Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions

Introduction : How an injury led me to irrationality and to the research described here -- ch. 1. Truth about relativity : why everything is relative, even when it shouldn’t be -- ch. 2. Fallacy of supply and demand : why the price of pearls, and everything else, is up in the air -- ch. 3. Cost of zero cost : why we often pay too much when we pay nothing -- ch. 4. Cost of social norms : why we are happy to do things, but not when we are paid to do them -- ch. 5. Influence of arousal : why hot is much hotter than we realize -- ch. 6. Problem of procrastination and self-control : why we can’t make ourselves do what we want to do -- ch. 7. High price of ownership : why we overvalue what we have -- ch. 8. Keeping doors open : why options distract us from our main objective -- ch. 9. Effect of expectations : why the mind gets what it expects -- ch. 10. Power of price : why a 50-cent aspirin can do what a penny aspirin can’t -- ch. 11. Context of our character, part 1 : why we are dishonest, and what we can do about it -- ch 12. Context of our character, part 2 : why dealing with cash makes us more honest -- 13. Beer and free lunches : what is behavioral economics, and where are the free lunches? -- Bonus material added for the revised and expanded edition : reflections and anecdotes about some of the chapters -- Thoughts about the subprime mortgage crisis and its consequences -- Thanks -- List of collaborators -- Notes -- Bibliography and additional readings -- Index.