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From: TEDtalksDirector
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  • That's just awesome!!

  • Read your book and just saw this video, just idolized you in my mind

  • Omg, I should bring my dad bar hopping

  • About 5% of the TED videos I've seen has that small brain picture of Homer Simpson. Says something different about the creativity of TEDsters though I'm a HUGE fan

  • Enjoyed this, thank you.

  • need to write an essay about irrational behaviour,so this is such a great find;)

  • If everybody in the world read his book, the world would be a lot wiser.

  • I love listening to his lectures - excellent work!

  • omfg GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • is this really about Internet Vampires? I dunno. dunno if I want to watch the whole thing either.

  • This is just how nature works, I don't know why people keep having talks about this kinda stuff because to me its like air. You breath in air because that's just how this world works. Making a decision is based on the information you are currently receiving AND past experience relating to the current decision being made. No ones giving up free will, they are just being swayed.

  • We have free will. We are free to give up freedom also. Our minds are under psychological warfare attack on a daily basis. Your mind is being molded.

  • Ariely is fantastic to listen to! Love an intelligent being like that! I need to buy his book.

  • The problem in Belgium (compared to say, the Netherlands) is that people's family are asked what they want to do (the practice hasn't changed). They've never heard of a donation (campaign) and end up refusing (though officially, the dead should give).

  • i thought about this for a long time. do we really have free will? im glad someone gave a talk on this

  • What horrible injury has happened to this man.Great to see it has not affected him , human spirit

  • @HebusxJebus He apparently suffered serious burns at age 18

  • @HebusxJebus His injury actually triggered his studies...a curse becomes ablessing for the strong spirited.

  • We are just like animals that act on instinct.

    We only perceive ourselves as having free will.

  • If you dont want me to rob your house, click on the like button :)

  • don't be so damned lazy and start thinking for yourself...and...stop looking for a man of today as a hope!

  • I cant believe how stupid we are, we truly don't understand our limitations...

  • @FeelTheEfeKt not stupid, ignorant

  • thank you ted for sharing so many great speakers and talks

  • @PickedRose They laughed because of the bar hopping joke. None of the pictures looked like him.

  • two days ago i thought about why the super size in a fast food restaurant is slightly more expensive...same conclusion.

  • brb going bar hopping

  • One of my favorite ted talks. Really fascinating implications on form design.

  • i didnt get why everyone laughed at the rome with cofee compared to paris thing

  • You control your decision, you're just a chicken shit.

  • At first I was like, "I'm not stupid, I'd totally get the combo subscription." And then I was like, "oh...."

  • Sort of like when a comment gets more votes than the other comments so it shows up at top, and suddenly starts getting more votes BECAUSE it's at top. Other ppl 'liked' it, I probably should, too.

  • @mellomutt Haha, also like the man at the end of the video who decides to stand up when he sees everyone else in the audience standing up behind him xD

  • @mellomutt I am in conflict whether to give you a thumbs up or not.

  • if you're watching these, also have a listen to Jacque Fresco. good stuff.

  • Must watch by everyone1, amazing journey illusion, cognitive decisions and our limitations!!

  • nueral pathways are set very young

  • great

  • this whole speech is pretty silly, seeming as he obviously made the decision to do the speech in the first place...

  • His accent is great!

  • @Gytaz he sounds like borat.. when he sais replacement!

  • If you look at all the items that are priced with the ending of 99 to make you think it is lower than the actual price it makes you think how patronizing it is. However, there is method to this madness since when we go shopping, we are distracted by all of the hustle and bustle of events happening around us that we might succumb to this marketing tactic.

  • @KeepingModern

    Funny, it kind of backfires, .99 always exaggerates the price in my mind. It's like, well that could be $2.00 but no, it's $2.99, that's almost $4.00! Too pricey, for something that ought to be $1.99.

  • Amazing video, awesome upload. 

