Predictably Irrational

Overall, participants int the salary group showed many of the characteristics of the market: they were more selfish and self-reliant; they wanted to spend more time alone; they were more likely to select tasks that required individual input rather than teamwork; and when they were deciding where they wanted to sit, they chose seats farther away from whoever hey were told to work with. Indeed, just thinking about money makes us behave as most economists believe we behave - and less like the social animals we are in our daily lives

Predictably Irrational

And yet, for all this electronic chatter and focus in print, we find ourselves again and again in the same predicament as my students — failing over and over to reach our long-term goals. Why? because without pre-commitments, we keep on falling for temptation

Predictably Irrational

Only 27 out of 1,097 put money into Bell’s open violin case and only 7 stopped to listen for more than a minute.

Predictably Irrational

Across many domains of life, expectations play a huge role in the way we end up experiencing things. As it turns out, positive expectations allow us to enjoy things more and improve our perception of the world around us.

Predictably Irrational

If we’re going to try to understand human behavior and use this knowledge to design the world around us, including institutions such as taxes, education systems, and financial markets, we need to use additional tools and other disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and philosophy. Rational economics is useful, but it offers just one type of input into our understanding of human behavior, and relying on it alone is unlikely to help us maximize our long term welfare.

Predictably Irrational