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Predictably a Good Referral (Predictably Irrational)

August 24, 2009

Books, Marketing.fm

I recently finished Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely after it got high praise in my office from Andrew and Albert. It is a great book and one that anyone interested in sales, placebo‘s, and the “why” behind the everyday choices we make should read.

It also changed my view on something that I thought my mind was made up on – something I get to below.

How does signing an ethics agreement play a role in your future actions?

There is a chapter on how ethics play a role in your psychology when faced with a choice to cheat. Does getting caught have an impact? How about being presented with psychological primers before the test? What did a group of students do under these circumstances? These and other questions get explored.

I love these types of situations, and like them more when they are tested.

This all reminded me however of a conversation I had with my friend Amanda Peyton (MBA blog) about her (at the time) upcoming appearance on the Daily Show. I have embedded the clip at the bottom of this post.

Essentially there is a group of students who feel that an MBA code of ethics should be signed up all. This particular group decided not to sign the docs, and initial I agreed. I felt that the implications were inherently negative, its unenforceable, and a few other issues.

Either way, Predictibly Irrational changed my mind on the issue, and I feel that folks who sign something are less likely to cheat (or be unethical) in the future. The testing in the book introduces ethics concerns right at the time of potential cheating, but I still feel it would have some impact vs. doing nothing at all.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
MBA Ethics Oath
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Healthcare Protests

What do you think?

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  • http://mdaniels.com Matt Daniels

    Predictably Irrational is awesome–great behavioral tactics from a marketing perspective. Have you heard of the book Nudge by Richard Thaler? He takes many of the concepts from behavior economics and applies them in the concept of changing behavior in broader contexts (e.g., mortgages, energy conservation, investment, loans).

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    No but I will check it out – thanks

  • http://amandapeyton.com amanda peyton

    “…introduces ethics concerns right at the time of potential cheating”

    I think that is the key for me. In business school, everything is grand. The world is at your feet! You have so many options! You can do some good for the world!

    Business school is probably the most inopportune time to offer an oath like this because after two years of studying “team dynamics” and a whole lot of introspection, people are probably the most ethical that they will ever be.

    Ethical behavior is something you have to be mindful of every day – I guess I just don't think the “memory” argument sticks for more than a year or so.

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Definitely great points. I think the key is to have these ethics contracts
    built into every legal doc – perhaps at the time of signing :)

  • http://www.marketing.fm/2009/09/04/digital-reading/ Digital Reading | Marketing.fm – Eric Friedman

    [...] love being able to give or receive a recommended book, as was the case with Predictably Irrational, and that option does not exist with the book I recently bought from Amazon using the Kindle app. [...]

  • http://www.marketing.fm/2009/09/10/digital-consumption-sway/ Digital consumption (Sway) | Marketing.fm – Eric Friedman

    [...] I can say that this book was similar in many ways to Predictably Irrational which I wrote about on this blog before. AKPC_IDS += "2295,"; [...]

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