Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions
Written by Edgar Allan Poe
Narrated by Simon Jones
4.5/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this audiobook
Why do smart people make irrational decisions every day? The answers will surprise you. Predictably Irrational is an intriguing, witty and utterly original look at why we all make illogical decisions.
Why can a 50p aspirin do what a 5p aspirin can't? If an item is "free" it must be a bargain, right? Why is everything relative, even when it shouldn't be? How do our expectations influence our actual opinions and decisions?
In this astounding book, behavioural economist Dan Ariely cuts to the heart of our strange behaviour, demonstrating how irrationality often supplants rational thought and that the reason for this is embedded in the very structure of our minds.
Predicatably Irrational brilliantly blends everyday experiences with a series of illuminating and often surprising experiments, that will change your understanding of human behaviour. And, by recognising these patterns, Ariely shows that we can make better decisions in business, in matters of collective welfare, and in our everyday lives from drinking coffee to losing weight, buying a car to choosing a romantic partner.
Editor's Note
How to make better decisions…
Duke psychology and behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely tackles one of humanity’s greatest paradoxes by showing that our decisions tend to be both illogical and wholly predictable given the system and situation. See where your thinking is going wrong here.
Edgar Allan Poe
New York Times bestselling author Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, with appointments at the Fuqua School of Business, the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Department of Economics. He has also held a visiting professorship at MIT’s Media Lab. He has appeared on CNN and CNBC, and is a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s Marketplace. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.
More audiobooks from Edgar Allan Poe
The Predictably Irrational Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best of Edgar Allan Poe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Irrationally Yours: On Missing Socks, Pickup Lines, and Other Existential Puzzles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Predictably Irrational
Related audiobooks
The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nudge: The Final Edition: Improving Decisions About Money, Health, And The Environment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Machinery of the Mind (An Interview) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nudge (Revised Edition): Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behavioral Economics: The Basics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How the Mind Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ostrich Paradox: Why We Underprepare for Disasters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think!: Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/550 Psychology Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Psychology For You
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Seduction: An Indispensible Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Banish Your Inner Critic: Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt to Unleash Your Creativity and Do Your Best Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Magic Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Starts with Self-Compassion: A Practical Road Map Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed For You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spritual Growth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Predictably Irrational
137 ratings26 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ariely's quintessential argument is that "chicago boys" classical economics fails to consider the irrationality of individual consumers, that said irrationality is actually quite predictable, and that this predictablity has far sweeping economic implications.Without wanting to repeat past reviews, my single biggest qualm with the book was the final point of Ariely's assertion - the implications of these small irrationalities to the broader economic environment. For example, consider his point that things labelled "free" attract a disproportionate reaction from the buyer (that is, a reduction in price from $4 to $0 produces greater behavioural change than a reduction from $20 to $16, even though the marginal benefit is identical). This is a fair point for the individual consumer, but "so what" for the market as a whole? Were the subprime mortgages packaged with other investments overlooked because they were percieved as "free" by buyers? Do people often fall in to deep debt because of "interest free" luxury purchases, reducing the savings rate of individuals and leading to investment bubbles? I can't answer these questions, and Ariely didn't even attempt to. As such, his point - while meaningful for individual consumers and potentially for marketers, fails to abstract to the greater economic realm.If the scope of the book is to inspire consumers to reflect upon their behaviour, the book is a superb success. However, for anyone with an academic interest in macroeconomics, the book fails to make its message relevant.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The economic concept of a rational economic man is brought into question through various studies on how we make economic options to buy or sell. I do not doubt that given the complexity of our choices today that always taking the best option is highly unlikely. Yet the market does make choices ie the rise of the I Phone at the expense of Blackberry. The studies on cheating are quite eye opening and larger than expected.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Essentially an attack on the idea that people make rational economic decisions, and when they don't the market smoothes it all out, through the medium of simple experiments that show some forms of irrationality that we're all prone to. Nicely self-deprecating.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A book that makes some interesting observations about the bad choices people (repeatedly) make. Maybe because much of the material is familiar to me, but I felt like this certainly could have been condensed, although I certainly took away a few interesting tidbits. Recommended to me by a professor.