Book Review: Predictably Irrational - the Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

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Book Review: PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL - The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational Behavioural Economics London: Harper/Harper Collins, 2008 280pp. ₹299 978 0 00 736854 9 When you come across a book titled “Predictably Irrational” it does spark a certain amount of curiosity and intrigue inside you. One wonders what knowledge and hidden wisdom might have been entrained into the pages of the book. The cover page of this wonderful book is just as appealing (a red coloured vending machine containing small balls of candies in varying colours, well to most people candy is quite appealing) as its name. The author, Dan Ariely starts off with reflecting on how a tragic accident left him, both physically and mentally (atleast for sometime) scarred, which lead to his eventual foray into the field of psychology, sociology and economics. As he was excused from the daily routine that a normal person puts himself through, it gave him time to observe the behaviour of the people around him as they went through the daily humdrum of life and contemplate how certain factors shape even the most simple decisions in our lives. Through this book he has attempted to challenge a common assumption that we make decisions based on rational thought. Ariely explains, "My goal, by the end of this book, is to help you fundamentally rethink what makes you and the people around you tick. I hope to lead you there by presenting a wide range of scientific experiments, findings, and anecdotes that are in many cases quite amusing. Once you see how systematic certain mistakes are--how we repeat them again and again--I think you will begin to learn how to avoid some of them". The author disputes the concepts of conventional economics and the ideology of free markets that for so long have been accepted with its core assumption that market forces provide the best solution to

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