From Publishers Weekly
Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioral economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Drawing on psychology and economics, behavioral economics can show us why cautious people make poor decisions about sex when aroused, why patients get greater relief from a more expensive drug over its cheaper counterpart and why honest people may steal office supplies or communal food, but not money. According to Ariely, our understanding of economics, now based on the assumption of a rational subject, should, in fact, be based on our systematic, unsurprising irrationality. Ariely argues that greater understanding of previously ignored or misunderstood forces (emotions, relativity and social norms) that influence our economic behavior brings a variety of opportunities for reexamining individual motivation and consumer choice, as well as economic and educational policy. Ariely's intelligent, exuberant style and thought-provoking arguments make for a fascinating, eye-opening read. (Feb.)
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The New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality returns with thought-provoking work to challenge our preconceptions about dishonesty and urge us to take an honest look at ourselves.
Does the chance of getting caught affect how likely we are to cheat?
How do companies pave the way for dishonesty?
Does collaboration make us more honest or less so?
Does religion improve our honesty?
Most of us think of ourselves as honest, but, in fact, we all cheat. From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere. None of us is immune, whether it's the white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, award-winning, bestselling author Dan Ariely turns his unique insight and innovative research to the question of dishonesty.
Generally, we assume that cheating, like most other decisions, is based on a rational cost-benefit analysis. But Ariely argues, and then demonstrates, that it's actually the irrational forces that we don't take into account that often determine whether we behave ethically or not. For every Enron or political bribe, there are countless puffed rÉsumÉs, hidden commissions, and knockoff purses. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about; how getting caught matters less than we think; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards.
But all is not lost. Ariely also identifies what keeps us honest, pointing the way for achieving higher ethics in our everyday lives. With compelling personal and academic findings, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty will change the way we see ourselves, our actions, and others.

我们是如何看待金钱的？是什么让华尔街的银行家们对经济看走了眼？是什么让人们超出自己的经济能力去借贷？非理性是如何驱使我们作出决策的？我们如何才能摆脱经济危机的困扰？传统经济学认为，我们都是理性的“经济人”，所作出的一切决策都是明智和*的。然而现实中，我们的种种匪夷所思的行为却远非传统经济学家所说的那样完美。
本书是《怪诞行为学》的升级版。书中，杜克大学行为经济学家丹·艾瑞里将心理学引经济学的研究中，用实验的方法彻底颠覆了主流经济学的“经济人”观，告诉我们非理性是人类的本能，是主宰人类行为和决策的隐形力量；非理性不是杂乱无章的，而是可以预测和把握的。在增订部分中，针对非理性如何影响我们的日常生活和公共政策，并导致2008年金融危机，作者从行为经济学的角度出发，提出了自己独到的见解。并告诉我们如何运用“可预测的非理性”提高日常生活的幸福指数，制定出摆脱当前经济危机的*政策。学会驾驭非理性，才是理性的始！

Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin?
Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?
Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?
Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full?
And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar?
When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we?
In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.
Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same "types" of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable--making us "predictably" irrational.
From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. "Predictably Irrational" will change the way we interact with the world--one small decision at a time.

Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin?
Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?
Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?
Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are already full?
And how did we ever start spending $4.15 on a cup of coffee when, just a few years ago, we used to pay less than a dollar?
When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're in control. We think we're making smart, rational choices. But are we?
In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.
Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same "types" of mistakes, Ariely discovers. We consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They're systematic and predictable--making us "predictably" irrational.
From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Ariely explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions. "Predictably Irrational" will change the way we interact with the world--one small decision at a time.

How do we think about money?
What caused bankers to lose sight of the economy?
What caused individuals to take on mortgages that were not within their means?
What irrational forces guided our decisions?
And how can we recover from an economic crisis?
In this revised and expanded edition of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Predictably Irrational, Duke University's behavioral economist Dan Ariely explores the hidden forces that shape our decisions, including some of the causes responsible for the current economic crisis. Bringing a much-needed dose of sophisticated psychological study to the realm of public policy, Ariely offers his own insights into the irrationalities of everyday life, the decisions that led us to the financial meltdown of 2008, and the general ways we get ourselves into trouble.
Blending common experiences and clever experiments with groundbreaking analysis, Ariely demonstrates how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. As he explains, our reliance on standard economic theory to design personal, national, and global policies may, in fact, be dangerous. The mistakes that we make as individuals and institutions are not random, and they can aggregate in the market—with devastating results. In light of our current economic crisis, the consequences of these systematic and predictable mistakes have never been clearer.
Packed with new studies and thought-provoking responses to readers' questions and comments, this revised and expanded edition of Predictably Irrational will changethe way we interact with the world—from the small decisions we make in our own lives to the individual and collective choices that shape our economy.