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I was disappointed. I realize it's nigh on impossible to present the results of dozens of experiments in a layman's introduction to the topic, but still I had the feeling all along that the author was drawing conclusions that weren't robustly supported by the evidence. Frequently he describes the results of an experiment, then follows this with "this experiment shows X", when it may well show nothing of the sort. Without knowing something about his methodology, though, I'm not able to say anything more. All in all I'd say that the book misses the mark as a book for the sophisticated layman, as it leaves too much out, or too much unexplained, to be stimulating. Assuming the various results he describes are well-supported by the evidence, they are fascinating. But I could've learned as much about them by reading wikipedia as by reading this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this - well worth a read. Some interesting experiments talked about in this book - particularly made me think about the rigour that's involved in trying to make sure your observations are valid - hard work!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a nice lead-in to further reading on behavioral economics. Ariely touches on this in his closing chapter, how much of the research that he discusses throughout the book is better studied from behavioral economics than pure rational economics. It is interesting to see how what some situations may seem call for rational decisions, the research evidence tends to show otherwise.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I don't think anyone would argue with the claim that people aren't totally rational. Even in areas where we should be looking after our own interests, we don't always do so. There are probably interesting ways to look at this, and I think this book does a decent job of it. The problem is that it only does it about half of the time, and the rest, it just seems obvious.For example, things I was surprised by included how much difference it makes for something to be free, rather than just a penny, or the influence that a decoy offer can have on one's decision making process. Even the portion on the costs people pay to keep options open was enlightening. Others among the studies just seemed like the sorts of things we already knew, and they're just going ahead and proving it. So things like people thinking differently when they're very emotional than when they're not, or that foreknowledge and expectations can lead to people experiencing things differently, doesn't really come as a shock.Still, the book is fairly nice and breezily written, and Ariely's a clever guy. The experiments he comes up with are usually fairly interesting, even if the points they're proving aren't always. I'd have liked it better if he'd stuck with about half the book, and left out the more obvious bits, but it's still a good read, and it won't take you long. I'd wait for the paperback, though, if you're going to buy it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I’ll give this book a fiver! Be prepared to let your beliefs be shredded, and to let yourself go “whoa, what” and “wow, that’s true” and discover why we’re not as rational as we would like to believe. Hang on tight as Dan Ariely strikes deep and hard and takes you on a journey about how predictably irrational we are and the forces that drive that behavior. This book will educate you on relativity thinking, decoy effect (how you should take advantage of comparisons), anchoring, endowment effect (overvaluing what you own), supply and demand (and why we’ve got it reversed), thinking patterns during arousal and similar emotions like anger, power of the humble zero, cool and hot states, the social norm versus the market norm, and dishonesty (also the subject of another book by Dan Ariely). In conclusion, we’re not as we’d like to believe, the rational true captains of our destiny, but we’re driven by emotions, past experience and other unconscious forces. We can however, overcome these tendencies once we understand them.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Any book that seems to predict your behaviour is both intriguing and, let's face it, a bit scary. I started this book with a measure of cynicism - everyone seems to be cashing in on the self-help style book these days. Well, I don't mind eating some humble pie - I was wrong.To start, this isn't a self-help book. It's a study of human nature. But that's not to say it doesn't offer some advice on how we can combat these 'hidden forces'. Each chapter covers an area of our 'predictable irrationality' and Ariely uses straightforward experiments to support his theories. For example, let me tell you one part of the book that applied to me.I used to pick up a coffee on the way to work two or three times a week for about £1.20. It was decent enough coffee and a nice treat. One day I passed by my local Cafe Nero. I bought a cup for £2.15. It's a bigger cup, much nicer coffee. Next time I pass I'm buy it again. Soon I'm buying it five days a week because that's become normal. I don't even think about it - it's as habitual as my three meals a day.Then I read this book and to tell the truth I felt slightly sick when I read the part of the book where Ariely describes exactly this type of scenario. I sat back and thought, "I've gone from spending £2.40 a week to £10.75". I went cold turkey and stopped my daily coffee!It's a bit of a waffly point I know but what I'm trying to highlight is that Ariely's book holds up a mirror. Think you're above irrationality? Think again. I have a friend who has now bought the book and half way through she admits to being as freaked out as me.It's well written, not too wordy, not condescending, funny in parts and I should imagine most people would be able to identify with some parts. The downside? Ariely offers some ways to rise above this 'predictable irrationality' but by the end of the book I almost felt like there was a sort of resigned 'well, we can try but we are who we are' feel. However, let's be fair, Ariely is one man and one man can only do so much.An excellent book and one I would certainly recommend but don't be surprised if it makes you look a little harder at yourself. But you never know - it might save you the £8 a week it's now saving me, so it's got to be worth it!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5interested. make peoples brain open after read.
