“This is a wonderful, eye-opening book. Deep, readable, and providing refreshing evidence that there are domains and situations in which material incentives work in unexpected ways. We humans are humans, with qualities that can be destroyed by the introduction of economic gains. A must-read!”
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb,
New York Times bestselling author of
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
“Surprisingly entertaining. . . . Ariely’s book makes economics and the strange happenings of the human mind fun.”
—USA Today
“A fascinating romp through the science of decision-making that unmasks the ways that emotions, social norms, expectations, and context lead us astray.”
—Time
“In creative ways, author Dan Ariely puts rationality to the test. . . . New experiments and optimistic ideas tumble out of him, like water from a fountain.”
—Boston Globe
“An entertaining tour of the many ways people act against their best interests, drawing on Ariely’s own ingeniously designed experiments. . . . Personal and accessible.”
—BusinessWeek
“Ariely’s book addresses some weighty issues . . . with an unexpected dash of humor.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“This sly and lucid book is not about your grandfather’s dismal science. . . . Ariely moves comfortably from the lab to broad social questions to his own life. . . . He is good-tempered company . . . and crystal clear about all he describes. But Predictably Irrational is a far more revolutionary book than its unthreatening manner lets on. It’s a concise summary of why today’s social science increasingly treats the markets-know-best model as a fairy tale.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Inventive. . . . An accessible account. . . . The book has a lot to recommend it. Ariely is a more than capable storyteller, and he sticks close to his own research so his writing is full of color and detail. He also has a knack for conveying the rigor of the experiments. . . . There is a fresh insight in every chapter. I could scarcely imagine a better introduction to ‘behavioral economics,’ a discipline of growing influence that sits on the boundary between economics and psychology. . . . Ariely’s research shows that our perceptions of a good deal can be hugely influenced by marketing tricks. . . . And there is plenty there for the economic traditionalists—I am one of them—to chew on. . . . [Ariely] describe[s] with charm his relentlessly creative experiments. For anyone interested in marketing—either as a practitioner or victim—this is unmissable reading. Other readers will be engaged and looking forward to a sequel. If only more researchers could write like this, the world would be a better place.”
—Financial Times
“A spry treatise on how the world works and how we spend our money based on other people’s rules. . . . Ariely has a brilliant solution to a problem that is very real. . . . Make a point of seeing this book. That way you’ll know you want it, and you will.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“Ariely’s intelligent, exuberant style and thought-provoking arguments make for a fascinating, eye-opening read.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A taxonomy of financial folly.”
—The New Yorker
“A marvelous book that is both thought provoking and highly entertaining, ranging from the power of placebos to the pleasures of Pepsi. Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us, and shows us how we can prevent being fooled.”
—Jerome Groopman, New York Times
bestselling author of How Doctors Think
“Dan Ariely is a genius at understanding human behavior: no economist does a better job of uncovering and explaining the hidden reasons for the weird ways we act, in the marketplace and out. Predictably Irrational will reshape the way you see the world, and yourself, for good.”
—James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds
“Predictably Irrational is a charmer—filled with clever experiments, engaging ideas, and delightful anecdotes. Dan Ariely is a wise and amusing guide to the foibles, errors, and bloopers of everyday decision-making.”
—Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology,
Harvard University, and author of Stumbling on Happiness
“Predictably Irrational is going to be the most influential, talked-about book in years. It is so full of dazzling insights—and so engaging—that once I started reading I couldn’t put it down.”
—Daniel McFadden, Nobel Laureate in Economics,
E. Morris Cox Professor of Economics,
University of California, Berkeley
“The most difficult part of investing is managing your emotions. Dan explains why that is so challenging for all of us, and how recognizing your built-in biases can help you avoid common mistakes.”
—Charles Schwab,
Chairman and CEO of The Charles Schwab Corporation
“Predictably Irrational is wildly original. It shows why—much more often than we usually care to admit—humans make foolish, and sometimes disastrous, mistakes. Ariely not only gives us a great read; he also makes us much wiser.”
—George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics,
Koshland Professor of Economics,
University of California, Berkeley
“Dan Ariely’s ingenious experiments explore deeply how our economic behavior is influenced by irrational forces and social norms. In a charmingly informal style that makes it accessible to a wide audience, Predictably Irrational provides a standing criticism to the explanatory power of rational egotistic choice.”
—Kenneth Arrow, Nobel Laureate in Economics,
Joan Kenney Professor of Economics, Stanford University
“A delightfully brilliant guide to our irrationality—and how to overcome it—in the marketplace and everyplace.”
—Geoffrey Moore, author of
Crossing the Chasm and Dealing with Darwin
“Dan Ariely is one of the most original and consistently interesting social scientists I know. His research covers an unusually broad range of topics, and in every one of them he has produced some distinctive findings and ideas. His methodological inventiveness is remarkable.”
—Professor Daniel Kahneman,
Nobel Laureate in Economics, Princeton University
“Freakonomics held that people respond to incentives, perhaps in undesirable ways, but always rationally. Dan Ariely shows you how people are deeply irrational, and predictably so.”
—Chip Heath, coauthor of Made to Stick
and Professor of Organizational Behavior,
Stanford Graduate School of Business
“An exuberant book. . . . Ariely backs up each claim with examples from his own inventive research—subjects include unwitting MIT students and unsuspecting trick-or-treaters—forming an argument as charmingly anecdotal as it is convincing.”
—Seed
“Dan has an internationally recognized reputation as a top-tier scholar and researcher. His work draws together a nice synergy between psychologists and economists, philosophers and economists, theorists and practitioners, and behavioral and conventional economists. Given that Dan has spoken to all of these groups directly in his own research for years, he is the natural person to spearhead such an effort for a book.”
—Professor John List, Department of Economics,
University of Chicago
“Dan Ariely’s research covers and, in fact, creates many of the major frontiers of behavioral research on decision-making. The pleasure he gets from doing research shines through his writings, which are clever, playful, humorous, hard-hitting, insightful, and uniformly fun and exciting to read.”
—Paul Slovic, Founder and President of Decision Research
“Dan Ariely is an innovative, iconoclastic experimenter who manages to see more new things through those two i’s than almost anyone else. Ariely works at the interface of psychology, economics, and marketing, and is the only experimental scientist I can think of whose work speaks compellingly to scholars in all three disciplines. The hallmark of an Ariely experiment is that it uses an innovative experimental design to make an unusual point. His work covers a wide range of factors that affect human decision-making, from the usual suspects, inattention and confusion and myopia, to less studied issues like pain and lust.”
—Alvin Roth,
Professor of Economics and
Business Administration, Harvard University
“Dan is full of passion for life in general, which is also apparent in his writing and research. Dan’s research is very broad, covering many aspects and implications for the new field of behavioral economics. This includes the psychology of consumers, employees, and investors, crossing topics from dating to dishonesty. While he also loves the pure intellectual joy of ideas, this passion extends to his intrinsic desire to help and give his work practical meaning. The range of his expertise has been valuable in my work. The demand for his experience and the excellence of his research are also clear in the many appointments and honors he has received over these few years.”
—Admiral John Marlan Poindexter, Ph.D.
“Predictably Irrational is a scientific but imminently readable and decidedly insightful look into why we do what we do every day . . . and why, even though we ‘know better,’ we may never change.”
—Wenda Harris Millard,
President and Chief Operating Officer,
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