Summary

Dan divides the book into two parts, how we defy logic at work, then at home. In each chapter, he tells a few stories, personal and second hand, that relate to the topic in each. Many concepts taken from other great minds are brought into the book as well.

Part I - The Unexpected Ways We Defy Logic at Work Paying More for Less: hy !ig !onuses Don"t #lways ork

$his chapter focuses on how if a person is e%pecting a large reward, then their an%iety increases, which decreases their productivity. $o solve this problem, some give the reward in small amounts over time to reduce the stress or randomly give rewards based on performance.

$he Meaning of Labor:

hat Legos &an $each 's about the (oy of

ork

$his chapter is how people feel about their purpose at work. !reaking tasks into smaller parts and creating local efficiencies reduces errors and increases productivity. #lso, if one sees their contribution to the whole in addition to being paid well they are far happier and more productive.

$he I)*# *ffect:

hy

e +vervalue

hat

e Make

Dan says in this chapter that the more we work on a pro,ect the more we love and value that pro,ect and uses I)*# furniture as an e%ample. $his leads us to believe others think the same thing about our work, when in fact they don"t. -e also says that we can never finish a pro,ect we have put so much effort into due to loving it so much.

$he .ot/Invented/-ere !ias:

hy 0My1 Ideas #re !etter than 02ours1

$his is basically the same concept as the last chapter but applied to ideas and thoughts.

$he &ase for 3evenge:

hat Makes 's 4eek (ustice5

In fair e%change scenarios, people tend to play by the rules and e%pect others to do so as well. -owever, if the others don"t play by the rules, then a case for revenge is created. In other words, trust and revenge are polar opposites. #s the author says, revenge is a reaction to a betrayal of trust.

Part II - The Unexpected Ways We Defy Logic at Home +n #daptation: hy e 6et 'sed to $hings 7but .ot #ll $hings, and .ot #lways8
People adapt to pain whether it bet physical, mental, or emotional one way or another. Dan teaches us that it"s better to get big pain over with fast, and small pain slowly.

-ot or .ot5 #daptation, #ssortative Mating, and the !eauty Market

$his was a funny chapter on dating websites and tests. e learn that

overestimating the importance of additional small factors can diminish our factoring of the few, most important ones in making an appraisal.

hen a Market 9ails: #n *%ample from +nline Dating

$his was more of a continuation from the last chapter, but e%pounds upon it"s ideas with an e%ample of the recent stock market crash. Dan goes into detail about how it was greed and logical human thinking that brought about the crash, rather than empathetic thinking.

+n *mpathy and *motion:

hy

e 3espond to +ne Person

ho .eeds

-elp but .ot to Many

e e%plore the theory that people are more sympathetic to a single victim rather than a catastrophe involving thousands or millions. $o help solve this, we need to place

an individual face on the issue or problem as a representative. Dan suggests humans are more emotionally attached to a single person as opposed to a large amount of people.

$he Long/$erm *ffect of 4hort/$erm *motions: +ur .egative 9eelings

hy

e 4houldn"t #ct on

$his comes back to decision making from the earlier chapters.

e tend to think

irrationally when confronted with diversity, which only makes things worse. In other words, don"t act on negative emotions, for you may regret the conse:uences later.

Lessons from +ur Irrationalities:

hy

e .eed to $est *verything

$his final chapter sums up the book by stating that humans are innately irrational and don"t reali;e it. e must test everything to see if anything is affected by our

imperfections. -owever, this irrational behavior is a good thing and Dan believes 7and I agree with him8 that we need to strive for those imperfections rather than for perfect rationality.