Why Marketing Still Works…Because You’re So Damn Predictable

By Randy Jensen | Jan 20, 2009

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I just finished reading the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. This book is amazing. It details how we continually, and seemingly predictably, make the same ‘bad’ decisions over and over again. Ariely focuses on ‘The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions‘ and conducts several experiments proving this ‘predictably irrational behavior’.

If the opportunity presents itself, will you cheat? …Probably.

In one of the experiments, he has several groups of students take a test. The first group (the control group) must take the test and then hand it in to the proctor. The second group was asked to recall 10 books they read in high school and then take the test. Once they are done, they checks their answers with the correct answers. They then shred the test and tell the proctor how many they got right. The final group is asked to write down as many of the Ten Commandments as they can and then are asked to take the test. Once they’re done with the test, they do the same thing as the second group of students.