Predictably Irrational

' It's a poor sort of memory that works only backwards ' (the Queen).

My head is now officially the size of the Red Queen's but I just had a thought as I re-read a a piece from a classic book by behavioral economist Dan Ariely who I had a pleasure of hearing live just recently. In his book, Predictably Irrational, he reminds us on predictably irrational motives that drive our decisions.... He takes it from an individual to a macro economic level to challenge the supply & demand theory as a whole... using the very idea of anchoring that I was first introduced to - or re-introduced to via NLP. (Essentially, NLPists believe that any successful behavioral / comms pattern can be replicated and taught; the tactics of anchoring positive experiences is crucial in the process).

Ariely claims that what we do at a micro level - and what possibly drives economy as a whole at a macro level - is 'irrational pricing'... by attaching arbitrary values to objects of our desires based on the previously anchored experiences, and that affects how we perceive values in general, relative to the original anchor!

So how does that wonderful randomness, anchor pricing and arbitrary coherence affect the inter-personal stuff? How do we appoint values to objects of our desire? I always loved the Greek word axiā - value, or worth (how I wish I were able to actually write it in Greek!). There is a whole branch of contemporary axiology trying to attach precise mathematical value - to value. Is it objective, subjective, constant, temporary, intrinsic...or totally random and wonderfully - yet predictably - irrational?

And if the relationship between supply and demand is, after all, based on memory and not actual preferences (!) - do we all need to stick to the anchors or be re-programmed, and if yes, which of the many available options would actually do the trick?

(and on that Carrie Bradshaw note I will drift off)