full?

And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar?

When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we?

In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.

Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same types of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.

From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. Predictably Irrational will change the way we interact with the world--one small decision at a time.

About the Author
Dan Ariely is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, where he holds a joint appointment between MIT's Media Laboratory and the Sloan School of Management. He is also a researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a visiting professor at Duke University. Ariely wrote this book while he was a fellow at the Institute for Advance Study at Princeton. His work has been featured in leading scholarly journals and a variety of popular media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Scientific American, and Science. Ariely has appeared on CNN and National Public Radio. He divides his time between Durham, North Carolina, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the rest of the world. -- Praise for Predictably Irrational

"Sly and lucid. . . . PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL is a far more revolutionary book than its unthreatening manner lets on." -- New York Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (February 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006135323X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061353239
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (250 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,451 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

209 of 234 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the fuzzy world of being human., February 19, 2008

By	D. Stuart "Researcher at Kudos" (Auckland NZ) - See all my reviews

Dan Ariely is the guy you'd want at your dinner party. He's witty, smart and also very inclusive - sharing his passion for the way humans tick in a way that makes us feel great about the fact that, rational as we like to think we are, we make bad snap decisions, we cheat and we get ruled by our heart precisely when the facts are screaming "go the other way!" There's a lot in this writing which celebrates our human-ness. Why do we do this?
What Ariely has done here is shift a lot of the thinking developed by such pioneers as Kahneman & Tversky who worked in behavioural economics, and moved it into the everyday sphere. And he's done a great, insightful job. Where the behavioural economists are focused on financial decisions (why we buy high and sell low - and confound the assumptions of the classic economists who assume 'the rational man,) Ariely eschews the technical language and walks us through everyday examples of our often fuzzy and quite irrational decision-making.

The result is utterly engaging - and this easy 300 page read still has academic rigour and strong foundations. Ariely cites many experiments and examples, and shows that we often get things wrong because we frame things the wrong way, mis-judge probabilities, apply heuristic rules of thumb that don't always work, or we just plain let our emotions rule.

We love to think that we're educated, rational and moral. Yet who hasn't overestimated the upside on a sure-fire investment, bought some clothing that we knew was a mistake even as we bought it, or got our wires crossed between work-rules and social rules? This book is fascinating, entertaining and very, very illuminating.

- Recommended for the general public, but I'd urge marketers, market researchers and business people to read this one carefully. Dan provides excellent dinner-party insights, but they apply to our real world and explain why so many poor decisions are made - whether by customers or by the 'rational' business people who make million-dollar decisions.

- Recommended companion book: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness here one of the godfathers of behavioural economics discusses the way we can manage the "choice architecture" in our world.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars `Think how hard physics would be if particles could think.', July 25, 2008

By	J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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 options; the pitfalls of procrastination and the lure of free offers. And why is it that we are often perfectly willing to do something for nothing, but not if payment is involved? From the discussion of the creation of a market for black pearls through discussion of types of dishonesty, Professor Ariely provides insights into human behaviour, in many cases backed by experiments that have tested his hypotheses.

This book is primarily focussed on behavioural economics, but I would argue that it would be of interest to a far wider group of readers. We are all decisionmakers and our decisions impact on others. I believe that many of us with a specific interest in public policy or management, in marketing, or in human behaviour more generally would find value in reading this book. While many of the concepts are profound, the subject matter is presented in a readable and entertaining way.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

54 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring why so much of what we do doesn't make sense, February 19, 2008

By	C. Bracken (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had the privilege of taking Dan's class at Duke last fall, where all of us got the chance to read preview copies of Predictably Irrational. Of course, not everyone will get the chance to hear Dan's excellent lectures, but the book does a great job of capturing his wit while providing a wealth of information about why human behavior can be as fallible as it is.

The joy in this material lies in the fact that every few pages you will find yourself smiling because you too have behaved in the irrational manner being described, and now that you look back on it, it's hard to remember why.

Why are we so excited about free stuff, even if we just throw it out later? Do we convince ourselves that an expensive meal will taste better than a cheap one? And why are we motivated to act on some humanitarian disasters, but not others? We all make irrational decisions at times, but this book provides the rare opportunity to reflect on those decisions and observe the behavioral patterns underneath.

If you enjoyed Freakonomics or any of Malcolm Gladwell's writings, you will also enjoy Predictably Irrational. The pace is quick, and nearly every page contains some nugget of surprising information that you'll want to tell your friends. It is more like Freakonomics than Blink or The Tipping Point in that it is structured around experiments, with each chapter covering the results of experiments in a specific area of irrational behavior, the implications for society, and what individuals might do to mitigate it.

It's a hard book to put down, and it's both entertaining and interesting from start to finish. For those who are curious about the world, this might be the ultimate beach or airline reading!