Predictably Irrational

What influences the decisions people make every day in their professional or private lives? It might be as important as a career change or as simple as deciding a destination for a vacation. Through Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely shows that the reasons that drive these decisions are not as coldly thought out and logical as many of the readers would like to think. Each chapter in the book explains a factor that might affect our decision and then proves it through experiments and real-life examples. For instance, if someone was considering a honeymoon trip to Paris or Rome, could they be manipulated to choose a certain city over the other? The author says yes because people are influenced by the theory of relativity. Note that he is not talking about Einstein. He is talking about how people compare choices. If given a choice between ‘Paris with Breakfast’ and ‘Rome With Breakfast’, it is confusing because both cities are attractive propositions for a romantic vacation. Simply by adding a trivial third choice that mentions one of the cities could make the person decide on that city. So, for instance, if the third choice says, ‘Rome Without Breakfast’, the person chooses ‘Rome with breakfast’. The reason? The person is now considering just two choices, Rome with breakfast and Rome without breakfast, leaving out Paris because comparing similar choices is easier. In the same vein, the author shows other absurd ideas and factors that could affect decisions, like the word ‘free’, the role emotions play in making decisions, the problems of procrastination and self-control, the price of ownership, the effect of expectations, and so on. In each chapter, the author shows how these factors can be used to manipulate the choices people make, and also gives tips on what the reader could do to avoid these mistakes. Predictably Irrational shows the reader that people make decisions based on irrational impulses and thoughts, and these factors are also predictable. What is scary is that these factors can be easily used to manipulate the decisions we make. The author hopes that by showing the readers these patterns, he can help them avoid these mistakes to a certain extent.