Predictably Irrational By Dan Ariely - BOOK REVIEW

Rating: 5/5

I read this book after it was directly recommended to me by Roger Dooley. This was one of three books he recommended to me after I asked him for any book as good as his Brainfluence. 

The first two books were rather boring but this book completely met with my expectations. It's well researched and gives great insight into human behaviour.

Some useful tips included:

• Most people don't know what they want until they see it in context. Everything is relative
• Faced with three options most people go for the middle one
• Decoy marketing works because it gives the decider a basis for comparison
• Anchors have an enduring effect
• Social norms (e.g. doing favours, kindness) are distorted when you try to combine them with market forces (e.g. monetary incentives)
• Decisions made in a "cold" state (e.g. when not aroused) are always much more rational than decisions made in a "hot state" (i.e. when one is in a state of arousal)
• Losses are given much more weight than gains. 
• Even virtual or imagined ownership causes us to value something more and to desire it more
• There is an opportunity cost to "keeping options open". It's not productive to keep moving between activities
• Expectations - good and bad - tend to be self-fulfilling and they shape stereotypes
• The placebo effect is alive and well!
• People lie when given the chance but not as much as possible.

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