by Dan Ariely
ultimatum game and, 265–70, 275–76
dentistry, adaptation to pain and, 161–62
design, taking people’s physical limitations into account in, 230–32
destroying work in front of workers, 74–76
Dichter, Ernest, 86
disease:
adaptation to pain and, 165, 167
preventative health care and, 251, 256
“survivor” rhetoric and, 241–42
Disney, 154
distraction, performance-based incentives and, 30, 36
division of labor, 77–80
IT infrastructure and, 77, 79–80
Marx’s alienation notion and, 79
Smith’s observations on, 77–78
divorce, foreseeing outcome of, 173
Dodson, John, 18–20, 22, 31, 47
do-it-yourself projects, see IKEA effect
Donath, Judith, 225
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 157
Doubletree Club, Houston, 140–41, 146
dreams, author’s self-image in, 182–83
DreamWorks SKG, 154
driving:
momentary anger during, 261
safety precautions and, 6–7
texting during, 6, 7, 8
see also cars
drop-in-the-bucket effect, 244–45, 252, 254–55
Dumas, Alexandre, 123
E
Eastwick, Paul, 172–73
Edison, Thomas, 117–19, 122
effort:
increase in value related to, 89, 90, 95–96, 105–6; see also IKEA effect
joy derived from activity and, 71–72
meaningful work conditions and, 72
ownership of ideas and, 114–16
see also labor
egg theory, 86–88
Eisner, Michael, 154
electric chair, 119
electricity, alternating current (AC) vs. direct current (DC), 117–19
emotional cascades, 265–78
gender differences and, 274–76
romantic relationships and, 277–78
ultimatum game and, 265–76
emotional priming:
empathy for plight of others and, 246–48
ultimatum game and, 268–70
emotions, 43, 237–79
appeals to, willingness to help others and, 240–42, 248–50, 253–54, 256
decision making and, 261–77; see also decision making
in past, humans’ poor memory of, 264
transience of, 257, 261, 270
see also empathy; negative feelings, acting on
empathy:
animals’ suffering and, 249, 252
apathy toward statistical victims and, 238–41, 242, 246, 247–49, 252–53
Baby Jessica saga and, 237–38
calculating vs. emotional priming and, 246–48
clear moral principles and, 255
closeness and, 243, 245, 254
drop-in-the-bucket effect and, 244–45, 252, 254–55
emotional appeals and, 240–42, 248–50, 253–54, 256
global warming and, 251–52
identifiable victim effect and, 239–42, 248, 256
overcoming barriers to, 252–56
rules to guide our behavior and, 254–55
thought experiment of drowning girl and, 242–43, 245
toward one person vs. many in need, 237–56
vividness and, 24, 243n, 244, 245
endowment effect, 285, 286
Enron, 216
evolution, mismatch between speed of technological development and, 8–9
experiments, 10–11, 288–95
business or public policy and, 292–94, 295
of Gideon, 288–89
medical practice and, 289–92
rational economists’ criticisms of, 49–51
see also specific topics
Exxon Valdez oil spill, 249
F
fairness, sense of:
in chimpanzees, 127
decision making and, 266–67; see also ultimatum game
gender differences and, 275–76
Fallows, James, 158
Farmer, Tom, 140–41, 146, 148–49
FedEx, 108–9
feedback, about work, 74–76
Feeks, John, 118–19
Fehr, Ernst, 125–26
financial incentives:
meaning of labor and, 72–73, 76
see also bonuses
financial markets, safety measures for, 7
financial meltdown of 2008, 7, 21, 216
chronology of events in, 129–30
desire for revenge in wake of, 128–31
lack of experimental approach to, 293
outraged public reaction to bailout in, 128–29, 130
Finkel, Eli, 172–73
First Knight, 50
fixation, pride in creation and ownership and, 89, 122
food:
animals’ preference for working for, 59–63
semi-preprepared, 85–88
shortages of, identifiable victim effect and, 239–41
see also cooking
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 292
Ford, Henry, 78–79, 94
Forgea (white terrier), 249
Fox, Michael J., 254
“Fox and the Grapes, The” (Aesop), 198–99
Frank, Barney, 41
Frankl, Viktor, 45
free food, animals’ preference for working for food vs., 60–62
Frenk, Hanan, 161–65, 300
Friends, ultimatum game and, 269, 270–71, 272
frog experiment, 157–58
Frost, Jeana, 219–20, 229, 300
Fryer, Bronwyn, 148
furniture, do-it-yourself, 83–84, 96, 105, 106
future, foreseeing adaptation to changes in, 160, 171–74
G
gardening:
children growing food and, 121
enjoyment factor and, 105–6
gender differences:
assortative mating and, 209, 211
decision making and, 274–76
pain threshold and tolerance and, 168–69
Gideon, 288–89
global warming, 158, 251–52
Gneezy, Ayelet, 135, 144–45, 150, 300–301
Gneezy, Uri, 21, 44, 301
Gore, Al, 158, 252
government policies, experimental approach to, 292–94, 295
H
happiness:
comparisons to other people and, 189
consumer purchases and, 175, 185–88
inaccurate predictions about, 170–71
return to baseline of, 170
transient vs. constant experiences and, 187–88
Harvard Business Review (HBR), 147–49
health care, see medical care
hedonic adaptation, 160–84
to annoying experiences, 177–79, 180
author’s personal history and, 181–84, 189
blindness and, 172–74
breaking up experiences and, 177–81
changes in workers’ pay and, 169–70
comparisons to other people and, 189
consumer purchases and, 175, 185–88
