Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition
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Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Dan Ariely2009
How do we think about money? What caused bankers to lose sight of the economy? What caused individuals to take on mortgages that were not within their means? What irrational forces guided our decisions? And how can we recover from an economic crisis? In this revised and expanded edition of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Predictably Irrational, Duke University's behavioral economist Dan Ariely explores the hidden forces that shape our decisions, including some of the causes responsible for the current economic crisis. Bringing a much-needed dose of sophisticated psychological study to the realm of public policy, Ariely offers his own insights into the irrationalities of everyday life, the decisions that led us to the financial meltdown of 2008, and the general ways we get ourselves into trouble. Blending common experiences and clever experiments with groundbreaking analysis, Ariely demonstrates how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. As he explains, our reliance on standard economic theory to design personal, national, and global policies may, in fact, be dangerous. The mistakes that we make as individuals and institutions are not random, and they can aggregate in the market—with devastating results. In light of our current economic crisis, the consequences of these systematic and predictable mistakes have never been clearer. Packed with new studies and thought-provoking responses to readers' questions and comments, this revised and expanded edition of Predictably Irrational will change the way we interact with the world—from the small decisions we make in our own lives to the individual and collective choices that shape our economy.
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Reviews

Photo of Pierre
Pierre@pst
2 stars
Apr 4, 2024

The tone of the book is rather pedantic. Also it sounds like the concepts are overly explained without there being a great payoff. In the end it sounded to me like scientists proving what your aunt or my grandmother always knew. Sorta. A book that enlightened me slightly more (I read it more than 10 years ago though) was Petit traité de manipulation à l'usage des honnêtes gens. A pity this has not been translated to english AFAIK.

Photo of Matthew Royal
Matthew Royal@masyukun
4 stars
Feb 13, 2023

Overall, this is a useful book. There's quite a bit of overlap conceptually with David Graeber's "Debt" and Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow," but this one predates them by 3 years. Social vs market norms. Similar to David Graeber's book about Debt. Social norms shouldn't be translated into market norms, or you destroy them. This book uses them to explain relationship costs in a useful way. Men paying for dinner on a date, if complaining that he always has to pay, converts it into a market norm. This therefore turns the possible sexual relationship from social to market, implying the date can be bought, which is a social insult. I think this is why so many people on the autism spectrum sound like incels: they view social norms in relationships as a financial exchange and therefore women as manipulators of value. This construct of Ideas of "free/gift" crossing market and social norms in weird but predictable ways is a useful analytical tool. It's easy once you get going to classify every interaction in one of these 2 categories, and consider what would happen if it crossed into the other norm. Much more fruitful than Graeber's formulation.  People are willing to work for free, and they're willing to work for money, but if you offer them a small amount of money, they'll walk away. Telling someone how much a gift costs puts it back into the market mode, and could be perceived as tasteless or offensive. One of the other great ideas he has is bundling healthcare tests and common procedures like immunizations into regular, predictably priced service events, like with an auto dealership. However, if higher prices for drugs and healthcare are as positively correlated with satisfaction and pain relief as he says, then the US healthcare system must be the most satisfying one in the world. Since it is clearly not, this placebo effect is overstated.

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Mati Goldberg@matigo
5 stars
Feb 9, 2023

I read the book after watching Prof. Ariely and Prof. Kariv's debate in my college. Very interesting and makes you think about the daily decisions you take.

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Carolina Lopes@carolina
4 stars
Sep 5, 2021

Dan Ariely is phenomenal. If you're into psychology, economics or marketing, you'll probably have a great time with this one.

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Adam@adam
3 stars
Aug 17, 2021

A look into what motivates us and how our hidden desires contribute to our behavior.

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Frida Wiig @okapri
5 stars
Jan 6, 2025
+3
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Ilyas Gaifullin@ilyas
4.5 stars
Apr 8, 2023
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Lindsey Barnett@lindseybarnett
3 stars
Mar 29, 2023
+3
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Hemanth Soni@hemaaanth
3.5 stars
Aug 12, 2022
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Yuzu@yuzu
4 stars
Sep 14, 2021
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Kevin Wammer@cliophate
5 stars
Jul 18, 2024
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Elena Favret@elenafav
4 stars
Jul 5, 2024
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Ankit Panchal@ankit0404
5 stars
Apr 11, 2024
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Taylor Murphy@tayloramurphy
4 stars
Apr 7, 2024
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Konstantin Q@knstntn
3 stars
Apr 4, 2024
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Richu A Kuttikattu@richuak
5 stars
Mar 26, 2024
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Frederik Creemers@bigblind
5 stars
Feb 9, 2024
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Pamela Koh@the1pam
5 stars
Jan 29, 2024
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Alvaro@alvaroaleman
3 stars
Jan 18, 2024
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Ryan Maher@ryanmaher
3 stars
Jan 14, 2024
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Hooman Rostami@hooman
5 stars
Jan 7, 2024
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Nathan Knowler@knowler
4 stars
Dec 29, 2023
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Guilherme Simoes@guilhermesimoes
4 stars
Dec 28, 2023
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Carmen Maria@carmen2611
4 stars
Dec 27, 2023