useful when you analizing makets habbit - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very accessible description of various experiments in micro-economics. The outcome is invariably that decisions are heavily influenced by factors that are either un-acknowledged (influence of non-monetary set-up in cheating) or not accurately accounted for (e.g. physical arousal). This is not a comment on the book itself, but these ideas have by now been so widely disseminated in popular science publications that I don't feel I have learned very much from the book that I hadn't already read about elsewhere. Maybe one thing: that much of the thinking that led to this book was triggered by a very traumatic experience, 70% third degree burns from a magnesium flare left Ariely hospitalized for many months at age 18.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a fascinating book along the lines of Freakonomics and a very easy read. I would highly recommend it--it makes you stop and think about why you do some of the things you do. Who knew that (behavioral) economics could be so interesting?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An easy read with great examples of how crazy even the most sane person reasons and rationalizes. It might not make me change any bad decision as I make it but hopefully when I review the decision I will be able to recognize the forces which helped me make it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting and much better researched than Malcolm Gladwell's books, Ariely's story of how irrational most of our decisions are doesn't come across as a surprise, but it is depressing, nevertheless. As he narrates tale after tale of people making irrational decisions, you'll see yourself time and again. What is most interesting is how by varying his experiments just a little, he can produce significantly different results. Sad to think that we aren't generally honest unless we are being watched -but I'm afraid he is right. The other depressing thing is just how poor we are at gauging the extent of our irrationality, even when we understand that there are situations, such as when we are sexually aroused, when our decision-making powers are weakened. Throughout the book, Ariely's sense of humor and self-deprecation make for an engaging read (or listen in my case.)
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Predictably AnecdotalBlame Malcolm Gladwell - but after Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking social psychologists of the type he featured in that book have been coming out of the woodwork to publish in the pop science market in alarming numbers figuring, reasonably, enough that there's a bit of money to be made on the side. I'm guessing royalties from articles in the International Journal of Psychology would pale in comparison. One of the latest is Dan Ariely, whose unique selling point is a horrific accident he sustained as a student Israel which left him with burns to 70% of his body. His book does what it says on the tin, by way of explaining a number of social experiments that he and his colleagues have run in the last few years, loosely themed around the observation that we don't always act as sensibly as logic would dictate. Which is fine - as you would expect, some of the examples are eyebrow raising - but it really shouldn't be news and it certainly doesn't require Dan Ariely to tell us that our liberal western societies aren't as rational as we like to think (incontrovertible proof of that, not offered in Ariel's book, being the politicians we elect and the amount of attention and money we collectively devote to cosmetics, fashion, celebrity and professional sport), especially as deeper epistemological examination reveals the idea of "rationality" is incoherent anyway. But just as some anecdotes are enlightening, the implications of others are not nearly as plain or convincing as Ariel thinks they are, and some of his experiments struck me as being particularly glib, superficial and susceptible to plenty of alternative interpretations. And what Ariel's book lacks is any further theoretical drive: OK, we re predisposed to behave in silly or odious ways - but what's your point? In what underlying way are our irrational proclivities linked? What conclusions can we draw; what can we learn; what strategies can we adopt to counteract the harmful effects of our fecklessness? Ariely implies, but doesn't say, that some sort of regulation is required to save us. But given that it was our irrational proclivities by which we arrived at these politicians (and the political institutions through which they organise themselves) I'm not sure he leaves us any better off than when we started.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From a theological standpoint, this is a great look at total depravity. Uses study in behavioral economics to demonstrate how fundamentally broken humanity is, while writing with wit great insight. Broad range of important topics from consumerism to sex to child rearing. Very important book. Highly recommendable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brilliant stuff, entertaining and insightful. I knew much of the results that the book reported on and still found it an enjoyable and useful read. Even if you knew everything the sorts of irrationality described in the book are the sort that are best countered by constant reminding yourself of their existence. Is there any other way?
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Book is collection of behavioural experiments by the author. While book is definitely verbose can be easily trimmed to half, it's a easy quick read and shows certain interesting insights to human nature. Chapter on social norm, relative preference, price of zero and dishonesty are particularly good.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Some great research and some amazing findings about how and why we react the way we do.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5a good read with interesting studies. struggled to find the learning point though and how to relate them. tius
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unfortunately, I read this two months ago and thus don't remember much beyond enjoying it. Some overlap with Thaler/Sunstein's Nudge (that's not a bad thing). I wondered whether the FREE! phenomenon in the first part of the book is really that widespread; I don't fall for it and I'm pretty average. The discussion of social vs market norms was probably the most interesting, and inspirational, but it got unrealistically idealistic when moving into employee behavior. Ditto the Burning Man analogy -- that is not a cross-section of society. It's too specialized and self-selected a group to really apply elsewhere. Also disagreed re the ethics of placebo studies, but it was an interesting discussion regardless. He includes the Josh Bell subway experiment, which is always an interesting bit. I have a note that I found the dishonesty section weak but at 35 pages I'm not rereading to remember why.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best read i ever come across. Classic work in behavaioural economics. why we do what we do.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I found many of these behavior experiments really fascinating - who knew that changing the price of a chocolate from 1 cent to free could have such a huge impact on one's decision? or that signing an honor code directly before taking a test could dramatically decrease cheating behavior? We humans are certainly an interesting bunch. Now I'd like a book that teaches me how to go against that innate response!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very enjoyable. I now realise how irrational I was. Perhaps, I will improve.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Exceptional book. Insightful explanation of why we do what we do.