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 beабычу 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 $415 on a cup of coffee wаврдзhen, 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 авцякother 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 predictablemaking us predictably irrational.