Predictably Irrational
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely · first published 2008
51% recommend46% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Readable introduction to behavioral economics, explaining quirks in how people decide and buy, with experiments and examples on pricing and social vs market norms; suits general readers and curious product builders.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
How do we think about money?What caused bankers to lose sight of the economy?What caused individuals to take on mortgages that were not within their means?What irrational forces guided our decisions?And how can we recover from an economic crisis? In this revised and expanded edition of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Predictably Irrational, Duke University's behavioral economist Dan Ariely explores the hidden forces that shape our decisions, including some of the causes responsible for the current economic crisis. Bringing a much-needed dose of sophisticated psychological
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"Predictably Irrational" Dan Ariely is a book on exactly such marketing tricks, it's a really good read.
on “Restaurant Menu Pricing” ↗Here are a few citations, not all directly relevant, from Dan Ariely's _Predictably Irrational_ (itself a good read for any startup founder): ___________________________________ 1. Amos Tversky, "Features of Similarity," Psychological Review, Vol. 84 (1977). 2. Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman,…
on “Stop guessing. Use A/B testing to determine ideal price for your product” ↗Read Dan Ariely's chapter 1 in Predictably Irrational. It is about relativity and the decoy effect. If you have a choice between A and B, then adding a third choice that looks like a defective version of A (the decoy) tends to nudge people to pick A over…
on “Coca Cola's secret recipe revealed?” ↗I read Ariely's "Predictably Irrational" years and years ago, and was fascinated by it. I'd been an economics graduate, and was surprised that we were only introduced to "Behavioural Economics" as a field in the final semester of the course.…
on “Dan Ariely and Irrational Comparison” ↗I just read Dan's book, Predictably Irrational, and it was really great. http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Hidden-Forces-D... There was a lot of stuff that was applicable to marketing/sales if anyone's interested in that.
on “Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions?” ↗…save things that are important to me, like books. And the literature on this issue in fairly vast—see, for example, Daniel Gilbert's <i>Stumbling on Happiness</i>, Dan Ariely's <i>Predictably Irrational</i>, and Tim Harford's <i>The Logic of Life</i>. Together, those might help explain some of the social issues with mass customization.
on “Why Mass Customization Isn’t Mainstream” ↗…justification machines -- if we have something, we have to justify why we have it. If we don't, we have to justify why we don't. If you want insights into this topic, read Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), Predictably Irrational and On Being Certain. Even more than that, there are people who got rich by having the right insight at the right time, and acted on it. That often doesn't take hard work. Those people, too, want to…
on “ Working hard is overrated” ↗Here are some books that are a mix of psychology and economics that I think are especially suited for HN: Behavioral Economics: Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely Nudge - Richard Thaler Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard - Chip and Dan Heath Economics: The Black Swan: Impact of the Highly Improbable - Nassim Taleb Fooled by…
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational is also highly recommended! It contains numerous such examples.
on “Price Anchoring, Or Why a $499 iPad Seems Inexpensive” ↗The term for this is "anchoring," and some of the most interesting work on it I've read is in Dan Ariely's book _Predictably Irrational_. He shows that a) no one actually knows how much they should pay for anything until b) they get some kind of reference for it, which becomes an anchor. He tells an entertaining story about running an…
on “EBook Pricing Goes Outright Insane” ↗I really enjoyed Dan's book Predictably Irrational. If you have any interest in human motivation and rationality, I'd recommend you pick up a copy: http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expande...
on “Applying Dan Ariely's TED talk to software development” ↗Which part do you hate, that humans have the biological flaw of fear/ego being their greatest motivator or that we live in a market economy that feeds into it? "Predictably Irrational" is a brilliant book about this subject. Consumers do not buy things rationally. And the answer is not simply exploitation by marketing companies (although that is a big part of the narrative). http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expande...
on “Nest introduces their Smoke Detector” ↗…lot more sense after this. 2. Influence - Robert Cialdani. Less theory and more pragmatic advice on how to influence people. 3. Drive - Daniel Pink, Switch - Chip Heath, Made to Stick - Chip Heath, Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely. Books on specific sub-categories. More pop-psych. Information density is less, but easier to read. 4. Poor Charlie's Almanac - Charlie Munger. Best known as Warren Buffett's partner,…
on “Ask HN: What skills would you invest in learning?” ↗…economics' [0] for the ways that known quirks in human reasoning can be used to game consumers. don't buy a house without learning about it. there are two great books I recommend for those interested: predictably irrational [1] and the upside of irrationality [2]. personally, I think the first is better than the second as a layman's introduction to it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_economics [1] https://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expand...…
on “With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold” ↗I think a better resource on the topic is Dan Ariely, his 4 minute video on the topic at http://bigthink.com/ideas/dan-ariely-how-can-people-overcome..., and his book Predictably Irrational (http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Hidden-Forces-D... - specifically chapter 6). If you're able to take the time to watch the brief video, you'll more than likely buy the book - its amazingly…
on “Why We Procrastinate and How to Stop” ↗