Dan Ariely is a very enjoyable writer and an excellent researcher. That said I find his central theme of “irrationality” a problem. It is hard to know what people mean when they talk about irrationality. My central question is: What Is Irrationality? Advice To The Irrational In his advice book, Irrationally Yours, readers ask Ariely…
Category: Decision Making
Some Excellent Advice
Dan Ariely clearly has a lot of fun writing his newspaper column. He has an edited volume of his advice, Irrationally Yours, which contains some excellent advice. Today I’ll share some of this. Next week I’ll explain why I don’t like the book’s title. Advice Columns Firstly, advice columns are challenging. As an academic, I…
Crossing Chasms and Anecdotal Evidence
Geoffrey Moore‘s book, Crossing the Chasm, has been a hugely popular book in the marketing strategy area. I can see why. Moore has a clear thesis, the examples are interesting, and the topic important. Unfortunately Crossing the Chasm has a plausible story but no more. Crossing the chasm is just an anecdote, a good anecdote…
A Bias Towards A Bias To Action?
Phil Rosenzweig likes criticizing other people. He is usually correct. Still, at his worst, he is highly selective in his criticisms. Rosenzweig seems starstruck by CEOs and their dodgy pronouncements. He happily agrees with dubious advice from top managers. He shows a bias towards a bias to action. Yet, he gets out his microscope when…
Decision-Making In The Real World
Phil Rosenzweig is a contrarian. You can tell he enjoys disagreeing with people. The Halo Effect was a great read that targeted strategy researchers. His new book , Left Brain, Right Stuff, is an attack on decision research. It focuses on decision-making in the real world. Positive Comments The book has many good points and…
Sales And Consumer Protection
Peter Shawn Taylor discusses sales and consumer protection. He criticizes the Canadian Competition Bureau “for going after retailers for discounting too often” (Taylor, 2015). The piece was interesting. Sadly, Taylor’s arguments were unconvincing. Sales And Consumer Protection I’ll focus upon the general arguments rather than the specific cases. I cannot comment on the specific details…
Antifragility
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is clearly worth listening to. His idea of antifragility is useful. But he seems determined to alienate people. His book, Antifragile, is sprawling and confrontational. He uses it to settle a long list of scores with famous names. Those who disagree are not merely wrong. Instead, they are portrayed as cartoon villains…
Creating Impatience
Many of us have a general tendency towards impatience. This means we overweight the importance of the present over the future. It isn’t challenging to think of examples of this. People consume calories that their future selves will regret. They drink and smoke now gaining modest pleasure. In return, they will suffer massive pain later…
Framing And Product Experience
Framing is an important topic in marketing. At its simplest, research in framing and product experience investigates the impact of information packaging. The same information can have different effects depending upon presentation choices. Of course, as with any important idea, each researcher has their own precise definition. Framing As Description Levin and Gaeth (1988) use…
Selfishness And Business
Selfishness, and the absence of selfishness, is a fascinating issue. Simple models typically start with the idea that selfishness is a universal quality. This is termed unbounded selfishness. The evolutionary logic of this is superficially appealing. Sacrificing for others without a payback seems doomed. (Assuming selection pressure is strong). Thus, selfishness and business are assumed…
