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I was going to buy this for my Kindle, but when I saw that the price was over $10, I balked. Does that make me predictably irrational or does it just mean I won't overpay.
A potential solution to this problem, derived from a specific example he mentions within the chapter, is to mentally give the "free" item a price, even one as low as one penny. This three wait has cost me over half a million dollars (Assumptions: Roth IRA, with locked six percent APR, maturing in fifty years). In fact, just a few hours before writing this brief review, I purchased three Publix cloth shopping bags that I had no intention of purchasing beforehand, but because they were buy three get one free. I found myself personally engrossed while reading this novel due to the parallels of irrational behavior I discovered I also exhibited and will be actively correcting.
Often than not, I found myself unable to take the choice that errs on the side of negative (deciding to stay home, or leave the girl alone) as I felt doing so eliminates a multitude of options without producing any new ones of benefit. I speculate if participants were required to self select as confident, or perhaps anchored to think of confidence, if such decisions become easier. It follows the trend, set by Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, in discussion of esoteric economic concepts, but without the academese that tends to keep casual readers away. This, surprisingly, nullifies the zero cost irrationality for most individuals, allowing for proper cost-benefit analysis of the additional item or offer. I have begun taking Ariely's advice, and setting hard deadlines for many things, such as this particular book review which I gave myself exactly the day after completing the book to complete, no exceptions and no excuses.
Case in point, I would fret over the decision of whether I should continue to chase after a girl or letting her go, or going to a party where I would probably feel uncomfortable or not, though these examples may seem simple to an someone else, I struggled with these decisions constantly. I can say in earnest, without that free offer, I would have completely shrugged off the Publix bag, to purchase at another time. Procrastination, or the giving up of long-term goals for immediate gratification, this desire for immediate satisfaction permeates particularly strongly throughout American culture. In sum, Ariely's solution, as I interpret it, the cure for procrastination is really premised by self-confidence, where one sets long term goals and bravely commits to them.The book discussed around 14 irrationalities in total across 13 chapters, each holding a slight new scope of human cognizance to gain.
"Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions" by Ariely Ariely (PI), was an interesting read, and deserves to be looked at by economist, psychologist, marketer, or just people looking to improve their selves alike. The final personal irrationality I've found plaguing my decision making has been that of `keeping doors open,' or not being able to stand the idea of closing our alternative options. My irrational in my context, has to do with maybe not a plethora of options, as emphasized within the book, but rather when I am down to two options that have to deal with something within the social sphere. I am curious to whether how much confidence has to do with the exact experiment presented within the book. Though I personally am not a pure procrastinator, in fact many would consider me an extrovert, I believe that there quite a bit I still put off that I do so exactly because I fail to properly evaluate the opportunity cost of the long term benefit of said action. The three above mentioned irrationalities after a deep introspective look, I felt held the most personal utility. The following three I believe have sentimental value to me and I feel are genuinely worth discussing.Zero cost irrationality as described by PI is the concept that reviews the large bias humans show towards "free." I put free in quotations as I am using the term loosely in this context as often the decision chosen is not without cost, and in relative terms, it is often not the option that held the most value per unit of the exchanging intermediary item.
I genuinely I have a new lens to the world. The effect of this national procrastination can be seen by abhorrently low national saving rate, or more implicitly or healthcare system that is more reactive than proactive. For example, I did a quick back of an envelope calculation of me putting of my savings to next year, rather than not starting when I begun work two years ago. I wonder this, since many my such decision-making gridlocks underlie a lack of self confidence, perhaps those with more of it at the time of the test may change results. I genuinely believe that holds the potential to enrich the perspective of most readers as well, no matter their relative amount of academic background on the subject.
I get it. Thought-provoking, but should have been one third of its actual length. Repeatedly found myself saying, "OK, Dan. Next topic, please."Nevertheless, it's guaranteed to bring new perspective to the decisions you make on a daily basis and the forces that influence those decisions. It's worth taking Ariely's advice and pausing at the end of each chapter to reflect on how it pertains to your own life.
Dan Ariely of Duke's Fuqua School of Business offers an intriguing study into the unexplainable irrational behavior of the mind. Emotion, passion, and impulsiveness can override high intelligence. As far as the behavior field, this is a fine study into decision-making. He does tend to bog down with the details, but it is a very instructive read.
Lawyers have turned into complete dishonest jerks, in spite of a code of ethics. This was pointed out in Gladwell's book "Outliers," where he noted that Jews would take cases that the WASPS thought to be unsavory, unethical and bad for their reputations (mergers, in particular). It makes you wonder if he paid attention to his own research - why expect humans in government to be any more rational than the test subjects.In one interesting chapter, after a few tests where the author determines that people were less likely to cheat after reading the ten commandments, he muses in bewilderment over what happened to the professional standards in so many walks of life, particularly the legal profession. One criticism I found valid was that of the author's knee-jerk reaction to socialist solutions for the ills discovered in his studies. This book is an entertaining and thought provoking look at behavioral economics - related to, but much better than Buyology. Regardless of what you may make of the experiments in this book, you don't have to like the authors love of big government or his hopelessly academic and unrealistic 'solutions' to appreciate the nature of the book and its value. The legal profession went from a place were Jewish lawyers operated at the fringes to one where Jews dominate the profession. Fast forward a hundred years, and the ethnic makeup of the country has changed, radically in some areas.
Fair enough, but could it be that the change in ethnic makeup of the legal profession is in part responsible for its current behavior. For this example, demographic trends offer helpful insights. Although some will quibble that the tests were not as scientific as they could have been, in my opinion, this did not take away from the overall theme of the book. This observation was seen as a positive by Gladwell. Attorneys in America have awful reputations and the code reads as if it speaks of another line of work.He wonders aloud what went wrong and what can be done. When the code of ethics for lawyers was founded, the profession was made up mostly of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, since after all that was the ethnic makeup of America as well as the source of the legal code itself. Neither author connected the dots here, so you be the judge. It is worth a read.
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