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The Upside of Irrationality [Hardcover]

Dan Ariely
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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Book Description

27 May 2010

Behavioral economist and New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational Dan Ariely returns to offer a much-needed take on the irrational decisions that influence our dating lives, our workplace experiences, and our general behaviour, up close and personal.

In The Upside of Irrationality, behavioral economist Dan Ariely will explore the many ways in which our behaviour often leads us astray in terms of our romantic relationships, our experiences in the workplace, and our temptations to cheat. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.

Among the topics Dan explores are:
• What we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy;
• How we learn to love the ones we are with;
• Why online dating doesn’t work, and how we can improve on it;
• Why learning more about people make us like them less;
• Why large bonuses can make CEOs less productive;
• How to really motivate people at work;
• Why bad directions can help us;
• How we fall in love with our ideas;
• How we are motivated by revenge; and
• What motivates us to cheat.

Drawing on the same experimental methods that made Predictably Irrational such a hit, Dan will emphasize the important role that irrationality plays in our day-to-day decisionmaking—not just in our financial marketplace, but in the most hidden aspects of our lives.


Frequently Bought Together

The Upside of Irrationality + Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions + The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins (27 May 2010)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0007354762
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007354764
  • Product Dimensions: 16.2 x 24.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 240,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Praise for Predictably Irrational:

'For anyone interested in marketing – either as a practioner or victim – this is unmissable reading. If only more researchers could write like this, the world would be a better place.' Financial Times

About the Author

Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and the New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational. Over the years, he has won numerous scientific awards and his work has been featured in leading scholarly journals in psychology, economics, neuroscience, medicine and business and in a variety of popular media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, the Boston Globe, Scientific American and Science. He has appeared on CNN and CNBC and is a regular commentator on National Public Radio. He currently lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife and two children.


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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A nice book 12 July 2010
By tomsk77
Format:Hardcover
I quite enjoyed Predictably Irrational, though it wasn't quite what I was expecting. This is a better book, though again in part for unexpected reasons.

First up, it's actually quite a personal book. Part of Ariely's pitch is to remember our humanity, particularly in the face of policymakers who assume we are rational, self-interested maximisers. He draws a bit on his own experiences, in particular the very nasty accident that he suffered as a teenager, to point out where biases kick in and how they affect us. The result is a popular book about behavioural science that has a very human feel to it, and that makes it a nice read.

Secondly, as with Predictably Irrational, Ariely has some genuinely interesting and innovative experiments to talk about. The two most interesting bits of research for me were those about 'pointless' work (for example, how your motivation to build Lego models for pay is affected by seeing them being disassembled while you work) and those about how emotions affect short-term decisions which in turn affect long-term behaviour. In the first case I would say there is something quite useful to learn about motivation, even in respect of basic tasks. In the latter it might just make you think twice about decisions you make.

As always, the drawback in this area is how applicable the experimental evidence is in the real world. Though I don't share the view that actually little from behavioural economics experiments holds true elsewhere, we should be alert to the problem.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars I wish journal papers were written like this 25 Aug 2010
By Matthew Leitch VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I've given this book 5 stars because I read it from cover to cover and learned some useful things. The great benefit of Dan's writing is that he describes his studies clearly, taking a great deal of trouble to make sure you understand them and can imagine what it would have been like to be a subject. He explains the reasons for the studies and discusses what he thinks they mean.

Having read many, many articles in psychology journals describing experiments like this I can say with confidence that Dan's achievement is considerable. Typically, these journal articles are dull, confusing, and without any sense of humanity or humour.

The fact that I disagreed with, or was unconvinced by, most of Dan's conclusions is not important! I was able to make my own analyses without the usual slog of decoding a pile of baffling journals.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars More Behavioural Economics From Dan Ariely 12 Feb 2011
Format:Hardcover
Dan Ariely is a top rate economist -- one who tests the bedrock assumptions of the field!

The first chapter examines whether incentive-based pay really does lead to higher performance. Many people take this assumption for granted, but is it true?

Obviously this is a complex issue, but Ariely details some results of an experiment he ran in rural India. Participants were paid per their performance in some simple problem solving tasks. Due to the lower living standards there, Ariely was able to offer some participants the chance of winning up to three months' wages at a time.

As it happened, high rewards actually led to lower performance than low- or middle-rewards. Ariely hypothesises that thoughts of the high pay crowd out participants' attention to the problem at hand.

This finding is at best fragmentary, but it does interestingly run counter to conventional wisdom. More research could be used to show whether bankers' and executives' claims that high pay is absolutely mandatory to attract and motivate top talent are justified. (A similar book is Daniel Pink - Drive.)

Each chapter tackles a similar issue; my favourite is probably the chapter on hedonic adaptation (how we quickly adapt to new things).

I'm not sure how some of the issues really showcase the "upside" of irrationality (such as the pay-for-performance chapter). Seems like a marketing/branding decision, although it didn't make me enjoy the book any less.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Mwah 8 Mar 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not one of the better popular books about irrationality, I'm afraid. The personal anecdotes (N=1 does not equal data) don't work for me. The research outcomes are described very sketchily (no numbers, just "the outcome confirmed hypothesis X"). Having just finished the book I can't recall any outstanding observation or result or insight. I would recommend "Irrationality" by Stuart Sutherland or "59 Seconds: Think a little, change a lot" by Richard Wiseman instead.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting while easy to read 3 May 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This type of book is sometimes written in a very convoluted style that make them hard to read (especially if englidh is not your mother tongue). This one while being based on research and describing very interesting topics is written in a very enjoyable way: it alternates anecdotes and research description and teaches so much about why people act one way or another and how this can be influenced.
Definitely one of the best read I had in a long time.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. 30 Mar 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Great Book. It is very good to get a perception of how Humans really act. A great perspective of irrationality.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing book
Dan Ariely is a great author and this book is groundbreaking. Together with Freakonomics - a must have. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Miss D. Najdenowa
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book!!!!
Recommended to absolutely everyone! Scientists should definitely give it a go! Ariely has a way of seeing points of inflection that are easily missed.
Published 6 months ago by Milica Vukovic
5.0 out of 5 stars Ariely has done it again!
This is a really fun and engaging book, very easy to read whilst giving great insight and detail into the irrational workings of the human mind! A book for everyone.
Published 14 months ago by picnic hen
4.0 out of 5 stars Elementary Watson!
A very interesting analysis for things you seem that you have already thought of but surprisingly not very thoroughly...worth to read.
Published 18 months ago by Kakouratou Maria
5.0 out of 5 stars Ah! Finally an adult who has kept the boundless curiosity of...
One of the most disturbing aspects of the modern world is how bright and inquisitive children seem to end up losing their innate curiosity as they move through the educational... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Michael Layden
5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt exploration of counterintuitive motivation
In this sequel to his bestseller, Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics, returns to the how and why of human beings' inexplicable... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2011 by Rolf Dobelli
4.0 out of 5 stars Predictably Irrational - The addedum
On "The Upside of Irrationality" Dan Ariely gives us a more personal look at some of his experiments on human behavior and the irrational side of us that turns our good intentions... Read more
Published on 16 July 2010 by Sr. Garcia
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