Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour
Ori Brafman, Rom Brafman
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour
Why are we more likely to fall in love when we feel in danger? Why would an experienced pilot disregard his training and the rules of the aviation industry, leading to the deadliest airline crash in history? Why do we find it near-impossible to re-evaluate our first impressions of a person or situation, even when the evidence shows we were wrong? Discover the answers in "Sway". We all believe we are rational beings, yet the truth is that we're much more prone to irrational behaviour than we realise or like to admit. In this compelling book, Ori and Rom Brafman reveal why. Looking at irrational behaviour in fields as diverse as medicine, archaeology and the legal system, they chart the psychological undercurrents that influence even our most basic decisions.
3.0 out of 5 based on 2 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Psychology & Psychiatry, Business, Finance & Law |
| Format |
Paperback |
| Pages |
224 |
| RRP |
£7.99 |
| Date of Publication |
February 2009 |
| ISBN |
978-0753516829 |
| Publisher |
Virgin |
| |
Why are we more likely to fall in love when we feel in danger? Why would an experienced pilot disregard his training and the rules of the aviation industry, leading to the deadliest airline crash in history? Why do we find it near-impossible to re-evaluate our first impressions of a person or situation, even when the evidence shows we were wrong? Discover the answers in "Sway". We all believe we are rational beings, yet the truth is that we're much more prone to irrational behaviour than we realise or like to admit. In this compelling book, Ori and Rom Brafman reveal why. Looking at irrational behaviour in fields as diverse as medicine, archaeology and the legal system, they chart the psychological undercurrents that influence even our most basic decisions.
Reviews
The Financial Times
Alan Mitchell
“While Sway is a fast, fun, easy read it won’t give you any answers. Worse than that, it is not entirely rational or logical itself... the authors have trawled the academic literature to paint a picture from one perspective while ignoring others. The end result is bias of their own. Many phenomena that they trash from the perspective of some pure, abstract concept of rationality make sense when viewed from an evolutionary perspective.”
16/07/2008
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The Spectator
Rowland Manthorpe
“The Brafman brothers are lively guides to the field, but their language is odd, to say the least. All too often, they seem to be working on the assumption that irrational equals bad, rational good... They happily take it for granted that efficiency is always good — and that behavioural biases like ‘excessive commitment’ are things we would all be better off without. Sway claims to bring a new dimension to ‘traditional economic theory’ (traditional, tellingly, used as a synonym for outdated). But this is more of the same.”
11/02/2009
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