The Upside of Irrationality

by Dan Ariely "Contrafreeloading," a term coined by the animal psychologist Glen Jensen, refers to the finding that many animals prefer to earn food rather than simply eating identical but freely accessible food. -60 

 That is, as long as fish, bird, gerbils, rats, mice, monkeys, and chimpanzees don't have to work too hard, they frequently prefer to earn their food. In fact, among all the animals tested so far the only species that prefers the lazy route is--you guessed it--the commendably rational cat. -62 

 In my mind, one person who understands, better than anyone else, the delicate balance between the desire to feel pride of ownership and the wish to not spend too much time in the kitchen is Sandra Lee of "Semi-Homemade" fame. Lee has literally patented a precise equation delineating the point at which the crossover occurs: the "70/30 Semi-Homemade Philosophy." -87

 The origami and Legos experiments taught us that we become attached to things that we invest effort in creating, and, once that happens, we start overvaluing these objects. Our next question was whether we are aware or unaware of our tendency to ascribe increased value to our beloved creatures. -97 The lack of difference between the two bidding approaches suggested not only that we overvalue our own creations but also that we are largely unaware of this tendency; we mistakenly think that others love our work as much as we do. -99 This would be nice, but the reality is that science is carried out by human beings. As such, scientists are constrained by the same 20-watt-per-hour computing device (the brain) and the same biases (such as a preference for our own creations) as other mortals. In the scientific world, the Not-Invented-Here bias is fondly called the "toothbrush theory." The idea is that everyone wants a toothbrush, everyone needs one, everyone has one, but no one wants to use anyone else's. -117 Look around. Do you notice a general revenge reaction on the part of the public in response to the increase of bad treatment on the part of companies and institutions? Do you encounter more rudeness, ignorance, nonchalance, and sometimes hostility in stores, on flights, at car rental counters, and so on than ever before? I am not sure who started this chicken and egg problem, but as we consumers encounter offensive service, we become angrier and tend to take it out on the next service provider--whether or not he or she is responsible for our bad experience. -143 This cycle, which is what drive us to keep up with the Joneses, is also known as the hedonic treadmill. We look forward to the things that will make us happy, but we don't realize how short lived this happiness will be, and when adaptation hits we look for the next new thing. -175 The moral of the story? You may think that taking a break during an irritating or boring experience will be good for you, but a break actually decreases your ability to adapt, making the experience seem worse when you have to return to it. When cleaning your house or doing your taxes, the trick is to stick with it until you are done. -179 Overall, this means that the improvement in the market efficiency for young professionals has come, to a certain extent, at the cost of market inefficiency for young romantic partners. -217 The most practical news is this: if we do nothing while we are feeling an emotion, there is no short- or long term harm that can come to us. However, if we react to the emotion by making a decision, we may not only regret the immediate outcome, but we may also create a long-lasting pattern of decisions that will continue to misguide us for a long time. -276