cool read on irrationality

[lph]

(Here ya go, Oak!)

Am in the middle of reading "Predictably irrational" by Dan Ariely, and I just love it. He comments on and tries to explain many of the strange reactions I've wondered about, in myself and other people - basically how people often do not choose rationally in certain situations where you'd expect them to, but instead choose not only irrationally but predictably so.

For example he explains how we like to make choices by comparison, because we have difficulty assessing value without something to compare with. Given a choice between 2 options A and B that are hard to compare, we try to compare but just have to make a choice in the end. Given a third option C, which is an obviously inferior version of B, we will tend to choose B over A, reasoning (maybe) "well, I don't know much about A, but I do know that B is better than C, so B can't be a bad choice."

He actually uses a real subscription ad for the Economist to show this: he was wondering why they had both a internet-only option for 60$ (A), an internet-and-print option for 120 $ (B) and a print-only option for 120 $ (C), the same price as B. Why would anyone choose C, when you get more for the same price by choosing B? The answer is that nobody did choose C, but the existence of the option and the comparison caused more people to choose B, which was the most expensive option.

Lots of studies and experiments like this carried out on his long-suffering students at MIT - light reading and a lot of fun.

[TsPoet]

Interesting!
I like "predictably irrational" I think I want that on a T-shirt.

[Tri Girl]

I like "predictably irrational" I think I want that on a T-shirt.

I would buy that, because it describes me to a tee.

[OakLeaf]

Fascinating. I've added that to my Sony Reader wishlist. I thought that might be the book you were talking about in the other thread - it sounds like it's along the same lines as Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Rom Brafman, which is a short, easy but well-annotated and very enlightening read.

But then when I took Maidei to the Great Circle Mound this afternoon and stopped in the gift shop, I saw a (600 page) book that really tied in with a couple of others about human physical and cultural evolution that I've read recently. So I grabbed that ... I'm already in the middle of a novel ... and now my stack of unread books is piling up again.

[lph]

Dang. The book had a bunch of appendixes (appendices?) at the back, so I finished it long before I expected to. I hate that. I'll have to keep an eye open for Sway.

He just skims the surface, but a couple of things really resonated with me. Like the unwillingness to "close doors", even when it's obvious that cutting out one option is the best thing to do. People hate to restrict their options, even when there are too many of them and the only rational or even possible thing to do is to commit to one of them. Whether it's choosing a career or a partner or just a virtual door in a computer game - or in my case, a sport or activity - we would often rather waste time and effort bouncing back and forth keeping all doors open for as long as possible rather than sinking our efforts into one choice.

Very interesting reading, especially for all us creatures of habit!

[indysteel]

Thanks for the review. Ariely's an NPR favorite so while I haven't read the books, I've heard a number of interviews with him. He has a relatively new book out, too, called the Upside of Irrationality.

[pll]

Predictably Irrational is great book, well written and engaging. Ariely is now at Duke, but you should check his teaching page (best ever... try to check his office hours): http://web.mit.edu/ariely/www/MIT/teaching.shtml

And he blogs at http://danariely.com/

Along similar lines, Nudge by Richard Thaler (rumored in the last few years for a Nobel in econ) and Cass Sunstein. The experiments are equally interesting, but the tone is not as engaging as Ariely's. Here's the blog associated to the book, but doubt that written by Thaler or Sunstein: http://nudges.org/

[ivorygorgon]

On Amazon, there is an option for "buying" some chapters from both of his books. It is free. I think there is a bit more content than on a sample.

Thanks for the recommendation. I am always looking for good stuff to read, and I love to read descriptions of the recommendations, rather than "I read this and it was good, check it out."

[malkin]

...For example he explains how we like to make choices by comparison, because we have difficulty assessing value without something to compare with. Given a choice between 2 options A and B that are hard to compare, we try to compare but just have to make a choice in the end. Given a third option C, which is an obviously inferior version of B, we will tend to choose B over A, reasoning (maybe) "well, I don't know much about A, but I do know that B is better than C, so B can't be a bad choice."

He actually uses a real subscription ad for the Economist to show this: he was wondering why they had both a internet-only option for 60$ (A), an internet-and-print option for 120 $ (B) and a print-only option for 120 $ (C), the same price as B. Why would anyone choose C, when you get more for the same price by choosing B? The answer is that nobody did choose C, but the existence of the option and the comparison caused more people to choose B, which was the most expensive option.

B is perfectly rational, because then you can read the Economist both in you bathtub and at your computer in the office when you are supposed to be working!

[smilingcat]

Thankful for irrationality. It makes the world a more interesting place to live. It's also related to chaos.

Can you imagine if our world was filled with Mr. Spock kind of people (sorry I'm no trekkie so don't know what his species is called).

Bit of crazy making is fine with me. And no I sure wouldn't choose option C. nor option B. I'm a cheapster so I go with option A.

Smilingcat

[lph]

Yeah. what I liked most about his book was that he doesn't make a point about how silly and stupid it is to be irrational, just that that is how things are, we're all built that way, and it can be really helpful to realize it in advance in certain situations. Nothing wrong with being a little irrational, unless you believe that you always make rational choices Something tells me women are better at perceiving this.