Ori Brafman

recommended for: everyone - except those who never read nonfiction, but maybe they’d appreciate this one

This book is very readable and entertaining, and so engaging that I just kept reading and didn’t read the notes until after I’d finished the book, which is unusual for me. It’s fascinating knowlege for anyone who has an interest in universal human nature and/or group dynamics.

The authors take a bunch of existing studies and do a tremendous job of presenting a cogent thesis about show more why human beings can exhibit such irrational behaviors. I was familiar with many of the studies cited in the book; I was even a participant in a friend's version of the “different lengths of lines” study described.

I recommend this book to everyone, because it shows that even if we believe we’re logical and independent thinkers and reasonable in our decision making, and assume that we possess impeccable common sense, that there are factors at work that often make our assumptions not so. You may be surprised by the findings presented here re loss aversion, pull of commitment, value attribution, diagnostic bias, etc. Even if these concepts are not new to you, the way the information is presented here will make you think. Now that I’ve read this book, I’m confident that remembering the material presented will help me think before I act. I do think of myself as someone who thinks and makes decisions in a logical manner, although even though before I read this, I was very aware of my own aversion to loss, and also my tendency to be influenced by value attribution; the latter is something I’ve actually tried to work on with some success.

I’d like to see this book assigned as an adjunct text for many psychology, sociology, economics, business, and education classes. I also hope that it’s read by every person who is in a position of power, especially our elected officials and those such as airplane pilots and others in similarly responsible jobs. Also finding it helpful would be those who work with others, including HR people (although preferably not those who will interview me for jobs since historically I do “very well” in job interviews, even though I’ve always thought they’ve had limitations.)

My favorite portions of the book were the part that described the brain centers of altruism vs. pleasure, because that research was brand new information for me, and also the part where Stephen Breyer describes his process doing his work as a Supreme Court Justice, just because I found his explanation so fascinating. I also was extremely entertained by the $20 bill story, and I assume that all readers will find this story enjoyable, unless they were ever one of the final two participants in this or a similar activity.

I appreciate that, while this is not a self-help book, reading the book isn’t an exercise in futility; having this information actually gives the readers tools to empower themselves.

The formatting of the chapter headings is very clever too, as it ties into the sway/pull theme of the book. show less

In my working life, I have observed first-hand smart, capable executives making poor business decisions. Although the common thinking is that business decisions are based on logic, such as cost-benefit analysis and business cases, in my experience, the optimal solution is not always selected. This cogent, enlightening book provides explanations of the variety of influences that may have contributed to these questionable decisions. At the beginning of each chapter, the author provides an show more example of an irrational decision, such as a pilot taking off in fog without clearance, and proceeds to explore the factors that may have contributed to the resulting catastrophe. The author “peels the onion,” delving into the complexities, citing numerous studies and examples in an easily understood manner. This method spurred my curiosity, and resulted in devouring the book in one sitting. I found it both entertaining and educational. Recommended to those who enjoy learning about human behavior and psychology, and highly recommended to management consultants to help their clients avoid biases in decision-making. show less

In my working life, I have observed first-hand smart, capable executives making poor business decisions. Although the common thinking is that business decisions are based on logic, such as cost-benefit analysis and business cases, in my experience, the optimal solution is not always selected. This cogent, enlightening book provides explanations of the variety of influences that may have contributed to these questionable decisions. At the beginning of each chapter, the author provides an show more example of an irrational decision, such as a pilot taking off in fog without clearance, and proceeds to explore the factors that may have contributed to the resulting catastrophe. The author “peels the onion,” delving into the complexities, citing numerous studies and examples in an easily understood manner. This method spurred my curiosity, and resulted in devouring the book in one sitting. I found it both entertaining and educational. Recommended to those who enjoy learning about human behavior and psychology, and highly recommended to management consultants to help their clients avoid biases in decision-making. show less

I’ve been considering people’s motivations, trying to figure out why we make the choices we do, in an attempt to understand what may have precipitated the actions of characters I’m writing about. Sway caught my eye on the list of books I wanted to read and turned out to be a pretty interesting. Unexpectedly, this book gave me a lot to think about as far as trying to come up with rationales (however irrational) for why my characters might make the choices they do.

The Brafman brothers show more illustrate their point of view by using some high profile instances of irrational decision making, such as the crash of KLM Flight 4805 in which 584 people died, the space shuttle crash, people and business references that the general public would be familiar with.

I think it was a good strategy to use these, the material is actually quite profound. It is easy to follow the logic of irrational behavior when you can place yourself in the situation. Which was a funny place to be, considering it forces you to realize how many time you personally have made irrational decisions.

Ori, who has an MBA, relates his first day of business school. During the first class Professor Roberto Fernandez stated to the students, “People aren’t rational.” Then he went on to illustrate just how irrational they are by way of a film showing doctors performing open heart surgery and pouring asbestos onto the heart. And in another example they examined an engineer report about “...the likelihood of a mechanical failure as temperatures drop.” evidence that NASA had concerning the O-rings predicted failure before the launch of the space shuttle Challenger. “Fernandez’s point was that although we all like to think of ourselves as rational, we’re much more prone to irrational behavior than we realize.”

Each of the books chapters center around one particular habit or trait of irrational behavior. One such is “Diagnosis Bias” such as when a health care professional mistakenly assigns you a label like, “overly protective mother” and dismisses vital signs of a serious health problem as described in the preface. Another chapter centered on “Loss Aversion” I think one of the more prevalent irrational behaviors, and one I can see most people identifying with. It is when you perceive a loss to be greater than the real loss. There were several examples using phone or cable service. We’ll pay more for an “unlimited time use” because we are afraid of what we’d lose if we had to stay within a limit and pay more if we exceed it, even though we have the evidence that we don’t exceed it, it’s the implied “what if I do” that gets us to act irrationally.

I won’t go into all the stories, there are so many in what is a small book it’s hard to pick out just a few. I am already rereading it, taking notes for ideas on character behavior. This was interesting to think about from a writing standpoint. To think about my characters not behaving because of a clearly defined childhood event or circumstance but acting irrationally as anyone of us is prone to do.

The one irrational behavior the book talked about is one that gives me more reason to hate the current school system and what I’d already considered to be irrational behavior. Money as incentive for academic excellence, it just doesn’t work. Teachers can not put the students needs ahead of their own if outcomes are tied to monetary rewards.

MRI’s show “...the pleasure center and the altruistic center cannot both function at the same time: either one or the other is in control.” Meaning, that teachers teach for the high of inspiring students -the altruistic or they do it for the bonus -the pleasure.

“Neuropsychologist have shown that activities associated with addictive substances and those associated with monetary rewards are both processed by the pleasure center. Because monetary incentives present such a strong allure to us they distort our thinking.” What happens is teachers instead of acting in the interests of the students, that is inspiring them to learn, they instead, become focused on test scores “chasing the reward.” show less