Making good decisions is not easy, and making the best possible (“optimal”) decisions is even harder. Instead, humans often use shortcuts and rules of thumb. From firm managers and policymakers to ...

Steven Pinker’s new bestseller, “Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters,” is filled with riddles and quizzes and problems to ponder. Reading it, I bombed on every single one. The ...

Key points If someone made perfectly accurate judgments and sound decisions, would we recognize it? The science and philosophy of judgment and decision-making suggests that the answer is often “no.” ...

In a posting at The Big Picture, Barry Ritholtz says my article about the central role rational irrationality played in causing the financial crisis doesn’t make any sense. Ritholtz writes: “ ...

How do buyers choose what to buy? A purchase decision can be broken up into two processes, rational and irrational. Dan Ariely’s book, Predictably Irrational, did a wonderful job of explaining how ...

When my students grow too dependent on their calculators, I ask them to find a number that, when multiplied by itself, gives them 2. Students quickly see that since 1² = 1 and 2² = 4, the answer has ...

As much as we'd all like to believe we behave in a rational way — we don't. That's why you need to appeal to people's emotions. Let’s say you have a product — a great product. Let’s say it’s ...