When we make decisions we think we’re in control, making rational choices. But are we? Entertaining and surprising, Dan Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us.

Today Dan explores the question: Are We More Rational Than Our Fellow Animals?

“We usually accept without argument the notion that man is at the top of the animal hierarchy. After all, only mammals have a neocortex – the most recently evolved part of the brain and the center of higher mental functions – and ours is the most advanced variation, so it makes sense that we’d be at a higher stage of development.

But is this true? Does the neocortex always make us more rational than other animals?”

Find out at Predictably Irrational.

Dan Ariely is is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab. The former Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, where he held a joint appointment between MIT’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences and the Sloan School of Management, he is the only person ever to hold joint appointments at MIT’s business school and also at its famous Media Lab. A behavioral economist, Ariely’s research has shown that we all succumb to irrationality in situations where rational thought is expected. He is an expert on how people actually act – and why they act – in all kinds of business and economic environments, and what this means for business innovation, strategy, and marketing.