  • as for the cube thing, they are two different colors. Screen shot it, then take it into photoshop, or anything where you can see the different colors, and there is a difference of more than four, so he lied

  • @pchanrocks It may be that the video compression youtube uses somewhat distorts the colors. Dunno though.

  • Mr Ariely is proving the work of people like G.I. Gurdjieff who have passed on the ancient knowledge that the path to personal freedom and having the ability to "do" anything depends on self knowledge. If we don't know ourselves internally then we are slaves to outer circumstances, constantly being influenced by the external forces around us. For those interested in an in-depth exposition on Gurdjieff, look for "In search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky written in the early 1900's.

  • I am doing everything in my power to stop myself from mistakes like that.

    And at the end of the day i see that i failed ones more.

  • great video

  • Not to drag this into politics but some of this irrationality about doing things the way they are already done rather than making hard but probably better choices reminds me a lot of conservatism. They don't really have rational reasons for wanting to keep things they way they are, it is just the less difficult option.

    In my opinion the reality is we will never have a perfect society so we should always be striving to change and improve and experiment with what we can whenever we can.

  • @DSBrekus

    Reminds me of a quote: "The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment." --Bertrand Russell

  • @graciousSenor Interesting, I hadn't spent much time thinking about it from the opposite side. It does offer some explanation as to why so many scientists are more liberal than conservative, a similar mindset.

  • Great speech on how we are influenced to decide. Good for advertising professionals.

  • I love the insights this work gives us. How easily we are manipulated...and manipulate others. Advertising is well aware already.

  • I thought I found a video about whether or not we are in control of our destiny. I'm up to about 5 minutes into it and I guess i'm in the wrong spot..The people viewing this video are probably thoughtful. What are your ideas about destiny? come to my blog and discuss it alternalife(dot)blog(dot)com

  • The illusion of making a decision - haha - this video should be followed by comedian George Carlin's on politics and his routine on "They Own You". These things are programmed by others. Look at the history of marketing, Edward Bernays. The genius is in getting a gullible group to believe they have a choice. Look at how the candidates are vetted in a USA election. This is why we do not get good candidates.

  • Patti Maes, Karl Sims and other MIT Staff use Ambient Technology account to procure human research subjects

  • this guy is genious

  • The IMAGES of the table tops are the same length, but visual cues known as perspective tell us that if we were looking at these two tables in life, the table on the left would be longer. For example: hold an apple up so the full moon is completely hidden from your sight - is the moon no longer there? Or, is the apple is larger than the moon? Of course not! The tables may be a poor example of Airely's point, but it shows we must not be fooled into equating that which SEEMS but is NOT equal.

  • but what about those who LEADthe groups? thats what seperates humans from the rest.

  • @USAFSmiley87 The people that lead the groups are irrational even though they know better.

  • This guy reminds me of two-face.

  • All the people who just found out their colorblind are like WTF?

  • "You want a slightly uglier version of yourself..." lmao

  • 5:20 WOOOWW

  • Ah-mazing! :))

  • Great!!!Interesting

  • Stone age brain in a Silicon age world

  • Trust the economist to do that. :P

  • to me...a reduction in choices is not a good idea. I think educating the masses on how to understand multiple choices is much better. The organ donor thing was deception to accomplish said task of increasing organ donations...preying on the fact that most humans are lazy and will not read anything but the sourest of drivel from a tabloid. Thats why I encourage my son to read everything. And to understand all the choices he may have before him. That way this deception cannot take place.

  • the book of him is amazing. everything he says is true and you´ll recognize that we all act irrationaly and make sometimes stupid decisions

  • awesome speech. tell me if i am wrong, but i think hearing is more expressed in brain than seeing.

  • @NaughtyAughties An option of hearing+seeing would be ideal. All for just $125. ;)

  • @neelaakaasham thanks for the insight

  • A-Mazing!

  • You HAVE TO watch this next:

    # Dan Gilbert: Exploring the frontiers of happiness

    Gilbert is an Harvard psychologist and shares the same views as behavioral economist Dan Ariely

  • @moremost: Thanks for the link.

