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Predictably Irrational
Dan Ariely
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
HarperCollins
February 2008
On Sale: February 19, 2008
304 pages
ISBN: 006135323X
EAN: 9780061353239
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
- 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.
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