Why do our headaches persist after we take a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a fifty-cent aspirin? Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?
When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we?
In this newly revised and expanded edition of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, we consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.
Predictably Irrational examines the common errors in human reasoning and uncovers the motivations behind your daily behavior. The gap between how you ought to behave and how you really behave costs you money every day.
The book discusses a variety of psychological biases and strategies for overcoming them. You'll discover why leaving your options open could actually reduce opportunities, why ordering first at a restaurant increases satisfaction, and how your real estate agent might be making decisions on your behalf.
But suppose we are nothing more than the sum of our first, naive, random behaviors. What then?
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