  • Can't wait to read the book!

  • brilliant...

  • My professor is using this dude in our class. Dude speaks some truth.

  • Hi,

    I've just discovered Dan Ariely, soo interesting.

    Anyone know of similar subjects?

    (I know about Freakonomics already)

    Cheers all

  • Undercover economist -Tim Harford.

    is a great book, I would recommend it.

  • Hey thanks!

    I looked him up, he's on youtube too

    watch?v=MdlrpCqdcVo

  • Stuff from the book 'Nudge'. Great book btw.

  • I am in awe :D

  • superb!

  • Great talk!

  • Lol!!

    that's more or less what he was saying?? theat decision is indirectly being made for us and yet we sometimes think we are incontrol of the decisions we make. The person who make a lazy choice has made a decision anyway:)))

  • I think that's what he meant when he said "the marginal cost of lifting a pen" etc. Laziness of reading, really.

  • The students who picked option A for the economist (c13 minutes), are the same people who would NOT have eaten the marshmallow - in fact even the percentage seems close to supporting this fact.

    LMFAO

  • i am colour blind and they are both brown to me...

  • Im Colour Blind and i cannot see the yellow block on the Rubix cube they both look brown

  • I thought it was a great ending to the talk when they showed the audience and the first applause shot shows a man in the front wearing blue slouching down... and then later once the rest of the audience started to stand up the blue man stood up too but clearly only because other people stood up. He didn't control his decision very much did he? lol

  • lol he probably didnt want to seem like a jackass for being the only one not standin up :P

  • @TheDunc

    We are group followers.

    Its part of our evolution.

  • @TheDunc maybe it took him that long to grasp his concept.

  • @TheDunc Oooh You're right! Good find, I didn't see that. What a perfectly fitting applause, then!

  • @TheDunc yes, but this is not what behavioral economics is about... at least this is not how i understand it..

  • @TheDunc

    You can argue that he did control his decision to stand up since he didnt want to look like (to his peer group) he is rude or did not enjoy the seminar. If he did not stand up his perceived value of loosing social status to his colleagues vs standing up was going to be lower. hehe

  • Unfortunately my brother is taller and more attractive than me.

  • Interesting and even a bit shocking.

  • yes but basing it on rational thought you have to believe in free will

  • why would i have to? everything one does is a product of chemical reactions in the brain in response to stimuli.

  • somehow right but nonehtless you miss the point, first of all you can influence what you do (after all your actions are not only reflexes, which is what you describe) and second of all you are influenced by circumstances and people

  • people and circumstances are both stimuli that your brain reacts to. any influence that we cause upon our actions is due to our brains, and what our brains dictate is determined by the way it functions. knowledge/IQ, perception, emotion, personality type, motivations, etc. all determine what we do, and they in turn are all determined by genetics and environment (nature AND nurture).

  • yes, if you call that NOT having a free will thats your thing in my opinion what you describe means we have a free will

  • well you could defend that argument for the rest of your life and someone would find something wrong with your premises.

  • that was awesome

  • Comment removed

  • this guy is describing intuitive choice, obviously someone is going to choose the better deal, as long as it looks better, there is not only nothing new here, he seems to be describing the late 90s and the early 21st century marketing. this is shit that has been known for allot longer than that

  • in other words, he's either brilliant working backwards, or he's a complete retard, or perhaps he is speaking of something he did back at the turn of the century

  • clearly not a retard...

  • @ kght222 : you don't know what you're talking about. You are a typical blind victim of your limited cognitive capacity. It would take too much effort to explain, but trust me you're wrong. You think like a chimp.

  • Deciding to let someone go through with a hip replacement rather than having to decide between two medications sounds more like an irrational decision than an intuitive one. Intuition does not mean that there is no rationale behind a decision.

