ESCP Europe

Why do smart people make irrational decisions every day? The answers will surprise you. In a series of illuminating and groundbreaking experiments, behavioural economist Dan Ariely demonstrates how expectations, emotions, social norms and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same type of mistakes. We consistently overpay, underestimate and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviours are neither random nor senseless. Theyre systematic and predictable. From paying for coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. Predictably Irrational is not simply a fascinating read; it has the power to change the way we interact with the world one small decision at a time. from book jacket.

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 2. The fallacy of supply and demand: why the price of pearls, and everything else, is up in the air --- Chapter 3. The cost of zero cost: why we often pay too much when we pay nothing --- Chapter 4. The cost of social norms: why we are happy to do things, but not when we are paid to do them --- Chapter 5. The influence of arousal: why hot is much hotter than we realize --- Chapter 6. The problem of procrastination and self-control: why we can't make ourselves do what we want to do --- 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..