Introduction Lessons from Procrastination and Medical Side Effects 1 Hepatitis and procrastination The movie treatment What we should do and behavioral economics From food to incompatible design Taking irrationality into account Part I THE UNEXPECTED WAYS WE DEFY LOGIC AT WORK Chapter 1 Paying More for Less: Why Big Bonuses Don't Always Work 17 Of mice and men, or how high stakes affect rats and bankers Measuring the effects of a CEO-sized bonus in India Loss aversion: why bonuses aren't really bonuses Working under stress: just how clutch are "clutch" NBA players? Stage fright and the social side of high stakes Making compensation work for society Chapter 2 The Meaning of Labor: What Legos Can Teach Us about the Joy of Work 53 You are what you do: identity and labor The pains of wasted work Lessons from a parrot---and some hungry rats Searching for meaning while playing with Legos Making work matter again Chapter 3 The IKEA Effect: Why We Overvalue What We Make 83 Why IKEA makes us blush (with pride) Cooking lessons: finding a balance between just adding water and baking an apple pie from scratch The real value of a thousand origami cranes (and frogs) Customize it! Why "almost done" doesn't do much for us Why we need labors of love Chapter 4 The Not-Invented-Here Bias: Why "My" Ideas Are Better than "Yours" 107 Mark Twain describes a universal form of stupidity "Anything you can do I can do better": why we favor our own ideas The toothbrush theory What we can learn from Edison's mistake 7 Chapter 5 The Case for Revenge: What Makes Us Seek Justice? 123 The joys of payback The bailouts and pounds of flesh One man's quest for revenge against Audi The etiquette of revenge Companies beware: when consumers go public Uses and misuses of revenge Making amends Part II THE UNEXPECTED WAYS WE DEFY LOGIC AT HOME Chapter 6 On Adaptation: Why We Get Used to Things (but Not All Things, and Not Always) 157 Frogs: to boil or not to boil? Adapting to visual cues and pain thresholds Hedonic adaptation: from houses to spouses and beyond How the hedonic treadmill keeps us buying---and buying more How we can break and enhance adaptation Making our adaptability work for us Chapter 7 Hot or Not? Adaptation, Assortative Mating, and the Beauty Market 191 A personal adaptation When mind and body don't get along Sticking to our own (more or less hot) kind in dating: do we settle or adapt? Let's ask the Internet: dating sites and romantic criteria How I met your mother Chapter 8 When a Market Fails: An Example from Online Dating 213 The function of the yenta The dysfunctional singles market (as if you didn't already know) The difference between your date and a digital camera An exemplary failure in dating How dating sites skew our perceptions Ideas for a better dating future Chapter 9 On Empathy and Emotion: Why We Respond to One Person Who Needs Help but Not to Many 237 Baby Jessica versus the Rwandan genocide The difference between an individual and a statistic Identification: needed for more than buying beer How the American Cancer Society reels us in The effect of rational thinking on giving Overcoming our inability to confront big problems Chapter 10 The Long-Term Effects of Short-Term Emotions: Why We Shouldn't Act on Our Negative Feelings 257 Don't tread on me: my colleague learns a lesson about rudeness The dark side of impulses Deciding under the influence (of emotions) The importance of "irrelevant" emotions What a canoe can tell you about your love life Chapter 11 Lessons from Our Irrationalities: Why We Need to Test Everything 281 A decision about life and limb Gideon's biblical empiricism The wisdom of leeches Lessons learned, hopefully Thanks 297 List of Collaborators 299 Notes 305 Bibliography and Additional Readings 307 Index 319