Predictably Irrational - basic human motivations: Dan Ariely at TEDxMidwest

Best selling author and behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely delves into the essence of human motivation. His clever yet brilliantly simple experiments uncover universal truths about human irrationality and increasing motivation.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@marilyngandhi4213]

My ;mother didn't want me to love sewing and she used that sisyphus principle to demotivate me, although I finally finished making a dark brown skirt, totally handsewn - the stitching had to be perfect and the seams were unpicked until I achieved perfection... I hated that skirt ... I was only ten years old and it took 18 moths to make.. I am 71 now perhaps I have a great inner power to draw on now from that memory...Thank you so much...:-)

[@carlosfierro3302]

In The Little Prince by Saint Exupery, toiling over the rose made the kid love the rose more.

[@DanielRamBeats]

I was lucky enough to take his online course on Coursera last year. It's always so amazing to hear about his research and insights. Truly a great mind and a wonderful human being.. One of the most amazing behavioral economics professors of our time.

[@chrisossa2022]

Hey, can you please tell me what his course was, and how much and why you liked it, please?

[@snehalbhartiya6724]

can you share the link of the course here

[@chrisapperley2616]

A wonderful human being 😂😂😂 Your insane! Its called marketing.

[@Inflames128gg]

As of recent his research has been considered fraudulent.

[@Loveandlight821]

This guy is so good. Intelligent, witty, funny and filled with compassion for the human condition. If only more professors were as good. What a better world we would live in.

[@Hyraethian]

I'm adding a personal note to his closing example about factory work. I worked in a factory, my job was to put a part into a machine, then press a button. I could do this 80 times an hour if I was really on my game. I did this for eight and a half hours a day. It wasn't hard work, and I listened to a lot of music and books. Those are two of my favorite things to do. I never dreaded going to work, but I realized I couldn't do that forever. I stopped enjoying my music and books, It was to closely linked to work. I was eventually moved to another department, There was variety in my work and very little automation. It was a lot more stressful and sometimes I filled in for the job ahead, or before my normal workstation. I really like this job, sometimes I have bad days or I do something wrong and it sets us back. I am proud of the good work I do and that brings me a lot of joy, even if its just factory work.

[@huangprof]

Quite often, I apply these theories and principles in crisis management, IMBAs and EMBAs all feel valuable and amazing

[@kylejolly7751]

This guy is awesome.

[@prygler]

What he is talking about is the drive/motivation to create a self-positive image, so we can feel great about ourselves. Only clinical depressed have given up trying to create a self-positive image, and they feel worthless, hopeless and helpless. But psychologically healthy people, they want to do something, that makes them construct a self in their mind (and in others mind) that is great. A great identity. This has been developed in homo sapiens and earlier species leading up to homo sapiens, because these species are social in nature. And if they want to increase chances to reproduce their genes and reproduce the genes more than others, then they need social status in the group. So they need a motivation to create a positive-self-image, which others in the group will accept as 'great', so the individual will get great social status, and then everyone want to be the individuals girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse etc. So that is a great motivator in our unconscious self, that drives our conscious self to achieve what a culture would evaluate/value as great.

[@emotionresearcher]

Why does this need to be tied to self-image? I think we can experience a sense of purpose without concern about self-image. Even purpose that is socially validated does not necessarily need to modify one's self-image. The crux of depression ("hopelessness depression," not endogenous depression) is the belief that one cannot bring out positive experiences one needs or desires or cannot avoid negative experiences. In essence, depression arises from a sense of powerlessness. Of course, this has an impact on self-image (e.g., as being helpless), but it's not a necessary component.

[@circe1657]

+Emotion Researcher I believe that self-image underscores the way we experience sense of purpose. If I feel low about myself how can I be able to feel motivated to do anything. I suffer waves of depression from time to time and when I do my self-image drops down. Consequently, there is a domino reaction; lower self-image, deeper depression and lower self-image. However, I find your perspective interesting and worth of looking into.

[@marandamarkwood6639]

In some cases it may be to motivate one's self to fully accept and love their own self and maybe not so much to create a certain identity they wish to possess or portray, whether in their mind or in others minds.

[@tyty1794]

My favorite (non fiction) author over all others. Thank you APM.Marketplace

[@drjudykrings3451]

Enjoyed! Thanks.

[@ronamram8178]

What a great presentation! I wish he would come teach at the university I work at!

