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Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

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Author: Dan Ariely
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

47 reviews
Sales Rank: 386

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4

ISBN: 0007256523
EAN: 9780007256525
ASIN: 0007256523

Publication Date: March 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book dispatched from stock in the UK

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 47

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Good fun, whilst still informative. May 22, 2008
The title I have given this review pretty much sums up this book by Dan Ariely. The content of this book on behavioural economics is brilliantly detailed. Diagrams illustrate the points laid out in the text and it includes a good list of studies that would be useful for students of psychology or economics alike. The topics covered are very extensive, though maybe some of the titles for chapters do not entirely accurately represent the content within them (Fallacy of supply and demand touches heavily upon various topics, but maybe too little on actual supply and demand).

Whilst being educational and informative, Dan Ariely never fails to add sparks of humour to make his book all the more enjoyable. As an author he is not afraid to make critical comments and judgements based upon (and often totally predjudging) the studies that he undertakes yet these do not get mixed up in the results. If his witty comments get proved totally out of place, he will make further witty comments to counterbalance his argument. It is never a dull read, with some almost laugh out loud, obviously intentional irony that carries this otherwise tedious subject into a much more mainstream audience.

4 out of 5 stars

Have you ever wondered . . . . ? May 11, 2008
Have you gone to the shops for something and come away with something completely different? Do you make decisions that you sit back later and wonder what on earth led you to make them? Dan Ariely is a researcher at MIT who has looked at our decisions in the world, why we make them and also what use is made of the decisions in the marketplace. Reading this has given me a depper understanding of some of the Psychology behind marketing and I think I have actually changed my approach when out shopping. What does the second item cost when you "buy one get one free"?

4 out of 5 stars

And you thought you could not be manipulated!! April 24, 2008
This book is one of a very small group of books where I can say they really changed my views. I fell into every trap - of course I knew how I made decisions, and I was far too sensible to be manipulated by others - wrong!! This is a fascinating books which describes clearly, simply and credibly how (amongst other things) our purchasing decisions are not based on real value but on perceived values, and how those perceived values can be imprinted by otherswithout our realising. This book should be mandatory reading for all, in order to give us a fair chance against the clever people whose sole aim is to control our actions for their own benefit. PLEASE READ THIS!!

4 out of 5 stars

People Are Predictably Interested In More Than Money April 22, 2008
Only a professor of behavioral economics would conclude that when people respond to motives other than money they are being predictably irrational. If you want to see some clever experiments that demonstrate that people are interested in things other than money, read this book.

I would like to observe, however, that such experiments have to be taken with a grain of salt when people know that they are experiments or reflect unexpected questions rather than serious looks at on-going behavior in areas where people have a lot of experience. For instance, the book looks at whether and at what price Duke students will sell basketball tickets they have just put a lot of effort into getting. Clearly, there are factors other than profit that motivated the buying in the first place. Most students probably wanted to get lucky and go to the game. Selling a ticket under these circumstances denies the opportunity to go to the game. A ticket broker would make a rational decision about whether to hire students to try get a ticket this way, but a student who does this a few times wouldn't. Study the ticket broker and you'll get more economic behavior. Study the student who wants to go the game and you won't. So why should we be surprised?

I remember being a subject of a lot of these experiments as a student. If the experiment struck me as particularly stupid, I would often feel rebellious and do things to act in noneconomic ways just to prove I was a person. I didn't see that effects like those are being studied here.

If you want to learn about human behavior, I suggest you study all of the motives . . . not just try to understand the economic motives.

In addition, some of the experiments probably depend in part on the common meaning of certain words being different than the definition that a professor would use. I think the experiments about certainty and probability wording may be tainted by that problem.

Professor Ariely is a clever fellow, but I think he stretches his conclusions further than they deserve. He's also interested in finding ways to make people look stupid rather than appreciating the genius that most people exhibit routinely. I couldn't help feeling that there was too much economic motive in his desire to write this book (a P.T. Barnum approach rather than trying to truly educate).

5 out of 5 stars

It explains a lot..... April 19, 2008
I was intrigued by the publisher's blurb for this book, "why do smart people make irrational decisions every day", and I wasn't disappointed.
In the book Dan Ariely looks at the way expectations, social and emotional forces act on us and he explains how we are conditioned to be unable to resist free offers and why we "buy one get one free" even though we could buy one cheaper elsewhere and we don't need two and end up throwing one away! He demonstrates our irrational behaviour with carefully constructed experiments.
Chapter 4 is particularly interesting in that it examines social and market norms and the way that companies need to be clear which area they operate in. He also looks at education and concludes that the increased testing of children in schools, a market norm, is unlikely to improve education and schools should return to social norms.
Written in an easily readable style, recommended.