 | | |
| Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions | 
 enlarge | Author: Dan Ariely
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $15.69
You Save: $10.26 (40%)
Buy New/Used from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  (156 reviews)
Sales Rank: 179
Format: Roughcut
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 006135323X
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.83
EAN: 9780061353239
ASIN: 006135323X
Publication Date: February 19, 2008
Release Date: February 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Figure Out People By Identifying Patterns August 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In writing and speaking on the subject of human behavior, I often remind people the secret to dealing with a person's explosive anger. Although the anger may be unexplainable, the explosions are quite predictable.
Such is the framework of a relatively new discipline called behavioral economics, which is featured in Dan Ariely's book, "Predictably Irrational-The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions." Where standard economics presumes humans to be rational beings, Dan Ariely and the theory of behavioral economics portend we are not only fundamentally irrational, but that we make the same mistakes over and over.
Ariely has plenty of fascinating research to back up his claims, including information on procrastination, a suggestive language technique called priming, a marketing technique referred to as "decoy pricing" and why, as a society, we steal from our own employers.
Stealing is a crime, so it's especially intriguing to learn that it's easier for most people to justify stealing when the pilfered item is one step removed from cash such as supplies.
Employee-related theft and fraud in the workplace costs American businesses around $600 billion annually. By comparison, all robberies, burglaries, larceny and auto theft cost about $16 billion in 2004.
There's a name for what people do when they buy clothes, wear them and then return the garments for a refund. It's a type of stealing called "wardrobing" and it costs retailers $16 billion per year.
This information has far-reaching consequences. The author is convinced that our irrational consumer spending habits can errantly convince someone that he is affluent.
Noting that Americans regard uniqueness as a positive character trait, Ariely notes that people with a need for uniqueness are sometimes willing to sacrifice personal utility for "reputational" utility.
One might think the concept of predictable irrationality to be rather depressing, but the author offers many suggestions for improving our situation, including self-control credit cards and a program called, "save more tomorrow," that allows employees to save a percentage of future salary raises.
It seems as though Ariely performs the bulk of his research on college students, who one might argue are even more irrational and less predictable than the rest of us.
"Predictably Irrational" is read by the Simon Jones in his great British accent. Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Marketers, business owners and anyone who examines human behavior will find this book a very worthwhile read. -Michael Angelo Caruso, www.EdisonHouse.com.
i liked it but felt the author was reaching August 8, 2008
I enjoyed the book. It was an easy read. I felt the author didn't have enough focus. It felt like the author was trying to make a book out of ramdom studies he had done that while interesting still left me with the impression that he was reaching. So the point of the book he kind of forced is that people are not rational mostly because they are social beings and that is more important than being logical, and this is what is predictable, hence the title. Still I reccomend this book because I find hman behavior so interesting and the more we understand it the better off we are.
Economics with a little twist from the Freakonomics August 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dan Ariely has written a very engaging look into experiments he has conducted over his tenure at MIT. He starts with his medical history of his third degree burns over his body. Ariely does this to make the reader aware of his inspiration to "discover what people really like" in the world. His first example is removing the cloth from his wounds in a fast or slow motion. The nurses are sure the fast rip with a quick flash of pain is the best way; however, this makes Ariely begin to wonder the truth behind this common assumption.
The book flows in and out of his history and there did not seem to be in chronological order. The reader could skip around the chapters to their own delight. Ariely has made the book approachable for anyone with an affinity for experiments and the "why" behind the decisions. This approach has been made popular by "Freakonomics", "What Sticks", "Economic Naturalist", and many other books along the same line. I enjoyed Ariely's book the most of the new economist book series.
Chapter Six, Nine, Eleven, and Twelve were my favorite chapters out of the thirteen in the book. Procrastination, Expectations, and Honesty are all prominently featured in these chapters. I did not feel I could better understand all the subjects he discussed in the other chapters any more than before for various reasons like I have read it, heard it, or not interested were the main reasons.
I believe people should give Ariely's book a look just to see where some of his antics and experiments are different from the aforementioned books. It is approachable and a joyful read that is over before it begins. Ariely has done something to set himself apart from the economist books before him and also borrows some of their insights for his book. If anything check the book out from the library to see his experiments in action and know why human beings are predictably irrational.
Great read! Economics made easy for the layperson August 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great read written by a revolutionary economist with the gift of explaining complicated/complex economics to laypeople. A great job, and highly recommended. It will also make you reflect on how you make decisions and whether they are rational decisions.
A must-read for students of economics and the social sciences August 2, 2008
I have already recommended this book to my upper-level students in international relations courses. There is a longstanding debate in the field of IR (and throughout the social sciences) about whether it is more useful to take the "rational choice" approach of economics that attempts to predict behavior using formal mathematical models such as game theory and expected utility, or to use the evidence-based scientific approach of sociology and psychology that carefully examines actual behavior in an effort to figure out why people (and nations) behave the way they do. Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses. Neither is perfect. It would be wonderful if we could combine the best of both worlds: the simplicity and predictive power of economics with the rigorous empirical grounding of the scientific method. The emerging field of "behavioral economics" is an attempt to do just that. It takes the basic principles of economic modeling and adjusts them based on scientific discoveries about human behavior. Ariely's book is a great non-technical introduction to behavioral economics. Written for the lay-reader with no background in economics or psychology, this book explains, in simple, easy-to-understand terms, why people don't behave rationally, as economists like to assume they do. It's really a book about decision making. It asks the question of how people make decisions, and why they make the (often irrational) decisions they make. This is a fun book that touches on everything from marketing to finance to international relations to health care to sex. (Yes, believe it or not, people even make irrational decisions about sex; and sexual desire can interfere with our ability to think rationally.) If you've ever wondered why people often make irrational decisions, this is the book for you. And I'd especially recommend this book for all students of economics as a prophylactic against the field's rather irrational assumption that rational choice can explain everything.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |