Carolina QuotesOne of the basic principles from behavioral economics is the environment matters. If you think about it, what is our environment trying to do? You’re walking down the street, you’re walking in the mall, in every shopping entity, in every advertisement, all of them want something from you. And what they want from you is not your long-term well-being. What they want is your time, money and attention right now. It’s getting harder and harder because our apps are on the phone, websites’ [ads] are popping so this question of resisting temptation is something that is becoming more and more difficult.
Dan Ariely Connected to the Carolinas
Source
"Q&A: Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely On His Plans To Help America's Poor", Forbes (December 7, 2015)
- year
- 2015
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“One of the basic principles from behavioral economics is the…” Dan Ariely. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-6140758248. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/6140758248
More from Dan Ariely
Most transactions have an upside and a downside, but when something is FREE! we forget the downside. FREE! gives us such an emotional charge that we perceive what is being offered as immensely more valuable than it really is. Why? I think it's because humans are intrinsically afraid of loss
Imagine I give you a choice: Do you want to go for a weekend to Rome, all expenses paid -- hotel, transportation, food, a continental breakfast, everything -- or a weekend in Paris? Now, weekend in Paris, weekend in Rome -- these are different things. They have different food, different culture, different art. Imagine I added a choice to the set that nobody wanted. Imagine I said, "A weekend in Rome, a weekend in Paris, or having your car stolen?" It's a funny idea, because why would having your car stolen, in this set, influence anything? But what if the option to have your car stolen was not exactly like this? What if it was a trip to Rome, all expenses paid, transportation, breakfast, but it doesn't include coffee in the morning? If you want coffee, you have to pay for it yourself, it's two euros 50.Now in some ways, given that you can have Rome with coffee, why would you possibly want Rome without coffee? It's like having your car stolen. It's an inferior option. But guess what happened? The moment you add Rome without coffee, Rome with coffee becomes more popular, and people choose it. The fact that you have Rome without coffee makes Rome with coffee look superior, and not just to Rome without coffee -- even superior to Paris.
With technological changes, there have also been changes to irrationality. We have been bombarded with more information, so making decisions is tougher than ever. Not only that, but we have a strong chance of regretting our decisions. Before the world was digital, you could make a decision, and you would probably never be able to see that your decision was not a great one. Now, if you buy something online, the day after it’s a click away to see that the prices have changed and regret can set in. So there’s a combination of information overload and a high potential for regret.