Predictably Irrational
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"IF I WERE to distill one main lesson from the research described in this book, it is that we are pawns in a game whose forces we largely fail to comprehend."
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"humans rarely choose things in absolute terms. We don't have an internal value meter that tells us how much things are worth. Rather, we focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another, and estimate value accordingly."
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"So what was going on here? Let me start with a fundamental observation: most people don't know what they want unless they see it in context."
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"Most transactions have an upside and a downside, but when something is FREE! we forget the downside."
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"Zero is not just another price, it turns out. Zero is an emotional hot button—a source of irrational excitement."
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"Money, as it turns out, is very often the most expensive way to motivate people. Social norms are not only cheaper, but often more effective as well."
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"Giving up on our long-term goals for immediate gratification, my friends, is procrastination."
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"THERE IS NO known cure for the ills of ownership."
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"we not only tend to compare things with one another but also tend to focus on comparing things that are easily comparable—and avoid comparing things that cannot be compared easily."
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"Wouldn't economics make a lot more sense if it were based on how people actually behave, instead of how they should behave?"
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Introduction
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Chapter summary
This outline follows the Harper hardcover first edition (2008), ISBN 978-0-06-135323-9.[1][2]
🚦 1 – The truth about relativity : why everything is relative, even when it shouldn't be.
📈 2 – The fallacy of supply and demand : why the price of pearls, and everything else, is up in the air.
🆓 3 – The cost of zero cost : why we often pay too much when we pay nothing.
🤝 4 – The cost of social norms : why we are happy to do things, but not when we are paid to do them.
🔥 5 – The influence of arousal : why hot is much hotter than we realize.
⏳ 6 – The problem of procrastination and self-control : why we can't make ourselves do what we want to do.
🏠 7 – The high price of ownership : why we overvalue what we have.
🚪 8 – Keeping doors open : why options distract us from our main objective.
🎭 9 – The effect of expectations : why the mind gets what it expects.
💊 10 – The power of price : why a 50-cent aspirin can do what a penny aspirin can't.
🕵️ 11 – The context of our character, part I : why we are dishonest, and what we can do about it.
💵 12 – The context of our character, part II : why dealing with cash makes us more honest.
🍺 13 – Beer and free lunches : what is behavioral economics, and where are the free lunches?.
Related content & more
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References
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