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Tag Archives: decision making

The psychology of price

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: February 14, 2010
In his book Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It), William Poundstone entertainingly explains the economics, psychology, and intellectual reasoning surrounding the ways in which producers and sellers take advantage of buyers’ lack of knowledge.
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The sway of irrational behaviour

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: July 7, 2008
Yes, it is yet another book on irrational thinking. There must be money to be made in explaining the science of our faulty thinking in an easy to understand manner. In a new book, Sway: The Irressistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour, the authors Ori and Rom Brafman outline a series of irrational behaviours that remind us just how often decisions are made not on sound reasoning but on emotional impulses that can have critical consequences.
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Predictably irrational

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: April 14, 2008
Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Dan Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioural economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Drawing on psychology and economics, he explains why patients get greater relief from a more expensive drug over its cheaper counterpart and why honest people may steal office supplies or communal food, but not money.
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Boosting self-esteem can backfire

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: April 3, 2008
Smart business leaders understand that confidence and self-esteem affects decision-making and ultimately a company’s earnings. But giving employees positive feedback in the hopes of promoting better decisions sometimes can backfire, suggests new research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the London Business School.
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Intuition: is there such a thing?

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: March 10, 2008
Most of us experience gut feelings we can’t explain, such as making snap judgements that bring surprising results. In hindsight, we don't know how we come to such spur of the moment conclusions, but they just seem to work out. Now researchers at Leeds say these feelings – or intuitions – are real and we should take our hunches seriously.
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