Sublime

idea, Diener and his students also found a less-is-more effect, a strong indication that an average (prototype) has been substituted for a sum.

When making decisions, consider only where we are now and where we will be in the future.

In each of these cases, the companies not only know the generalized probability of some behavior, they can make incredibly accurate predictions about how individual customers are going to behave.

It goes to show just how hard it is to overcome conflicts of interests once they fundamentally color our view of the world.

As Tim Harford describes in his book The Logic of Life,* the birth of this theory was quite mundane.

more? If we’re like most people, we would enjoy the safari much more if we paid for it in advance. Why? Because if we paid for it on the last day, the last few days of the safari would be filled with thoughts like “Is this worth it?” and “How much am I enjoying this?” By having these thoughts constantly rattling around in our heads, our enjoyment o

But that sense of complexity nonetheless influences how we value the experience itself.

we easily and without thinking spend $200 more on a car CD changer when we are already spending $25,000 on a new car.