Predictably Irrational: Difference between revisions

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== Introduction ==

 

📘 '''''{{Tooltip|Predictably Irrational}}''''' distills {{Tooltip|Dan Ariely}}’s behavioral-economics experiments into a narrative about the hidden, repeatable patterns behind everyday decision errors.<ref name="NewYorker2008">{{cite news |title=What Was I Thinking? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/02/25/what-was-i-thinking-reason-irrationality |work=The New Yorker |date=17 February 2008 |access-date=8 November 2025 |last=Kolbert |first=Elizabeth}}</ref> Through vivid demonstrations—from anchoring bids with arbitrary numbers to the “cost of zero” and the endowment effect—it shows how prices, expectations, social norms, and arousal steer judgment in reliable ways.<ref name="NewYorker2008" /> Written for general readers, it pairs anecdote-rich prose with chapter-length investigations that connect lab findings to everyday choices.<ref name="PW2008">{{cite web |title=Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780061353239 |website=Publishers Weekly |publisher=PWxyz, LLC |access-date=8 November 2025}}</ref> Ariely’s central lesson is that irrationality is systematic; once recognized, its patterns can be anticipated and sometimes designed around.<ref name="PIsite">{{cite web |title=Predictably Irrational |url=https://predictablyirrational.com/ |website=Predictably Irrational |publisher=Dan Ariely |access-date=8 November 2025}}</ref> The book became a {{Tooltip|New York Times}} bestseller.<ref name="PIsite" /> {{Tooltip|HarperCollins}} issued a revised and expanded edition on 27 April 2010.<ref name="HC2010">{{cite web |title=Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/predictably-irrational-revised-and-expanded-edition-dan-ariely |website=HarperCollins |publisher=HarperCollins |access-date=8 November 2025}}</ref> Its ideas also reached television: {{Tooltip|NBC}}’s drama *{{Tooltip|The Irrational}}* (2023) is inspired by Ariely’s book.<ref name="Deadline2021">{{cite news |title=NBC Nabs ‘The Irrational’ Drama From Arika Lisanne Mittman Inspired By Dan Ariely’s Book As Put Pilot |url=https://deadline.com/2021/11/the-irrational-nbc-drama-arika-lisanne-mittman-dan-ariely-mark-goffman-put-pilot-1234882366/ |work=Deadline |date=30 November 2021 |access-date=8 November 2025 |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie}}</ref>

 

== Chapters ==

 

''—Note: The above summary follows the {{Tooltip|Harper}} hardcover first edition (2008), ISBN 978-0-06-135323-9.''<ref name="OCLC182521026">{{cite web |title=Predictably irrational : the hidden forces that shape our decisions |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/-/oclc/182521026 |website=WorldCat.org |publisher=OCLC |access-date=8 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="CUP2009">{{cite news |title=Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (review) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-pension-economics-and-finance/article/predictably-irrational-the-hidden-forces-that-shape-our-decisions-dan-ariely-harper-collins-2008-isbn-9780061353239-304-pages/D2E1F04A0FFA64BEC4406A6C1DD7A41B |work=Journal of Pension Economics & Finance |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=15 April 2009 |access-date=8 November 2025}}</ref>

 

== Background & reception ==

 

🌍 '''Impact & adoption'''. The book’s concepts have been taught widely: recent university syllabi in behavioral economics at {{Tooltip|UC Davis}} and {{Tooltip|MIT}} assign or recommend *{{Tooltip|Predictably Irrational}}* alongside canonical texts.<ref name="UCDavis2024">{{cite web |title=Introduction to Behavioral Economics — Spring 2024 Syllabus |url=https://kiesel.ucdavis.edu/BehEcon_syllabus_spring2024.pdf |website=UC Davis |publisher=University of California, Davis |date=1 April 2024 |access-date=8 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="MIT1413">{{cite web |title=14.13 Psychology and Economics — Spring 2022 Syllabus |url=https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/14.13%20Syllabus%20Spring%202022.pdf |website=MIT Economics |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |date=2022 |access-date=8 November 2025}}</ref> Media interest has remained high: {{Tooltip|NPR}} covered the book’s release in 2008,<ref name="NPR2008" /> and {{Tooltip|NBC}}’s *{{Tooltip|The Irrational}}* (premiered 25 September 2023) brought Ariely-style cases to prime-time audiences.<ref name="Deadline2021" />

 

 

{{Youtube thumbnail | 9X68dm92HVI | Dan Ariely – Are we in control of our decisions?}}

{{Youtube thumbnail | VZv--sm9XXU | Dan Ariely at Google – ''Predictably Irrational'' talk}}

 

{{Thinking, Fast and Slow/thumbnail}}

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== References ==

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