Placebo effects demonstrate the power of expectations. Believing a treatment will work can lead to real physiological changes, underscoring the influence of perception. 	“The placebo effect shows how our minds can influence our physical reality.”

The Power of Placebo

Procrastination and self-control issues are common, influenced by immediate temptations that outweigh long-term goals. Structuring deadlines and incentives can help combat this tendency. 	“We procrastinate because immediate rewards often outweigh future benefits.”

The Problem of Procrastination

The first price we encounter often sets our expectations for future prices.

Price can influence our perception of quality and effectiveness. Higher prices often lead us to believe that the product or service is better, regardless of its actual quality. 	“We equate higher prices with higher quality, even when evidence suggests otherwise.”

The Power of Price

Emotions profoundly impact our decisions, often more than we realize. They can lead to irrational actions that defy logical analysis, emphasizing the need to understand and manage emotional influences. 	“Emotions are powerful drivers of our choices, often leading us astray.”

The Effect of Emotions

Emotional and physiological states, like arousal, significantly impact our decision-making, often leading us to make choices we wouldn’t consider when calm. 	“Arousal can change our preferences and lead to irrational decisions.”

The Influence of Arousal

Expectations’ Effect: Preconceived notions shape our experiences and judgments.	7.	High Ownership Price: The endowment effect leads to irrational valuation of owned items.	8.	Keeping Options Open: Fear of loss drives us to keep too many options, causing indecision.	9.	Procrastination Problem: Immediate rewards outweigh long-term goals, leading to delay.	10.	Price Influence: Higher prices are perceived as better quality, regardless of actual value.

Expectations shape our experiences and perceptions. Our preconceived notions can alter the way we perceive reality, often leading to biased judgments. 	“Expectations create a lens through which we view and experience the world.”

The Effect of Expectations

Social norms guide our behavior more than market norms. We tend to do things for free or lower pay if they are framed within social contexts rather than market transactions. 	“Social norms make us more willing to engage and contribute than monetary compensation.”

The Influence of Social Norms

Free items hold a special allure that distorts our judgment. The promise of getting something for nothing can drive us to make decisions that aren’t in our best interest. 	“When something is free, we forget the downside and overvalue the upside.”

The Power of Free

We tend to irrationally keep our options open, fearing loss more than valuing the gain. This behavior leads to indecision and less satisfaction with our choices. 	“Keeping too many doors open can make us spread our resources too thin.”

Keeping Doors Open

Ariely demonstrates how supply and demand aren’t as independent as they seem. Initial prices often anchor our perception, making us think we’re making rational choices based on value when we’re actually influenced by arbitrary starting points. 	“The first price we encounter often sets our expectations for future prices.”

The Fallacy of Supply & Demand

Context plays a crucial role in decision-making. We compare options relative to others rather than evaluating them on their own merits, often leading to irrational choices. 	“Our decisions are shaped by the context in which choices are presented.”

The Context of Our Decisions

Ownership significantly affects how we value items. Once we own something, we irrationally overvalue it, making it difficult to let go or sell at a fair price. 	“Ownership changes our perception, making us overestimate the item’s worth.”

The Cost of Ownership

The endowment effect makes us value items we own much higher than the same items owned by others, leading to irrational decision-making in buying, selling, and even everyday choices. 	“We overvalue what we have simply because we own it.”

The High Price of Ownership

People’s behavior changes dramatically when something is free. The zero price effect makes us overvalue free items, even when the cost of acquiring them (like time or effort) is significant. 	“Free is an emotional hot button—a source of irrational excitement.”

The Cost of Zero Cost

1.	The Fallacy of Supply and Demand	2.	The Cost of Zero Cost	3.	The Influence of Social Norms	4.	The Power of Free!	5.	The Cost of Ownership	6.	The Effect of Expectations	7.	The High Price of Ownership	8.	Keeping Doors Open	9.	The Problem of Procrastination	10.	The Power of Price	11.	The Context of Our Decisions	12.	The Influence of Arousal	13.	The Problem of Relativity	14.	The Power of Placebo	15.	The Effect of Emotions

Topics You’ll Master Today

Supply and Demand Fallacy: Initial prices set expectations, distorting our perception of value.	2.	Zero Cost’s Allure: Free items trigger irrational excitement, leading to poor decisions.	3.	Social Norms Influence: Social contexts make us more willing to engage than monetary incentives.	4.	Free’s Power: Free items distort judgment, making us overvalue their benefits.	5.	Ownership Costs: Ownership causes us to overvalue items, affecting our decisions.

Decision Context: Choices are influenced by relative context, not absolute merits.	12.	Arousal Influence: Emotional states impact decisions, leading to irrational choices.	13.	Relativity Problem: Decisions are guided by comparisons rather than objective value.	14.	Placebo Power: Expectations can lead to real physiological changes through belief.	15.	Emotional Effects: Emotions drive decisions, often overriding logical analysis.

We evaluate options relative to others available at the moment. This relativity traps us into making decisions based on comparisons rather than absolute value. 	“Relativity guides our decisions more than objective assessment.”

The Problem of Relativity

Explore the hidden forces shaping our decisions in Dan Ariely's *Predictably Irrational*.

<ul> <li>Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin? </li> <li>Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught? </li> <li>Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?</li> <li>Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full?</li> <li>And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar?</li> </ul> When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we? In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same types of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. Predictably Irrational will change the way we interact with the world—one small decision at a time.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

books

Books

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University. He also holds an appointment at the MIT Media Lab where he is the head of the eRationality research group. He was formerly the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT Sloan School of Management.Dan Ariely grew up in Israel after birth in New York. He served in the Israeli army and when 18 suffered third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body from an accidental magnesium flare explosion during training.Ariely recovered and went on to graduate from Tel Aviv University and received a Ph.D. and M.A. in cognitive psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in business from Duke University.

DAN ARIELY

Similar ideas

Why expectations hurt

Trading in an Equity Market

Black and White Thinking