ashoksadhwani

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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Humans are irrational animals

Irrational phenomena in human beings include:

-"The Endowment Effect" - Once someone owns something, he places a higher value on it than he did when he acquired it.

- "Confirmation Bias" - Searching for or interpreting information in a way that confirm's one's preconceptions.

- "The Bandwagon Effect" - "Doing things because others do them"

- "Framing Problems" - When the conclusion reached depends on the way the data are represented.

All in all, the rational conclusion is that humans are irrational animals.

Above is an exerpt from an article that appeared in The Economist under the Science and Technology column of their June 21-27, 2008 issue.