Predictably Irrational - Essay

Predictably Irrational - Essay

Predictable Irrational
What causes us to make decisions in our life, whether it’s what you’re going to eat for lunch or what car to buy? The book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely centers on concealed tricks that force our decision making in everyday life. The book explains how much of an impact things, people and predertermined mindsets around us make when we make decisions, whether positive and negative. Some of our decisions can be made simply by the decoy effect, the relativity of products, sticking with a decision once it has already been made, seeing something for free, keeping our options open, expectations, power of price, our integrity and influence of others. These specifics collectively prove that there are unseen forces displayed around us and in our minds that cause us to make certain choices.
People are easily duped into choosing items that have been preselected based on the knowledge of the seller about the buyer. Sellers know how to manipulate the buyers because buyers infrequently choose things in absolute terms, meaning people focus on the advantage they would get by purchasing one thing over another. By laying out options, especially in threes, sellers can manipulate the buyer into choosing the one they want to sell. This is known as the decoy effect because of the option they place in front of people that they know will not be chosen. For example, the illustration on the internet subscriptions shows this manipulation take place. The Economist’s web site displayed three choices in subscriptions to their website: internet-only subscription for $59, print-only subscription for $125, and print-and-internet subscription for $125. The first choice sounds reasonable, the second a bit pricey and the third seems like the best deal because of the two-for-one deal. No one really needs both a print and internet subscription for that amount of money but looking at the advantage of buying it as a package for the same price as one, people naturally...

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