Predictably Irrational
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Book - 2009
This evaluation of the sources of illogical decisions explores the reasons why irrational thought often overcomes level-headed practices, offering insight into the structural patterns that cause people to make the same mistakes repeatedly. In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, the author, a MIT behavioral economist, refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience withgroundbreaking research, he 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, he 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 are systematic and predictable, making us predictably irrational. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, he explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. This book offers ways to change the way we interact with the world one small decision at a time.
Publisher:
New York : Harper, [2009]
Edition:
Revised and expanded edition
Copyright Date:
©2009
ISBN:
9780061854545
0061854549
0061854549
Branch Call Number:
153 Ar42P 2009
Characteristics:
xxxii, 368 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Alternative Title:
Predictably rational



Opinion
From Library Staff
Why people make poor choices and how to break systemic patterns.
From the critics

Comment
Add a CommentAriely showcases his study of human behaviour through his social experiments on his students. If you are interested in Behavioral Economics then this is the book for you. If you want to make better decisions, this might be worth a read but it may also be too much. Humans don't natural follow the rational path, even when it's the most beneficial or logical one.
" This multivoiced quality of experience is the essence of what i call DIALOGIC THINKING. It's not a term that Vygotsky used, but i believe that the idea is there in his writings. A solitary mind is actually a chorus. We can go so far as to say that minds are riddled with different voices because the they are never really solitary....other people's words get into our heads...our thinking IS social. Our minds contain multitudes, just as a work of fiction contains the voices of different characters with distinct perspectives. Thinking is a dialogue, and human cognition retains many of the powers of a conversation among different points of view."
An excellent overview of what behavioral economics is about.
Brilliant. I have since seeked out his other publications and TED talks and recommended to other people.
Great book that provides an interesting look at human behavior and as the title implies how we can go against rational thinking. I really enjoyed the analysis at the end of the book about the need for a better relationship between rational economics and behavioral economics. I look forward to checking out more of Ariely's work.
This book, along with 'You Are Now Less Dumb' form my core recommended introduction to why people make strange choices. I have seen it compared to 'Freakonomics'. I suppose if you're reading these books as distractions, the comparison may seem accurate. But as 'Freakonomics' is just that- a fluffy pointless distraction- I find the comparison inaccurate. 'Predictably Irrational' is a crash course on why we make choices that don't make sense, 'Freakonomics' is stand up comedy disguised as pop psychology. But I guess it depends on why you're reading.
Enjoyable book to read but I found it followed on the coattails of Freakonomics too much without adding any intellectual depth. Most arguments, while cogent, were arrived at easily. Good book to read on a beech for vacation, but, would steer clear if you are trying to learn something new.
Good book. Each chapter rounds itself up nicely and has enough evidence to not only support the idea, but also give the reader enough knowledge to start to formulate questions of their own. Really elaborates on how people spend their money and a little on why.
Divided into easily digestible short chapters, the book follows many of Mr. Ariely's entertaining experiments and studies (many using students) to direct us to surprising conclusions about human nature. The Duke professor's personal anecdotes and pithy approach make this an enjoyable and very insightful non-fiction read that might have you sharing what you've learned with everyone you know.
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