[@DharmendraRaiMindMap]

Amazing talk ! Awesome book !

[@montereydentist]

Another awesome TED lecture!

[@pagusmusic6254]

Love this talk, motivation is as unpredictable as other elements of human behaviour but it’s fascinating to find patterns!

[@neshatgroup7092]

One the best Ted talk ever ; meaning of being meaningful

[@pondering-princess]

Despite possessing a comparatively taxing work ethic, most people love to work in a start up kind of environment where people see the impact behind every process and I personally think it's makes them more satisfied with their work.

[@scottjeffrey7453]

Hackman and Oldham called that feedback

[@DanielCwele]

I like this guy

[@gladejc]

amazing

[@boniferborzik]

Блестяще. Теперь понятно, почему я ненавижу свою работу в последнее время.

[@drrajivrunningdiaries4545]

He is So Awesome find Word short to Describe I Love his Videos and learned a Lot about myself and others around me

[@chelilandia]

LOoooVeee it

[@drjain9667]

Incredible video

[@youtu1bestar]

BEST TEDx. Love This guy.

[@feminale]

This has some ideas that connect to what I can see for creative content.

[@manubhatt3]

Can anyone please tell me what is the music which plays at the very start?

[@mazaherakbari383]

Like father like son, those two kids will be in Ted panel few years later. Appreciate his existence and appreciate the meanning ful life he lives.

[@rith5]

Great presentation, good comedic timing, some women think scars are sexy; but they're all Krogan.

[@Crebralassassin]

he has a course going on right now on coursera, and its FREE!

[@cypress1337]

I love this stuff.

[@Hansruedi2011]

great, I love it!

[@sterlingseah]

Great talk

[@rumblefish9]

TED Talks really should take this video down after the various accusations and Ariely's own admittance of fabricating and manipulating data.

[@manictiger]

This explains so much. Why I was a good leader as a kid (I always had a goal I wanted to accomplish, from making grass hut villages to making spaceships out of wooden boards). And why I absolutely revile the idea of "working for someone". All my experiences "working for someone" were just disguised versions of the Lego experiment. I'll have to remember not to do that to people. I know how off-putting it is.

[@Dani-ICU-RN]

Love this.TY.. be vested. Own it..for 13 hours, in ICU the pt is MY PATIENT, my responsibility, my human lego .. Some ppl are just there to do 'their jobs' .. and thats enough for THEM.

[@hosseinsehhat9315]

Excellent!

[@paulbunion6233]

so how do you explain ME ? A professional chef. I toil for hours, sometimes days and people destroy my creations in an hour. I did this for 50 years and never tired of it, always did the best I could. Where do I fit on that

[@jonjenkins3868]

what did we live like before all this modern technology ....ppl should work for themselves

[@amanieux]

i had a question about the graph "love of legos / number of bionicles built" at t=7:43, showing that under the sisyphic condition (flat blue curve), prior love of lego had no impact on the number of bionicles built : does someone have an idea if the peoples that loved lego a lot before, loved lego much less at the end the sisyphic experiment ? and if so did it dimisned their love of lego on the long term ? - thank you

[@chatchaiwang]

It means in sisyphic condition, the level of loving lego does not correlate with the number of bionicles built. For example, I may love lego, but I may not build bionicles more than other who do not.

[@kinjalahir9616]

What if we took Adam Smith model of division of labor and show all the end product too, and give them a sense of pride for their contribution in final accomplishment

[@mindmuffinindia]

Another awesome TED Talk

[@br1729]

There are a lot more people sitting on the beach drinking mojitos than climbing mountains. So economics may not explain any particular behavior, but that’s the way to bet.

[@phoebebaker1575]

Great video!

[@heinzheinz1650]

it is interesting that Dan Arieli missed one thing at all: "The product is more than the sum of it's parts"....

[@fredgotpub871]

I like his humour.

[@kulemaan]

Masi bhai? Of pushkar dhaba chai qualifications? heart beat?

[@shanzidaanika8231]

Who else only watched this for school?

[@aspirativemusicproduction2135]

I don't want to climb a mountain and freeze unless there is big check waiting for me. I have more enjoyable things to do like soaking in hot tub. It makes sense to me.

[@user-ck5is2pg9y]

I cheated during the religion memory test since I was 2nd grade elementary, as I think is that few of bad man (like me) will less possibilities to get in self-suggestions.

