Dan Ariely is is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab. The former Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, where he held a joint appointment between MIT's Program in Media Arts and Sciences and the Sloan School of Management, he is the only person ever to hold joint appointments at MIT's business school and also at its famous Media Lab. A behavioral economist, Ariely’s research has shown that we all succumb to irrationality in situations where rational thought is expected. He is an expert on how people actually act – and why they act – in all kinds of business and economic environments, and what this means for business innovation, strategy, and marketing.
Ariely is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, ( HarperCollins). In this groundbreaking work, Ariely presents often humorous and peculiar research findings that provide new insights into human behavior – that will help us make better decisions as individuals, as corporations, and as a society. Predictably Irrational won the gold medal in the General Business/Economics category from the Axiom Business Book Awards.
Ariely received a Ph.D. in marketing from Duke University, a Ph.D. and M.A. in cognitive psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A. in psychology from Tel Aviv University. He publishes widely in the leading scholarly journals in economics, psychology, and business. His work has been featured in a variety of media including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Business 2.0, Scientific American, Science, CNN, NPR, and he was interviewed for ABC 20/20’s. He is also a monthly guest commentator on NPR’s Marketplace.
Few heavy thinkers are as funny or as engaging as he is. As a speaker, Ariely has a natural and unique talent for turning his research into vignettes that are fun, relevant and engaging, and for delivering the results in a genuinely charming, original, and often comical way.
About Predictably Irrational
Do you know why you still have a headache after taking a one-cent aspirin, but why that same headache disappears if the aspirin costs fifty cents? Do you know why recalling the Ten Commandments reduces people’s tendency to lie, or why honor codes are actually effective in reducing dishonesty at the workplace? Do you know why, after doing careful and extensive research on which car to buy, a random meeting with someone who had an awful experience with that car changes your decision? Why do we make decisions contrary to our better judgment? What is “better judgment?”
Predictably Irrational challenges us to ponder these questions (questions we sometimes avoid) and demonstrates how irrationality manifests itself in situations (often very peculiar and hilarious situations) where rational thought is expected. We all succumb to irrationality, it’s about time we find out how it affects our daily lives in a significant way.
Praise for Dan Ariely
"Dan Ariely gave a keynote talk at the Donaghue Foundation's annual BeyondEureka! conference to an audience of 350. Dan is such an engaging and witty speaker and many were familiar with his work and were eager to come and hear him. What made it even better was that Dan tailored his examples to those that would really resonate with this audience of health care leaders and practitioners. We got rave reviews."
-- Nancy Yedlin, Vice President, The Donaghue Foundation
Priase for Predictably Irrational
“This sly and lucid book is not about your grandfather’s dismal science. . . . Ariely moves comfortably from the lab to broad social questions to his own life. . . He is good-tempered company . . . and crystal clear about all he describes. But Predictably Irrational is a far more revolutionary book than its unthreatening manner lets on. It’s a concise summary of why today’s social science increasingly treats the markets-know-best model as a fairy tale.”
—New York Times Book Review
“A fascinating romp through the science of decision-making that unmasks the ways that emotions, social norms, expectations, and context lead us astray.”
—Time magazine
“If you liked Freakonomics, you’ll love this smart entry in the burgeoning field of… popular behavioral economics.” — Newsweek
“An entertaining tour of the many ways people act against their best interests, drawing on Ariely’s own ingeniously designed experiments. . . Personal and accessible.”
—Business Week
“Surprisingly entertaining. . . . Easy to read. . . Ariely’s book makes economics and the strange happenings of the human mind fun.”
—USA Today
“Inventive. . . I could scarcely imagine a better introduction to ‘behavioral economics’, a discipline of growing influence that sits on the boundary between economics and psychology. . . . Ariely’s research shows that our perceptions of a good deal can be hugely influenced by marketing tricks. . . And there is plenty there for the economic traditionalists – I am one of them – to chew on. . . For anyone interested in marketing – either as a practitioner or victim – this is unmissable reading.”
—Financial Times
“An entertaining look at human foibles.”
—New York Times
“In creative ways, author Dan Ariely puts rationality to the test. . . New experiments and optimistic ideas tumble out of him, like water from a fountain.”
—Boston Globe
“Smart." —Slate
“Ariely’s book addresses some weighty issues . . . with an unexpected dash of humor.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Predictably Irrational is an important book. Full of valuable and entertaining insights that will make an impact on your business, professional, and personal life.”
—Jack M Greenberg, Chairman, Western Union Company, Retired Chairman and CEO, McDonald’s Corporation
“Freakonomics held that people respond to incentives, perhaps in undesirable ways, but always rationally. Dan Ariely shows you how people are deeply irrational, and predictably so.”
—Chip Heath, Co-Author, Made to Stick, Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business
“A marvelous book that is both thought provoking and highly entertaining, ranging from the power of placebos to the pleasures of Pepsi. Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us, and shows us how we can prevent being fooled.”
—Jerome Groopman, New York Times best-selling author of How Doctors Think
“Predictably Irrational is a charmer – filled with clever experiments, engaging ideas, and delightful anecdotes. Dan Ariely is a wise and amusing guide to the foibles, errors, and bloopers of everyday decision-making.”
—Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University and author of Stumbling on Happiness
“Predictably Irrational is going to be the most influential, talked-about book in years. It is so full of dazzling insights – and so engaging – that once I started reading I couldn’t put it down.”
—Daniel McFadden, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2000 Morris Cox Professor of Economics, University of California at Berkeley
“Predictably Irrational is wildly original. It shows why – much more often than we usually care to admit – humans make foolish, and sometimes disastrous, mistakes. Ariely not only gives us a great read; he also makes us much wiser.”—George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001 Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California at Berkeley
“A delightfully brilliant guide to our irrationality – and how to overcome it – in the marketplace and everyplace.”
—Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm and Dealing with Darwin
“Dan Ariely is one of the most original and consistently interesting social scientists I know. His research covers an unusually broad range of topics, and in every one of them he has produced some distinctive findings and ideas. His methodological inventiveness is remarkable.”
—Prof. Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize in Economics, 2002
"Dan has an internationally-recognized reputation as a top tier scholar and researcher. His work draws together a nice synergy between psychologists and economists, philosophers and economists, theorists and practitioners, and behavioral and conventional economists. Given that Dan has spoken to all of these groups directly in his own research for years, he is the natural person to spearhead such an effort for a book.”
—Prof. John List, Associate Editor, American Economic Review
“Predictably Irrational is clever, playful, humorous, hard hitting, insightful, and consistently fun and exciting to read.”
—Paul Slovic, Founder and President, Decision Research
“A spry treatise on how the world works and how we spend our money based on other people’s rules. . . Ariely has a brilliant solution to a problem that is very real. . . Make a point of seeing this book. That way you’ll know you want it, and you will.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“Ariely’s intelligent, exuberant style and thought-provoking arguments make for a fascinating, eye-opening read.” —Publishers Weekly