extending pleasurable experiences and, 176–78, 179–81, 185, 186
in future, foreseeing of, 160, 171–74
happiness baseline and, 170
life-altering injuries and, 171–72, 174
moving to California and, 176
new houses and, 168–69
pain and, 160–67
romantic breakups and, 172–73
to transient vs. constant experiences, 187–88
using our understanding of, 176–81, 184–90
hedonic disruptions, 177–81
hedonic treadmill, 175
Heingartner, Alexander, 45–46
Henry, O., 98
herding, 262
see also self-herding
H
erman, Edward, 45–46
Hippocrates, 82
Hogerty, Megan, 81
homeostatic mechanisms, 81
Hong, James, 201, 203
HOT or NOT study, 201–5, 208
gender differences in, 209, 211
Meet Me feature and, 204–5, 208, 209
humor, sense of, 199, 200, 207, 208, 228
Hurricane Katrina, 250, 251
I
ideas:
attachment to, see Not-Invented-Here (NIH) bias
idiosyncratic fit and, 111–12
identifiable victim effect, 239–42, 248, 256
American Cancer Society and, 241–42
identity, connection between work and, 53–55, 79
idiosyncratic fit, ideas and, 111–12
ignoring workers, 74–76
IKEA, 83–84, 106
IKEA effect, 83–106
author’s creations in rehabilitation center and, 100–101
completion of project and, 101–4, 105
do-it-yourself furniture and, 83–84, 96, 106
effort expended and, 89, 90, 95–96, 105–6
four principles in, 104–5
and lack of awareness of overvaluation, 99
Legos experiment and, 96, 97
Local Motors cars and, 88, 89
Not-Invented-Here (NIH) bias and, 109–10, 121
origami experiments and, 91–94, 97, 98–99, 102–4
parents’ overvaluation of their children and, 97–98
practical implications of, 121–22
relaxation notion and, 105–6
removal of individual customization and, 96
semi-preprepared food and, 85–88
shoe design and, 95, 96
immediate gratification, 5
Inconvenient Truth, An, 252
initiation into social groups, 89
injuries:
association of pain with getting better after, 166–67
author’s dating prospects and, 191–96, 210–11
author’s decisions about his medical care and, 284–88
author’s personal history related to, 1–4, 13, 107, 160–62, 166–67, 181–84, 189, 191–96, 210–11, 281–88
battlefield vs. civilian, 167
foreseeing future after, 160
life-altering, adaptation to, 160, 171–72, 174
pain thresholds and tolerance related to severity of, 161–65
Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, 126–27
insurance products, 233–34
interruptions:
in pleasant vs. painful experiences, 177–81
TV commercials and, 181n
see also phone call interruption experiments
intuitions:
bonuses and, 36–37
received medical wisdom and, 289–92
romantic, 172–73
testing of, 10n, 288–95
inverse-U relationship, defined, 19
iPods and iPhones, battery replacement in, 141–42
irrationality:
summary of findings on, 288
upside as well as downside of, 11–12, 294
irreversible decisions, 285, 286
IT infrastructure, division and meaning of labor and, 77, 79–80
J
Janoff-Bulman, Ronnie, 170
Jensen, Glen, 60–62, 63
Jensen, Keith, 127
Jewish tradition, 254–55
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, 152
Joyless Economy, The (Scitovsky), 188
justice, see fairness, sense of
K
Kahneman, Danny, 32n, 175–76
Kamenica, Emir, 66, 301
Katzenberg, Jeffrey, 154
Kemmler, William, 119
kinship, empathy and, 243
Krishnamurti, Tamar, 172–73
Krzyzewski, Mike, 39
L
labor:
connection between identity and, 53–55, 79
contrafreeloading and, 60–63
economic model of, 55, 62–63, 105
financial incentives and, see bonuses
meaning of, see meaning of labor
overvaluation resulting from, see IKEA effect
on projects without meaning, 56–57, 63–72
Labyrinth game, 23
Lee, Leonard, 132, 134, 197, 201–2, 301–2
Lee, Sandra, 87–88
leeches, medicinal use of, 290–91
Legos experiments:
on IKEA effect, 96, 97
on reducing meaningfulness of work, 66–74, 77, 80
letter-pairs experiment, 74–76, 80
life-altering events, hedonic adaptation and, 170
Life as a House, ultimatum game and, 268, 269, 270, 272, 276
light, adaptation to changes in, 159
Local Motors, Inc., 88, 89
Loewenstein, George, 21, 44, 80–81, 172–73, 197, 201–2, 239–41, 246–48, 302
long-term objectives, short-term enjoyments vs., 4–5
loss aversion, 32–33, 285, 286
lottery winners, hedonic adaptation of, 170, 171
“Love the One You’re With,” 197, 211–12
M
malaria, 250, 251
Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl), 45
marketing, adaptation and, 158
market mechanisms, 215–16
dating and, 213–15, 216–17, 220–21, 230–32, 233–35
Marx, Karl, 79
massages, extending pleasure of, 179–80
matchmakers (yentas), 213
Mazar, Nina, 21, 30, 44, 302
McClure, Jessica (Baby Jessica), 237–38
meals, see cooking
meaning of labor, 53–82
in acknowledged, ignored, and shredded conditions, 74–76
animals’ preference for working for food and, 59–63
blogging and, 65
division of labor and, 77–80
draining work of meaning and, 55–57, 63–77
financial incentives and, 72–73, 76
joy derived from activity and, 71–72
labor-identity connection and, 53–55, 79
Legos experiment and, 66–74, 76, 80
lessons for workplace on, 80–82
letter-pairs experiment and, 74–76, 80
“meaning” vs. “Meaning” and, 64
standard economic view and, 62–63
medical care:
