Dan Ariely is the author of three books: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (2008), The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home (2010), and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone–Especially Ourselves (2012)
When Dan Ariely was a teenager, he was severely burned on over 70% of his body. He then spent the next three years in the hospital enduring agonizing pain.
His experience in the hospital led him down the path of exploring irrational behaviors. He wanted to understand how to better deliver painful and unavoidable treatments to patients.
After completing this initial research project, he became engrossed with the idea that people repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of their lives and that research could help change some of these patterns.
Dan Ariely’s interests span a wide range of behaviors, and his sometimes unusual experiments are consistently interesting, amusing and informative, demonstrating profound ideas that fly in the face of common wisdom.
It’s a great interview that I know you will enjoy!
In This Episode You Will Learn:
- How emotions affect your rationality
- What it takes to create helpful habits
- How sensitive we are to the behavior of the people around us
- Dan Ariely’s story of being burned and how he got into the field of evolutionary and behavioral psychology
- How to use irrational thinking to your advantage
- The amazing qualities of the placebo
- How to find meaning in your life
- The irrational behavior of insider trading
Via James Altucher