[@kgoodwin486]

+Alex Z Agreed! Good talk but then completely loses me saying just because society is more advanced we can throw away sound economics. No! Specialization still applies even in a knowledge based economy, it might de-motivate people but its still more efficient; if you want to do something more rewarding plant a garden.

[@andrewsimpson2289]

Personal Accomplishment, Psychological Meaning, Peer Validation, Public Recognition, Spiritual Fulfillment

[@OMARYassin1]

14:58 😂😂

[@arthurpozzi]

I'm watching because my teacher gave me a wh about this-.... oh my god ...it seems to have no end

[@Dani-ICU-RN]

I want in on these experiments!Ask a few nurses how they are motivated to be kind, connected... and NOTICED by superiors. Their coworkers see this as a challenge, not a positive trait

[@sugdeguvenc7743]

I guess that "C" doesn't belong to Karl Marx, but except this, I liked the presentation.

[@chrisapperley2616]

He is telling you what you already know🙏👍

[@Simmy56]

Everything this guy discusses was established long ago by Edward Locke (goal-setting theory), Ryan Deci (importance of intrinsically motivating, interesting, and challenging work), and Richard Hackman in his model of job characteristics (jobs which allow completion of a whole, complete piece of work that is meaningful, autonomous, provides feedback, and has variety). If this guy is receiving funding, it is money wasted on replications without citing or pointing to the original sources. In essence, why spend money on research that is re-discovering the periodical table, DNA structure, or theory of evolution? The ownership effect (overvaluing our own items) is called the endowment effect; the hard work making you overvalue something is exactly the same research done on cognitive dissonance theory sixty years ago by leon festinger, also known as the "effort justification" effect; and the tendency to self-enhance (believe our own products, attributes, skills are 'above-average' or desirable) has been a well-established scientific finding for the past fifty years. The saying science builds on the shoulder of giants apparently doesn't always apply.

[@ekenidavies5888]

I think that is the goal though, this whole movement of things like Ted talks and these types of speakers mostly to create interest and awareness. Then from there people have to research the topic more to even be able to actually put it to use.

[@thadtalks]

There is no such thing as a new idea...deep right? I wish i could take credit but Mark Twain came up with it.

[@hooplehead1019]

+Simmy56 Jesus, if youre obviously a psych student, you should also know how to search for the research Dan Ariely actually publishes. This is a general talk, promoting ideas and science to a general audience. Go to pubmed or any social science database and find out that Dan Ariely does not stupidly replicate Festinger oder Deci experiments. You might have guessed one is not made the James B. Duke professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics for chatting about old experiments and replicating them. People on the internet...

[@Simmy56]

+hooplehead101 I have read much of Dr. Ariel's research and his book. I am well aware of his tutelage with Dr. Kahneman, his popularity in behavioral economics, and his high publication rate. Further, I realize he has done "some" original research. The issue is some of his most notable publications (such as the sexual arousal in males and economic decision making) capitalize on novel or unusual methods to show something which isn't theoretically original. He takes a lot of pre-existing topics and adds a "spin" on them. Many social scientists do this (myself being one). My critique is not that he doesn't conduct research; it is that he takes much credit and celebrity when most of the ideas are attributed to him without enough credit to their origins.

[@hooplehead1019]

Simmy56 All right. I can agree with that statement of yours. Good points! I just dont think one can blame someone´s popularity that he achieved by talking and presenting research very favourably for the science of psychology. I think of Dan Ariely as someone who does applied psychological science and popularizes it.

[@IevaDzirkale]

This is brilliant!

[@sergiosatelite467]

I don’t feel good about my cake.

[@psykovskee]

His experiment is not complete, he should perform one that every time participant finished the task, you increase his/her wages, from $3, $3.1, $3.4, $4 and so on, then the real conclusion can be achieved

[@aaronjjacques]

and then he should test if water is wet.

[@koosdhr]

What disturbes me is the word "irrational" in the heading and the description. What is irrational about this? I think anyone who calls this irrational does not understand the topic.

[@sleepyeyeguy]

Maybe because we fool ourselves into thinking there is always some goal to be achieved to fulfill some need, but when we achieve that goal, it turns out the journey was more important. The process of striving is what provided the fulfillment.

[@jayharan3822]

the guy is an economist, one of the assumptions of economics is "rationality" which in this context means people see leisure as a "good" and work as a "bad" hence people wanting to work more is irrational from that point of view.

