The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home Review

Fans of Predictably Irrational will be pleased with the second installment into what appears to be an "Irrational" series.

I would quibble with the title and the subtitle of the book but what really matters is what is between the covers.

Without giving away a book full of hard earned research results, perhaps capturing a clip from the book will best describe why this book will do so well.

In a comparison of perceived clutch basketball players with bankers, you find out that there really is not much evidence for a category of "clutch" basketball players. Yes, these players get the ball more in the final five minutes of the game, and therefore score more points but they perform no better or worse than they do in the rest of the game. The notion of the "clutch player" is not completely negated, but evidence is brought forth that any apparent higher caliber play in the final five is simply a function of more opportunities.

The reason this research was done was to build on research conducted in India using a limited bank account but wanting to find out just how performance bonuses might motivate people.

Various individuals are offered a chance to be given certain amounts of money based upon how well they perform in 8 games. It turns out the more money possible to be scored, the more likely the individual was to fail at the games. There was a bump over people performing for little more than a few hours of their time taken up but a more significant bump for individuals who received moderate sized "bonuses."

The experiment was laid out to show that large bonuses...amounting to as much as 5 months worth of income if medium difficulty leveltasks were completed...don't motivate but actual interfere with performance.

Ariely was obviously on top of the notion that this part of India was incredibly poor so having a chance at 5 months worth of income was truly dramatic.

As I read this I thought, "yes but could this be the difference between eating and not eating, or is this the difference between buying a TV or not having a TV."

With that mindset I found the results fascinating.

If you've ever watched the TV Show Survivor, you've seen similar behaviors by people who consistently lose. People who let the pressure get to them because the clock is ticking... can do nothing but fail, and do indeed fail. But in Survivor there is always a winner. Some adapt. Some do not. An area for further study perhaps.

I suspect Ariely's findings will generalize in most areas of business. It's hard to imagine that mega-bonuses do anything but reduce performance. Sharing a similar view with an audience of bankers he reports having found little support for his notion. No surprise to Ariely or the reader.

Perhaps most interesting are his final thoughts on this specific topic which is decision makers he's spoken to at companies seem clueless as to the effects of bonuses on performance and they seem uninterested in testing to find out what the results are.

Each section in the book is filled with nuggets. There are many aha's to the wise. There are many moments of "Oh I knew that already," because the human mind is geared to have excellent hindsight and great ability to change what we would have predicted before the fact... Trying disengage from that bias is not as easy as one might think!

The Upside of Irrationality delves into a host of fascinating areas.

The research goes into the dating arena. Ariely shows us why we overvalue the things we make ourselves. He explains many things not covered by others in the field including a very nice indepth look at why we seek justice.

Like it's predecessor this book entertains, informs and gives pause for thought in your (my) own life.Kevin Hogan
Author of The Psychology of Persuasion: How to Persuade Others to Your Way of Thinking

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Product Description:

The provocative follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Predictably Irrational

Why can large bonuses make CEOs less productive?
How can confusing directions actually help us?
Why is revenge so important to us?
Why is there such a big difference between what we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy?

In his groundbreaking book Predictably Irrational, social scientist Dan Ariely revealed the multiple biases that lead us into making unwise decisions. Now, in The Upside of Irrationality, he exposes the surprising negative and positive effects irrationality can have on our lives. Focusing on our behaviors at work and in relationships, he offers new insights and eye-opening truths about what really motivates us on the job, how one unwise action can become a long-term habit, how we learn to love the ones we're with, and more.


Drawing on the same experimental methods that made Predictably Irrational one of the most talked-about bestsellers of the past few years, Ariely uses data from his own original and entertaining experiments to draw arresting conclusions about how-and why-we behave the way we do. From our office attitudes, to our romantic relationships, to our search for purpose in life, Ariely explains how to break through our negative patterns of thought and behavior to make better decisions. The Upside of Irrationality will change the way we see ourselves at work and at home-and cast our irrational behaviors in a more nuanced light.

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