Predictably Irrational

Book Review- Predictably Irrational The purpose of this paper is to review the book, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely and more specifically address a single concept discussed in the book. First, I’ll offer a brief synopsis of the book. Second, I will discuss the concept of the cost of social and market norms from the book. Lastly, I’ll connect the concepts of social and market norms in relationship to a select few concepts discussed so far in the class, ADM 560. Synopsis of the Book Predictably Irrational by Ariely presents a series of concepts, experimental findings, and personal stories related to how people make decisions and the research strategies he used over the years to confirm each concept. A few of the concepts included focus…

From picking between two cereals to deciding who to take on a date, decisions affect us every day. Decisions might be perceived as easy to make but there is reason behind why we make the decisions we do. The book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely explores how we make decisions. Dan Ariely is a Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. In addition, he founded the Center for Advanced Hindsight, and is the author of multiple books (Ariely). Ariely uses the concept of…

Macie johnson Ms. Walter LA 12 1 APR.2016 Hamlet 's Revenge In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, multiple characters use revenge causing irrational behaviors. In Hamlet the main character Hamlet is seeking revenge on his uncle for the death of his father. Claudius killed Hamlet 's father because he was jealous of him having the throne and all the power. Claudius took the action of killing Hamlet’s father in secrecy. Hamlet finds out by the ghost of his father. After finding out what…

I’m Predictably Irrational? Prior to reading this book, I’ve rather smugly thought of myself as quite a rational fellow. Much to my surprise, this book identifies multiple, fascinatingly common situations that are relevant to my daily life to which I believed my responses were rational. Through the lens provided by the author however, my reactions to these situations have been almost unconscious and very much irrational. So the purpose of this paper is to highlight four learning points from the…

With Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely contributes to the growing list of books (Blink, Nudge, Freakonomics, Thinking, Fast and Slow) meant to challenge preconceptions of human rationality. Ariely’s book first begged the question about Israel’s proclivity for producing behavioral economists. Recognizing an insufficient sample size to justify that generalization and loath to assume more research in my waning days at the War College, I cast aside that thought to find lessons in Predictably…

In Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely discusses the “hidden forces that shape our decisions”. He looks deeply into how and why people make irrational decisions, but he also explains how we can improve our decision-making to act more rationally. This irrational behavior is consistent enough across populations to where it can be argued that people do not always act rationally. For some reason, we fall victim to anchoring, we cannot properly evaluate the concept of zero, and we always need to…

Predictably Irrational Based from Conventional Economics, the field of Economics that we have dealt extensively in the previous lessons of this course, we were able to apply the idea that human beings make rational decisions by exercising their logical reasoning through careful calculation and examination of every available option so that it will be able to lead them to the maximization of their personal benefit, be it in terms of happiness and/or wealth. However, this was contradicted by Dan…

Traditional economics assumes that human beings are rational and will consider all their options before choosing the best choice available to them. In his book “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions,” however, behavioral economist Dan Ariely points out that human beings cannot be depended on to behave rationally and that expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, apparently illogical forces distort our reasoning abilities. While the field of…

Human behavior is often irrational, but Dan Ariely presents his research on how that irrational behavior can be predictable in his book Predictably Irrational. One reason for this is that in the time we take to process the information our senses perceive about the world around us, that world has already changed in some way and we are making decisions based on outdated data. Additionally, our previous experiences and personal worldview affect how we process that world, which introduces a layer of…

Pi’s majors are present. Richard Parker relies on both science and religion, showing that both of these components are mandatory in expressing the variations of interpretations. Once can look at a situation scientifically or creatively, each getting a unique outcome. Truth expresses an explanation for one’s understanding, not necessarily correct or incorrect. The ambiguity for truth allows for interpretation of others. Pi is named after a famous swimming pool, the Piscine Molitor. Pools have…