predictably
irrational
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Dan Ariely
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2008
PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL. Copyright © 2008 by Dan Ariely.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007256525
Ebook Edition © MARCH 2009 ISBN: 9780007319923 Version: 2018-10-18
To my mentors, colleagues, and students— who make research exciting
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION How an Injury Led Me to Irrationality and to the Research Described Here
CHAPTER 1 The Truth about Relativity Why Everything Is Relative—Even When It Shouldn't Be
CHAPTER 3 The Cost of Zero Cost Why We Often Pay Too Much When We Pay Nothing
CHAPTER 5 The Influence of Arousal Why Hot Is Much Hotter Than We Realize
CHAPTER 7 The High Price of Ownership Why We Overvalue What We Have
CHAPTER 8 Keeping Doors Open Why Options Distract Us from Our Main Objective
CHAPTER 9 The Effect of Expectations Why the Mind Gets What It Expects
CHAPTER 10 The Power of Price Why a 50-Cent Aspirin Can Do What a Penny Aspirin Can't
CHAPTER 11 The Context of Our Character, Part I Why We Are Dishonest, and What We Can Do about It
CHAPTER 12 The Context of Our Character, Part II Why Dealing with Cash Makes Us More Honest
CHAPTER 13 Beer and Free Lunches What Is Behavioral Economics, and Where Are the Free Lunches?
Bibliography and Additional Readings
Introduction How an Injury Led Me to Irrationality and to the Research Described Here
I have been told by many people that I have an unusual way of looking at the world. Over the last 20 years or so of my research career, it's enabled me to have a lot of fun figuring out what really influences our decisions in daily life (as opposed to what we think, often with great confidence, influences them).
Do you know why we so often promise ourselves to diet, only to have the thought vanish when the dessert cart rolls by?
Do you know why we sometimes find ourselves excitedly buying things we don't really need?
Do you know why we still have a headache after taking a one-cent aspirin, but why that same headache vanishes when the aspirin costs 50 cents?
Do you know why people who have been asked to recall the Ten Commandments tend to be more honest (at least immediately afterward) than those who haven't? Or why honor codes actually do reduce dishonesty in the workplace?
By the end of