The Upside of Irrationality - Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely's follow-up to his book Predictably Irrational is meant to look at the positive side of our irrational behavior.  He also looks at the dark side.  People apparently activate a very strong pleasure center in the brain when we act out revenge.  This behavior or a sense of fair play is present in both humans and primates.  Often an act out of revenge harms the person doing the act as much as it does the intended target. 

The Case for Revenge

 

He also examines motivation to do labor. If people realize that there work has no perceived meaning and/or they receive little encouragement they will work for shorter periods of time and produce less. Managers can use this knowledge to effectively demotivate employees and reduce job satisfaction.

The Meaning of Labor

 
People love their own ideas and resist the ideas of others.  Thomas Edison's rejection of Tesla's AC current idea is a famous example.  The invention of the electric chair was covertly funded by Edison to show the dangers of AC current.




The not invented here bias

 

Because we are irrational and our anecdotal experience can not be trusted we need to test everything to determine if it is in fact true.

 

Lessons from our irrationalities

The book, The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home is available from Amazon.com