January 27, 2010

Treating the common cold

Posted in Misc at 07:59 by graham

Will Vitamin C really prevent or cure your cold?

What about Echinacea?

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January 16, 2010

Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely

Posted in Behaviour at 08:12 by graham

My short notes on Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely. An excellent book. Entertaining, and covers much fascinating ground from social psychology and behavioral economics. Some of the experiments Dan and his team designed are fiendish!

Value is relative

We only know what we want when we see it in context. The bike the Tour de France winner rides. A set of speakers compared to another.

We only know what something is worth, or how much we like it, when comparing to other similar things (purchases, partners, jobs, etc..

We tend to choose the middle option. A high price option on a restaurant menu increases average order price, because it makes the rest seem cheap in comparison.

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