In the early 20th century, those who studied how the human mind works were convinced that we were rational creatures, and that our decisions and actions were governed by logic.   The pendulum has swung the other way, though, and in the past 30 years there has been increasing evidence that we are anything but logical, and that our decision-making process is run by a number of irrational shortcuts.

Which also means that there’s been a growing list of books outlining these heuristics, or irrational mental shortcuts.  From Gladwell’s Blink and Taleb’s The Black Swan, to Gardner’s The Science of Fear and Rosenzweig’s The Halo Effect; there is an increasing body of literature establishing that humans don’t act the way we think we act.  Sway by the Brafman brothers takes its place on the list; and acts in some ways as a guidebook, listing and elucidating the different irrational thought processes we use.  A short list of these include:

• Loss aversion (pg 18) – The fear of a negative outcome outweighs the same level of hope for a positive outcome.
• Commitment (pg 29) – When we make a decision, we stick with it over time, even if the situation changes.
• Value attribution (pg 48) – “Our tendency to imbue someone or something with certain qualities based on perceived value rather than objective data.”
• Diagnosis bias (pg 70) – Our first impression is our lasting impression and it’s challenging to change our mind.
• Chameleon effect (pg 100) – When we label people (or are labeled ourselves), they take on the characteristics of that label.
• Procedural justice (pg 118) – We have an innate desire to treated in a fair manner, if we aren’t we will act out irrationally.

Big Thought

People are governed by a number of psychological forces that undermine our rational decision-making processes.  By understanding them, we can hope to prevent our irrationality from causing us to make poor decisions in our daily life.

Implications, Ideas, and Questions

• There are many implications in this book for anyone who, like me, works with people to create personal change.  For example, if I just walk someone through the logical (rational) reasons that they should change a behavior or activity, it doesn’t work.  It’s important to address the irrational forces at work as well.  For example, loss aversion and commitment make it very hard for someone to stop a behavior that they already know is preventing them from making a positive life change.  The person has to have enough desire to change those irrational behaviors as well.
• The study done on how discounts change the customer’s perception of value is incredibly revealing for those in sales and marketing (pg 59).  Because discounted products and services can be seen as inferior, it’s important to tell a customer why it’s discounted.  It’s important to frame the discount as a positive rather than let them decide why it’s negative.
• The diagnosis bias reinforced an opinion I have about interviewing techniques (pg 80).  Too often small business owners will make a hiring decision based on only one interview, where I have suggested at a minimum two, or even three; because an interviewer would often get very different impressions of the same person from different interviews.  The diagnosis bias gives some validity to this.
• One of the biggest mistakes you can make when communicating with someone is give them the impression that they aren’t being heard or that what they are saying is unimportant.  By allowing someone to be heard, it helps them feel that things are “fair”, whether they like the outcome or not. (pg 121)
• What to do about irrational thinking and decisions?  Ori and Rom point out a few possibilities.  One is to cultivate a long-term view which defuses the necessity for short-term actions which may or may not be wise.  The concept of propositional thinking, of keeping your judgments and decisions flexible, also shows promise when combating forces such as the diagnosis bias and commitment. (pg 178)

Should you read this book?

Yes.  It’s an interesting and quick read, and I find it incredibly useful that the authors do little to interpret that data they present.  Many of the writers who address the topics attempt to make conclusions based on the research they are writing about, Ori and Rom have reserved their interpretations until the end.  This allows for the reader to use Sway as a sort of guided journey to examine their own irrational decision making.