Predictably Irrational, Recap

My last post on the book Predictably Irrational was on the final chapter, and I got a really cool comment the next day.  It was from Dan Ariely, the author of the book!  I guess he randomly stumbled across my blog about his book, and has been following along with my summaries on his chapters. I thought that was pretty cool, and I'm glad he felt I did his book justice.

So I thought, since I've been covering this book for the past month or so, and since I've enjoyed it so much, I'd recap some of the big observations and principles Ariely makes in this book about human nature that he considers "predictably irrational."  You can click on the first word in each category for my full post on each subject.  Enjoy:

1. Given a breadth of choices, we not only make our choices by comparing the items to their alternatives, but we also tend to only compare those items that are easily comparable-- the odd ball is never picked.
2. People decide what they will pay for something based on arbitrary coherence, meaning,  "although intitial prices are 'arbitrary,' once those prices are established in our minds, they will shape not only present prices but future prices."
3. The sign "FREE!" often triggers inpulsive buying that is not always the most rational economic choice.
4. Transactions between people are guidede by social, relational forces or market forces.  And when money is introduced into a relationship, it is very difficult to restore the relational piece . . . the market exchange always dominates.
5. When people are in a heightened state of arousal, emotion, or passion, we are more likely to make poor choices than when we're in a cool state.
6. For most people, the only way to avoid habitually poor life choices is to have an "external authoritative voice" who can hold us accountable for our behavior.
7. We tend to attach a higher value to the stuff we own than the stuff we don't own.
8. People tend to keep the doors of alternate possibilities for life choices open as long as possible, even though it is more beneficial to close some options in order to focus on a few.
9. The value, enjoyment or goodness of a thing is heavily influenced by whether or not you expected the thing to be valuable, good, or enjoyable prior to use.
10. Given the choice between two equal items, a person is bound to find more personal satisfaction from the item of higher price than the one of lower price.
11. Having benchmarks of ethical standards available for people to regularly contemplate actually makes it more likely that they make honest choices.
12. People will lie, cheat, and steal without even giving it a second thought because our internal morality monitors only go off with the BIG sins.
13. People are likely to sacrifice their pleasure and enjoyment of a purchased good in order to project an image of individuality.