What is Reddit's opinion of Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

There are a lot of good books on how people make economic decisions. It's really - to some degree - part of our biology. Our brain makes decisions in a certain way and these can be reliably exploited by many means.

I would recommend the book Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Predictably Irrational:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002C949KE/

> So it's not their fault, it's their genetics.

This is an old straw man.

Genetics does not absolve anyone of their responsibilities. All it changes is how society handles the repercussions. In my mind this should be common sense but I keep hearing this canard again and again.

We all want to believe that behind every decision we make there is a deliberate, informed, and rational actor. The science, however, has been telling us that our perceptions, attitudes, and responses are driven by biological processes that are susceptible to data error, illusions, and biases. The brain flatly ignores nearly everything the senses pick up. We rationalize most of our decisions after the fact. The list goes on.

There has been a deluge of books on cognitive neuroscience in the past few years, but a good chunk of the information isn't new.

The following are a quick sample of some recent books that I found quite approachable.

<em>Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions</em> - Dan Ariely

<em>The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home</em> - Dan Ariely

<em>Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness</em> - Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

<em>The Sociopath Next Door</em> - Martha Stout

<em>101 Theory Drive: A Neuroscientist's Quest for Memory</em> - Terry McDermott

<em>Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us</em> - Daniel H. Pink

<em>The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us</em> - Christopher Chabris, Daniel Simons

All of these books, with differing degree, deal with psychology, biology, and economics. There are others but this should be enough to get anyone started. Economics, Business, Education and Politics are decades behind science right now.

So... yes, it is their fault, yes it's genetic and the train of science doesn't care if you bought one; it moves on with or without your ticket.

Based on your comment below, it sounds like you're talking about Predictably Irrational, which actually is available on the kindle. Hope this helps.

Basically, yes. Once you offer money the person switches from applying social norms to applying market norms and your dollar becomes an insult. They'll still tell you stories, they'll just be comparatively shitty.

A great book is Predictably Irrational (using an affiliate tag that belongs to the book author).

I've heard that for people actually studying behavioral economics in school, this book is pretty worthless. Personally I loved it.

It's mostly a collection of examples and experiments him and his students have done. It explains things like how Starbucks got everyone to go from $0.50 coffee to $7 coffee, how black pearls went from being worthless to very expensive etc.

Make sure to check out Dan Ariely's blog and his TED talks.