  • good point soup, i was only saying what i thought it seemed he was talking about, saying that people will choose what appears to be the best choice, even if it isnt realy the best choice. as for you flameblazers, i'm afraid that all i have to say about you involves your own name, flame blazer

  • pah gotta add to this that the decicision of what the best choice is, is allways based on an individuals perspective

  • oh and ultra, i agree, clearly not a retard, it was just something to say ;), there is nothing wrong with describing things that any haggler or salesman has pretty much noticed for a long time, because they are rarely described

  • You still missed the point. His research wasn't that people make irrational decisions but WHY they make them, and he found two major places.

    First, that people choose irrational inaction over action that requires an underdeveloped preference judgment, and secondly that the presence of a third, undesirable option, can change the "rational" choice between the two desirable options.

    Don't undercut his research. It's very good.

  • i'm sorry if it sounded like i was insulting his research, that was not my intention, in truth i think that this is something that more people should recognize. and your points about this are quite good, but i still think it comes down to "people will choose the option that they see as the best, regardless of weather that is true or not" although i will admit to currently being drunk, so quite possibly extremely foolish at the moment

  • No, that's a good point. More people should realize that their decisions aren't necessarily rational.

    I just wouldn't say he's rehashing old ideas. The research is the new part - the realization that humans don't make optimal decisions is not.

    Good conversation going on though. Wish less people would revert to "STFU WTF OMG NOOB".

  • Why not when it's completely justified. He is drunk and makes stupid comments, I reply in kind.

  • This kind of thinking is why Habermas' ideal speech situation will never happen and why there is so much wasted potential on the internet. We watch a video on the psychology of preference judgments and end up with people belittling each other.

    But naturally it's okay because "He did it first." Just call him a Nazi or compare him to Hitler already, because it's that kind of justification that leads to Godwin's Law and Rule 34.

  • Habermas, Godwin's law, Rule 34? Wow, you must be dying to show off how hip and educated you are. LOL

    I won't call him a nazi because he simply made moronic comments and I called him out on it. That's all.

    And BTW: This is freaking youtube, get a grip...

  • STFU, kght. You obviously didn't understand half of what the guy said. You're not intelligent so why bother with this stuff anyway?

  • Why bother with kght ;-)

    But: If something has not been done a 1000 times yet, it is not science. Has to be said.

  • he is just explaining Amos Tversky's and Daniel Kahneman's ideas..

    have you noticed how many videos are available on the net about illusions.. irrational decision makings..etc.. and how few which explains why we have developed these recognition heuristics in the first place..?

    search for Gerd gigerenzer .. you will find how these simple heuristics can be very helpful when making complex decisions..

  • Interesting talk and he delivers it in a easy to understand way with humour, but hardly anything I didn't know before.

    Yes, illusions fool the naked eye.

    Yes, people tend to want to be with other people who are deemed by society as being "beautiful".

    Yes, you can manipulate stragetically how you package advertisements for products

    Yes, you can set a default choice for people because if you do, chances are higher you will get your way.

    Everything but the illusions - fools the fools.

  • saying that you can never not (double negative intended) see the visual illusions as they are. if you know them to be illusions and you can work them out mentally - especially the cube one seeing as each side is mirrored on the other sides - you can easily work them out and escape the grasp of illusion.

  • I read his book _Predictably Irrational_ -- it's fascinating!

    People like Plantinga are such crap philosophers b/c they ignore neuroscience like this.

  • It's only because we have relative logic.

    The economy thing:

    The first option costs $60, the printed option costs $125, so the first option with the printed option for $125 seems like a bargain that's saving us from paying an extra $60.

    It's not an illusion but a rational, logical choice relative to the situation. But when the exclusively printed option is removed, its reversed because our brain calculates that the additional printed option is costing us $65.

  • It's because we don't know the true price of what we're purchasing.

  • Dude, you're fooling us!

    The red tape to the right is horizontal to the side of the table.

    The red tape to the left is NOT horizontal to the side of the table.