[@katarzynasterna2498]

sleepyeyeguy disko polo

[@ivanchagasp]

Koos de Heer it's the title of one of his books. His work is mainly, if not mistaken, about human irrational behaviour. He has a entire MOOC about this (which is amazing, by the way)

[@SA-cb1jr]

+Koos de Heer "Predictably Irrational" is what his book title. He believe that mankind mostly take decision irrationally. However, these "irrational" behaviors are predictable.

[@mikefranklin3528]

So, did this fascinating and intelligent description of human motivation turn into a plug for Marxism?

[@Lu0930]

academic "Common Sense"

[@MarianoFreyreX]

This is interesting. So interesting. A return cycle to the artesanal and natural motivation of the creator.

[@moonshadow7057]

People want meanings but to live is to have no meanings. People do things without meanings and that’s the meaning of life

[@Nandakumarweb]

The instructions were not clear... ROFL.. I died

[@wkgurr]

The guy shouldn't have faked his data. His reputation is in the toilet. When I hear these fakers talk I always wonder: do they actually believe the useless bs they're producing.

[@adienecuador]

I really relate a lot to what Dan had to say. His book is dope, as well.

[@victrola2007]

Watching in '23 and see the ultimate disgraced grifter

[@azerioauditore511]

wtf this video is in 240p

[@kulemaan]

Elimination of labour pain in kangaroo care? Use coco Grove? No? Don't like coco Grove? But why?

[@jaydeepvipradas8606]

Wanting meaning and recognition is childish, wanting pat on the back. Doing everything to the level of perfection, could it be any work, develops stature. Not doing work to the level of perfection is injustice to yoourself and to people who are paying you. Do work which you really enjoy, Or simply enjoy the war of doing the work perfectly. You don't have to work like donkeys, work smart, work better, work faster if feasible and improvise. Don't worry about the results of your work, like recognition and meaning. Mountain climbers enjoy the war and perfection required, not the end results.

[@78Mkv]

Who’s here after they found out his a fraud ? 😂

[@AlgerianTalk]

I just discovered him and I think he's great! I'll look him up though

[@yardzy]

Fraud on the largest scale.. damn liar fooled us for years

[@ewansutherland6130]

Anyone from Miss Busby's economics class here?

[@Wolcik3000]

selling children XD

[@OMARYassin1]

13:44 That hurts 😂😂 "objectively" uglier

[@kulemaan]

Elmo?

[@kulemaan]

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[@marionpierce3427]

This was actually a good talk, I just wonder how much of it the wannabe hippies in the room actually understood.

[@moscowboy3994]

Did anyone after watching all these great Dan's videos understand what was actually the practical way to use this anecdotal theory? I mean we all like these wow moments about unexpected research results and we think "wow, these guys must know some OTHER way to make people do this and not that and probably have a magic pill". But in reality Dan Ariely does two things: 1) he tries to prove his main statement that people more often behave irrationally 2)Tells success stories when somebody did something not obvious to those irrational people and it worked miracles. Cool, right? But, in fact, here and there Dan says that they, whoever they it was, did this or that based solely on research, which means testing several ideas, approaches etc. I suspect that this means these researchers didn't know in advance what results they would get - Dan admits it himself. I personally quite like this entertaining look at things Dan is preaching, but eventually it comes to one thing: does he or anyone from his team has any other weaponry than constant testing different ideas? What does this brilliant theory adds to the testing process that has been on the marked for ages? I honestly don't see any "meat" behind all this or the reason I should hire this guys opposed to hiring any other good marketing team doing research and testing. Could anyone prove me wrong? I would be only glad. P.S. Pls don't try to "talk me into it" - just show me a practical 1-2-3-benefit method, if there's one.

[@dayleenba7532]

How many people are here because you heard about it on Casey Neistats Vlog..

[@Gnomkiller2000]

You can have mine for 5 dollars I love them but Jesus

[@conexionneuronal8820]

Fraudster, such a shame

[@cemyesilyurt3033]

Fraud!

[@zhenyawheelmajer]

Too bad he is a fraud

[@beck4218]

This aged poorly...

[@psykovskee]

His experiment is not complete, he should perform one that every time participant finished the task, you increase his/her wages, from $3, $3.1, $3.4, $4 and so on, then the real conclusion can be achieved