Summary

The provocative follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Predictably Irrational Why can large bonuses make CEOs less productive? How can confusing directions actually help us? Why is revenge so important to us? Why is there such a big difference between what we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy?In his groundbreaking book Predictably Irrational, social scientist Dan Ariely revealed the multiple biases that lead us into making unwise decisions. Now, in The Upside of Irrationality, he exposes the surprising negative and positive effects irrationality can have on our lives. Focusing on our behaviors at work and in relationships, he offers new insights and eye-opening truths about what really motivates us on the job, how one unwise action can become a long-term habit, how we learn to love the ones we're with, and more.Drawing on the same experimental methods that made Predictably Irrational one of the most talked-about bestsellers of the past few years, Ariely uses data from his own original and entertaining experiments to draw arresting conclusions about how-and why-we behave the way we do. From our office attitudes, to our romantic relationships, to our search for purpose in life, Ariely explains how to break through our negative patterns of thought and behavior to make better decisions. The Upside of Irrationality will change the way we see ourselves at work and at home-and cast our irrational behaviors in a more nuanced light.

Author Biography

Dan Ariely is the author of the New York Times bestseller Predictably Irrational. A professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, he lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.

Introduction: Lessons from Procrastination and Medical Side Effects	p. 1
Hepatitis and procrastination
The movie treatment
What we should do and behavioral economics
From food to incompatible design
Taking irrationality into account
The Unexpected Ways We Defy Logic at Work
Paying More for Less: Why Big Bonuses Don't Always Work	p. 17
Of mice and men, or how high stakes affect rats and bankers
Measuring the effects of a CEO-sized bonus in India
Loss aversion: why bonuses aren't really bonuses
Working under stress: just how clutch are ôclutchö NBA players?
Stage fright and the social side of high stakes
Making compensation work for society
The Meaning of Labor: What Legos Can Teach Us about the Joy of Work	p. 53
You are what you do: identity and labor
The pains of wasted work
Lessons from a parrot-and some hungry rats
Searching for meaning while playing with Legos
Making work matter again
The IKEA Effect: Why We Overvalue What We Make	p. 83
Why IKEA makes us blush (with pride)
Cooking lessons: finding a balance between just adding water and baking an apple pie from scratch
The real value of a thousand origami cranes (and frogs)
Customize it!
Why ôalmost doneö doesn't do much for us
Why we need labors of love
The Not-Invented-Here Bias: Why ôMyö Ideas Are Better than ôYoursö	p. 107
Mark Twain describes a universal form of stupidity
ôAnything you can do I can do betterö: why we favor our own ideas
The toothbrush theory
What we can learn from Edison's mistake
The Case for Revenge: What Makes Us Seek Justice?	p. 123
The joys of payback
The bailouts and pounds of flesh
One man's quest for revenge against Audi
The etiquette of revenge
Companies beware: when consumers go public
Uses and misuses of revenge
Making amends
The Unexpected Ways We Defy Logic At Home
On Adaptation: Why We Get Used to Things (but Not All Things, and Not Always)	p. 157
Frogs: to boil or not to boil?
Adapting to visual cues and pain thresholds
Hedonic adaptation: from houses to spouses and beyond
How the hedonic treadmill keeps us buying-and buying more
How we can break and enhance adaptation
Making our adaptability work for us
Hot or Not? Adaptation, Assortative Mating, and the Beauty Market	p. 191
A personal adaptation
When mind and body don't get along
Sticking to our own (more or less hot) kind in dating: do we settle or adapt?
Let's ask the Internet: dating sites and romantic criteria
How I met your mother
When a Market Fails: An Example from Online Dating	p. 213
The function of the yenta
The dysfunctional singles market (as if you didn't already know)
The difference between your date and a digital camera
An exemplary failure in dating
How dating sites skew our perceptions
Ideas for a better dating future
On Empathy and Emotion: Why We Respond to One Person Who Needs Help but Not to Many	p. 237
Baby Jessica versus the Rwandan genocide
The difference between an individual and a statistic
Identification: needed for more than buying beer
How the American Cancer Society reels us in
The effect of rational thinking on giving
Overcoming our inability to confront big problems
The Long-Term Effects of Short-Term Emotions: Why We Shouldn't Act on Our Negative Feelings	p. 257
Don't tread on me: my colleague learns a lesson about rudeness
The dark side of impulses
Deciding under the influence (of emotions)
The importance of ôirrelevantö emotions
What a canoe can tell you about your love life
Lessons from Our Irrationalities: Why We Need to Test Everything	p. 281
A decision about life and limb
Gideon's biblical empiricism
The wisdom of leeches
Lessons learned, hopefully
Thanks	p. 297
List of Collaborators	p. 299
Notes	p. 305
Bibliography and Additional Readings	p. 307
Index	p. 319
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.