Predictably Irrational The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions

Introduction : How an injury led me to irrationality and to the research described here — ch. 1. Truth about relativity : why everything is relative, even when it shouldn’t be — ch. 2. Fallacy of supply and demand : why the price of pearls, and everything else, is up in the air — ch. 3. Cost of zero cost : why we often pay too much when we pay nothing — ch. 4. Cost of social norms : why we are happy to do things, but not when we are paid to do them — ch. 5. Influence of arousal : why hot is much hotter than we realize — ch. 6. Problem of procrastination and self-control : why we can’t make ourselves do what we want to do — ch. 7. High price of ownership : why we overvalue what we have — ch. 8. Keeping doors open : why options distract us from our main objective — ch. 9. Effect of expectations : why the mind gets what it expects — ch. 10. Power of price : why a 50-cent aspirin can do what a penny aspirin can’t — ch. 11. Context of our character, part 1 : why we are dishonest, and what we can do about it — ch 12. Context of our character, part 2 : why dealing with cash makes us more honest — 13. Beer and free lunches : what is behavioral economics, and where are the free lunches? — Bonus material added for the revised and expanded edition : reflections and anecdotes about some of the chapters — Thoughts about the subprime mortgage crisis and its consequences — Thanks — List of collaborators — Notes — Bibliography and additional readings — Index.