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ranked #151,411 most helpful out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
Sometimes shallow, sometimes wrong
First, the good points. The author turns our attention to some important things in human behavior. The comparison between 'social norms' (where people help each other and do good things for free) and the 'market behavior' is very interesting. Social norms in the work-place and social norms in education are very positive things. Another very important point is the observation that young people can not make correct decisions when aroused. Thus, "Just Say No!" is really the right answer! The negatives. Well, many experiments and observations lack depth and scope. Most are done with students in prominent universities and therefore, can not be spread on the entire society. Young students often live in a special world of their own. Next, the author sometimes extrapolates quite wrongly. For instance, in Chapter 11 where he discusses honesty/dishonesty in society, on pp. 214-215 the author writes: "Adam Smith reminded us that honesty really is the best policy, especially in business. To get a glimpse at the other side of this realization - at the downside, in a society without trust - you can take a look at several countries. In China the word of one person in one region rarely carries to another region...Iran is another example of a nation stricken by distrust. An Iranian student at MIT told me that business there lacks a platform of trust". OK, in the June 2008 issue of Scientific American there is a research article on the neurobiology of trust. On page 95 in that article we see a table 'National Trust' showing the trust levels in different countries. In this list of 30 countries the highest level of trust is found in Norway (above 60%), while China comes third (above 50%) and Iran fourth (50%), way above many European countries. So, just because "An Iranian student at MIT told me", the author branded Iran as a nation "stricken by distrust" - and this in found in the chapter on honesty! What about the scientific method?
June 2008 · Books
the product in question
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
4.5★ · 10,354 ratings, as of 2023
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