Sway
The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
Why are we more likely to fall in love when we feel in danger?
Why would an experienced pilot disregard his training and the rules of the aviation industry, leading to the deadliest airline crash in history?
Why do we find it near-impossible to re-evaluate our first impressions of a person or situation, even when the evidence shows we were wrong?
Discover the answers in Sway.
We all believe we are rational beings, yet the truth is that we're much more prone to irrational behaviour than we realise or like to admit. In this compelling book, Ori and Rom Brafman reveal why. Looking at irrational behaviour in fields as diverse as medicine, archaeology and the legal system, they chart the psychological undercurrents that influence even our most basic decisions. In doing so they draw on the latest research in social psychology and behavioural economics to reveal the irresistible forces that sway us all.
Sway is a fascinating insight into the way we all behave and will change the way you view the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Recently we have seen plenty of irrational behavior, whether in politics or the world of finance. What makes people act irrationally? In a timely but thin collection of anecdotes and empirical research, the Brafman brothers "Ari (The Starfish and the Spire), a business expert, and Rom, a psychologist "look at sway, the submerged mental drives that undermine rational action, from the desire to avoid loss to a failure to consider all the evidence or to perceive a person or situation beyond the initial impression and the reluctance to alter a plan that isn't working. To drive home their points, the authors use contemporary examples, such as the pivotal decisions of presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and George W. Bush, coach Steve Spurrier and his Gators football team, and a sudden apparent epidemic of bipolar disorder in children (which may be due more to flawed thinking by doctors making the diagnoses). The stories are revealing, but focused on a few common causes of irrational behavior, the book doesn't delve deeply into the psychological demons that can devastate a person's life and those around him.