    Therefore, the sides of the tables are not the same!!

  • meh he did say the vertical line not the side, but yeah that is part of the optical illiusion

  • This type of logic has been used in "push-polls" during political campaigns.

    "Would you vote for candidate X if you he plans to raise your taxes?"

  • That just blew my mind, holy shit were all idiots. Im not the smartest guy, 128 IQ, whatever that counts for, but I guess I should know better.

  • Interesting. Thanks.

  • I saw the colored squares as both brown, I can't NOT see them as brown. I think I'm broken! :(

  • No, everyone else is, you're the only one who is working.

  • the answer is NO, we are not in control of our decisions..it just seems like we are- but we are mistaken

    as soon as you ask why someone took some action they will tell u reasons and THEN you have caught them telling you why THEY didn't make their decision lol

  • The control of our decisions is much more limited and influenced than we thought. It is possible to manipulate our decisions.

    Can be very useful for selling anything.

  • i find it funny how the talk's about how we may not really be in control of our actions, and the very last thing you see in the video is a guy looking around before deciding to stand and applaud lol

  • thats not a decision, thats a reaction.

    what he is saying is that decision is actually an illusion. it might appear that he made a decision, but only if you do not know where that so called decision came from.

    its no more decisive than the clouds "deciding" to rain

  • excellent observation. beautiful even.

  • If you like this video, Dan Gilbert's talk "exploring the frontiers of happiness" has a similar theme and is well worth a look

  • best talk ever

  • Damn interesting.

  • Wow, I actually thought about this a week ago. He's totally right.

    What I saw during the presentation actually influenced what I thought about his speech. Ok, maybe you don't want to watch the whole video like this, but try looking at the guy in the audience at the bottom left with the tie, and the guy at the bottom right, kinda chuby. They both don't seem to laugh at his jokes, and think its a waste of time, but it influenced what I thought about the speaker. Also reading comments before too.

  • very insightful

  • OMG! so true, and also amusing. We must maintain a sense of humor about ourselves, I guess. Gotta love TED. Always, inspiring, often enlightening.

  • I FUCKING LOVE TED

    Each video i watch is better than the last! I am definately going to one of these one day!

  • I thought this was one of my favorite talks

  • One of the most interesting TED talks yet.

  • Liked the talk, loved the book ("Predictably Irrational")

  • ok, this presentation is genial.

    for anyone who wants to go deeper into the matter of rationality in the decision making process (of any nature) you can check for Kahneman and Tversky works on cognitive psicology.

    also, look for Herbert Simon's work on bounded rationality. Or Keynes chapter 12 on his General Theory, etc. ACtually, one of the best chapters in the whole book and not many people discuss it...

    Dan Ariely, 5 thousand stars.

  • oops. meant to vote this up, but hit the wrong button. and you can't even undo a vote. :(

  • I voted it up for you, even though I haven't watched it yet. You owe me one. :P

  • this man is a genius

  • I agree!

  • hard to believe isn't it.

  • lol i saw it as the same color on that cube illusion =P but i have always had a suspicion that i am a bit colorblind so... =P

  • I found this very interesting and Dan Ariely's presentation style made watching and learning an enjoyable experience. Loved it!

  • nice work!

  • great talk.. really enjoyed it .. :)

  • funny and really stunning!

  • interesting!

  • this guy is always very interesting.

  • This stuff seems so obvious, it really didn't do anything for me. Good talk though as always from TED.

  • i know he was talking about "common sense" but he is right about the comparison part. He found out that everything that we do, we are limited but what can we do.... nothing because everything that we see or use it made by some one, or crated by some one that wants us to see it.

  • good

  • Great hint for hunting chicks! = )

    Jokes apart, great talk. TED's are awesome!

  • lol finance...assumptions

  • this guy rocks!

  • This is a repost and it looks one part of his talk was cut out this time. It was really interesting. He talked about the days when he was in hospital.