我们是如何看待金钱的？是什么让华尔街的银行家们对经济看走了眼？是什么让人们超出自己的经济能力去借贷？非理性是如何驱使我们作出决策的？我们如何才能摆脱经济危机的困扰？传统经济学认为，我们都是理性的“经济人”，所作出的一切决策都是明智和*的。然而现实中，我们的种种匪夷所思的行为却远非传统经济学家所说的那样完美。
本书是《怪诞行为学》的升级版。书中，杜克大学行为经济学家丹·艾瑞里将心理学引经济学的研究中，用实验的方法彻底颠覆了主流经济学的“经济人”观，告诉我们非理性是人类的本能，是主宰人类行为和决策的隐形力量；非理性不是杂乱无章的，而是可以预测和把握的。在增订部分中，针对非理性如何影响我们的日常生活和公共政策，并导致2008年金融危机，作者从行为经济学的角度出发，提出了自己独到的见解。并告诉我们如何运用“可预测的非理性”提高日常生活的幸福指数，制定出摆脱当前经济危机的*政策。学会驾驭非理性，才是理性的始！

Lẽ phải của phi lý trí không phải là một cuốn sách hàn lâm khô khan chỉ toàn lý thuyết, mà nó được sử dụng dữ liệu từ những thí nghiệm thú vị và độc đáo dẫn đến những kết luận hấp dẫn về cách thức – và nguyên nhân tại sao chúng ta hành động như vậy. Từ những thái độ tại nơi làm việc của chúng ta, cho tới những mối quan hệ lãng mạn, tới việc chúng ta luôn tìm kiếm mục đích cuộc đời mình, Ariely lý giải cách thức phá vỡ những khuôn mẫu bi quan trong suy nghĩ và hành vi của chúng ta để đưa ra những quyết định tốt hơn. Cuốn sách kỹ năng này sẽ thay đổi cách thức chúng ta nhận thức bản thân trong công việc và trong gia đình – và soi xét các hành vi phi lý trí của chúng ta dưới một thứ sắc thái ánh sáng hoàn toàn mới mẻ. Đọc Lẽ phải của phi lý trí – một cuốn sách lãnh đạo và quản lý hữu ích, bạn sẽ biết nhiều điều như:
- Tại sao những khoản tiền thưởng lớn lại có thể khiến các CEO làm việc kém hiệu quả hơn?
- Làm cách nào mà những định hướng rối rắm lại hữu ích đối với chúng ta?
- Tại sao việc trả thù lại quan trọng?
- Tại sao có một sự khác biệt rất lớn giữa điều mà chúng ta nghĩ là sẽ khiến chúng ta hạnh phúc và những thứ thực sự khiến chúng ta hạnh phúc?
- Và rất nhiều phát hiện thú vị khác.

Behavioral economist and New York Times bestselling author Dan Ariely offers a much-needed take on the irrational decisions that led to our current economic crisis.

Fascinating and provocative, Ariely’s The Truth About Dishonesty is an insightful and brilliantly researched take on cheating, deception and willpower. Internationally bestselling author Ariely pulls no punches when it comes to home truths.

Previous titles PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL and THE UPSIDE OF IRRATIONALITY have becomes classics in their field, revealing unexpected and astonishing traits that run through modern humankind. Now acclaimed behavioural economist Dan Ariely delves deeper into the dark and murky recesses of contemporary psychology, daring to ask the big questions:

What makes us cheat? How and why do we rationalise deception of ourselves and other people, and make ourselves ‘wishfully blind’ to the blindingly obvious? What affects our infuriatingly intangible willpower and how can we ‘catch’ the cheating bug from other bad apples?

If you’ve ever wondered how a whole company can turn a blind eye to evident misdemeanours within their ranks, whether people are born dishonest and whether you can really be successful by being totally, brutally honest, then Dan has the answers, and many more.

Dlaczego ból głowy nie ustępuje po zażyciu aspiryny o wartości jednego centa, ale znika bez śladu, kiedy weźmiemy aspirynę, która kosztuje pięćdziesiąt centów?

Dlaczego przepuszczamy pieniądze na wystawny posiłek, ale wycinamy kupony, aby zaoszczędzić dwadzieścia pięć centów na puszce zupy?

Jeśli chodzi o podejmowanie decyzji życiowych, wydaje nam się, że dokonujemy mądrych, racjonalnych wyborów. Czy naprawdę tak jest?

W nowym, poprawionym i rozszerzonym wydaniu przełomowego bestsellera New York Timesa Dan Ariely obala popularne przekonanie, że my, ludzie, zachowujemy się racjonalnie. Od picia kawy po odchudzanie się, od zakupu samochodu po wybór partnera życiowego – nieustannie przepłacamy, nie doceniamy i odwlekamy decyzję. Takie zachowania nie są jednak przypadkowe ani pozbawione sensu. Przeciwnie, są systematyczne i przewidywalne, a co za tym idzie – czynią nas przewidywalnie irracjonalnymi.

Cuando tomamos decisiones creemos que tenemos el control y hacemos elecciones racionales pero es realmente asi? Tenemos e control sobre nuestros actos sobre como gestionamos nuestro dinero pero tambien nuestro tiempo nuestras energias y nuestros afectos? Por que compramos lo que compramos? Somos realmente duenos de nuestras decisiones o se nos puede manipular como consumidores? Por que lo gratuito acaba saliendo caro? Que influye en que un producto nos parezca caro o barato? Gasta mas quien paga con tarjeta de credito? Por que compramos cosas que no necesitamos? Influyen las marcas en nuestro grado de satisfaccion ante un producto? Hay robos mas eticos que otros? Somos compradores compulsivos e irracionales? Que sucede cuando los codigos de comportamiento social y empresarial se mezclan y confunden? Por que tenemos la obsesion de compararlo todo para tomar decisiones? Decidimos lo mismo cuando estamos sexualmente excitados que cuando no lo estamos?... Este libro apasionante riguroso y ameno responde a estas y otras muchas preguntas sobre nuestras decisiones cotidianas como consumidores y como ciudadanos a partir de experimentos punteros llevados a cabo por el prestigioso especialista en psicologia del consumo Dan Ariely. El autor nos proporciona nuevas y sorprendentes conclusiones sobre la naturaleza humana que ayudaran al lector a tomar mejores decisiones como consumidor pero tambien en su vida personal social y laboral.