By Dan Ariely
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
ISBN – 13 978-0-00725652-5
Air traffic management and flying aircraft require controllers and pilots to constantly make decisions, often split second decisions and usually in circumstances where there is no room for a second try. You have to get it right first time, every time. Of course controllers and pilots are trained to do this and the exemplary safety record of aviation bears witness to just how effective this training really is.
If you read Dan Ariely’s book, you will appreciate how important it is to enable those selected experts to act (most of the time at least) in a fashion that goes against most of what humans tend to do without dose of controller or pilot training.
In a series of illuminating and groundbreaking experiments, Dan (who is a professor of behavioral economics at MIT) demonstrates how expectations, emotions, social norms and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.
Not only do we make astonishingly simple mistakes every day, but we make the same type of mistakes. We consistently overpay, underestimate and procrastinate. We fail to understand the profound effects of our emotions on what we want, and we overvalue what we already own. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They are systematic and predictable.
From paying for coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, Dan explains how to break through these systematic patterns of thought to make better decisions.
Predictably Irrational is not simply a fascinating read; it has the power to change the way we interact with the world – one small decision at a time.
Recommended also for pilots and air traffic controllers. After all, when not flying or controlling aircraft, they tend to make the same, predictably irrational mistakes as the rest of us.
Order your copy here.