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In his latest book, Dan Ariely takes another look at some irrational behavior of humans. I am not sure that there is an upside to all the different irrational behaviors he explores. You could make the case that by becoming aware of our irrational behavior and understanding better where it comes from, we might be in a better position to make appropriate changes. My point is I am not sure the title is indicative of the subject matter.
I found the book fascinating. At times I thought that he might be going into too much detail or dragging the story out a bit too long. But as I finished reading the book, I found that the lessons were sticking with me. I suspect that his teaching and writing techniques are highly developed and his approach is one that will leave the greatest impact on the student or reader.
There are several important concepts that he explores in this book. One subject I truly enjoyed and learned from what our innate desire for revenge. To illustrate the point, he told about his unfortunate experience with the purchase of an Audi automobile. At one time or another most of us have felt taken advantage of by a large company with rigid rules and procedures. I strongly felt his sense of outrage toward Audi. And while the story is a great example, I also feel sure that he is getting some revenge by telling how horrible their customer service can be. I am certainly not their ideal prospect but based on the story, I would never consider buying an Audi. I do believe that social media has leveled the playing field and given the average consumer a way to lash back. But as he points out in the book, revenge is a hollow victory and when we get consumed in seeking it, we generally lose.Read more ›
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Interesting books. Indeed, people are often irrational. But Ariely misses one of the obvious and major reasons people make SEEMINGLY irrational decisions, that are actually quite reasonable and rational from an individual perspective. Our society has increasingly alienated people from individual responsibility and from other citizens, and it has taken the risk out of making decisions. For over 60 years now, citizens have been detached from the effects of their negative decisions, whether concerning lifestyle or the effects of bad financial choices. With a constant barrage of government-sponsored propaganda; emotionalism and group-politics have replaced rationality as the bases for decision-making. And modern U.S. government propaganda is the most effective in history, as it employs all the lessons learned and techniques of behavior manipulation from the disciplines of sociology, psychological warfare, and psychology over the past 100 years. There are ongoing propaganda programs promoting government provided medical care, unemployment insurance, welfare and social security benefits, free monthly income even for young people, and the chance of filing a lawsuit or getting the government involved when investments go bad. The government conditions citizens to incorrectly believe that correlation is the same as causation; and that appearance and emotional intent are the same as results. The government's goal: promote reliance on government and avoidance of individual responsibility, thought and judgment. Why? To insure ease of public manipulation and the political power of certain groups.
For example, during the recent "subprime mortgage crisis," which Ariely cites as an example of irrationality, all parties behaved rationally and reasonably, EXCEPT the supposedly rational U.S.Read more ›
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Dan Arliey's first book Predictably Irrational introduced business leaders to issues of behavior economics when it was released in 2008. His latest the Upside of Irrationality drops the other shoe in behavioral economics concentrating more on how economic behavior influences issues the context of business and everyday life.
This book is a worthy compliment to his earlier work and it pretty much follows the same pattern as Predictability Irrational. It is organized around a set of interrelated observations that are described first in terms of the hypothesis, then the tests conducted to evaluate the hypothesis and finally the results and implications. This would normally be quite boring, but Arliey's writing and the novel way of testing economic behaviors keep the book entertaining and interesting.
In addition, Ariely peppers the second half of the book - which focuses on personal issues of irrationality - with stories of his experiences following a horrendous accident he suffered as a teen-ager. These personal notes are essential in translating ideas from the antiseptic academic to the messy real world.
Here are brief summaries of the chapters.
1. Paying more for less: why big bonuses do not always work - the bonus structure that raises the performance of physical work often freezes out knowledge workers.
2. The Meaning of Labor: what Legos can teach us about the joy of work - how work defines us and the value we place on that definition. There are deep reasons why everyone's baby is the most beautiful in the world.
3. The IKEA effect: why we overvalue what we make - the behavioral realities of `sunk effort' and how to make products and services more sticky by stealing from Betty Crocker.
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This item: The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home
