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Are we in control of our decisions?

I strongly feel the man is talking about PERCEPTION.
Providing choices that are either advantages or disadvantages to us change the perception of what is REALLY being offered.
 
Was this the guy who was on Colbert talking about how people tend to continue doing things that they should know won't make them happy? I have a pretty cool theory: it's not about ration vs. irrational, it's about comfort. We do what makes us comfortable, and what makes us comfortable is sometimes directly caused by our environment and sometimes caused by our biology and sometimes both and it's always ambiguous. Great topic of conversation, didn't get a chance to watch the whole video, but I would tend to agree with the "either way, I'm having ceral for breakfast" mentality. It's only when the cereal contains a golden ticket or lethal dose of anthrax that people start to seriously think about the ceral. "Food for thought." Now I've gone too far :)
 
What the hell happened to the guy in the video's arms?
 
megaprogman said:
Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions? | Video on TED.com

Here is an interesting ted talk that speaks of some of the limitations of rationality in people. Personally, I think we are a lot less rational than we give ourselves credit for and that's the ideas of natural consequences for behavior does not always work. This video contains experiments that show some of the inherent biases that people tend to not realize that they possess.

What are your thoughts?
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The key is the conscious thought and motivation. Like several of the examples that were given they involved very little by way of conscious thought and motivationally had very little impact. I think we have a tendency to pay a lot more attention to our choices when we get that there are dramatic and dire consequences.

There is alos another phenomenn...We have been conditioned to NOT read. How many contracts have we been given that contain big bold letters but also leeeeeetle tiny print with great BIG paragraphs...so we just skip over it because its all legal mumbo jumbo anyway. We wouldnt know if we signed away our second born male until they came to take him away.

We ALWAYS have choice. How much thought are we willing to invest in that choice...
 
RightOfCenter said:
Did you watch the video? Look at his arms, they're ****ed up.
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ZOMG! He's all ****ed up - maybe he's a zombie :roll:

Perhaps he was a burn victim - if you'd do a quick search and read a brief bio you'd find out how it happened, if it bothers you that much.

Or perhaps it's all makeup and he dawns it every chance he has just to **** with people's minds.

But it being a costume and him being a zombie are far less logical than the fact that he was a burn victim.

After being distracted by his physical appearance - did you actually listen to what he had to say? Geesh - how annoying it must be to look 'different' and have people ignore what you *say and do* to just focus on your skin.
 
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Aunt Spiker said:
ZOMG! He's all ****ed up - maybe he's a zombie :roll:

Perhaps he was a burn victim - if you'd do a quick search and read a brief bio you'd find out how it happened, if it bothers you that much.

Or perhaps it's all makeup and he dawns it every chance he has just to **** with people's minds.

But it being a costume and him being a zombie are far less logical than the fact that he was a burn victim.

After being distracted by his physical appearance - did you actually listen to what he had to say? Geesh - how annoying it must be to look 'different' and have people ignore what you *say and do* to just focus on your skin.
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No, I watched the whole video and his horrific scars were really the most interesting thing about the video. I don't consider people not caring about a decision that will have no consequence in their lives (whether or not to donate organs after death) to be irrational. It's simply not an important decision. Perhaps Ariely addresses the issue better in his book. Also, his bio in the link says nothing about whether or not he was burned so I am going to continue to assume that he is a zombie.
 
RightOfCenter said:
No, I watched the whole video and his horrific scars were really the most interesting thing about the video. I don't consider people not caring about a decision that will have no consequence in their lives (whether or not to donate organs after death) to be irrational. It's simply not an important decision. Perhaps Ariely addresses the issue better in his book. Also, his bio in the link says nothing about whether or not he was burned so I am going to continue to assume that he is a zombie.
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Very well, then. Zombie he is.

If in the future, if you need to stir business sales, now you know how to do it :)
 
aunt spiker said:
very well, then. Zombie he is.

If in the future, if you need to stir business sales, now you know how to do it :)
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By eating BBBBBRRRRAAAAAIIIINNNNS!!!!!

.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
Very well, then. Zombie he is.

If in the future, if you need to stir business sales, now you know how to do it :)
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Hell, I'm thinking about buying the book just because he is a zombie.
 
RightOfCenter said:
No, I watched the whole video and his horrific scars were really the most interesting thing about the video. I don't consider people not caring about a decision that will have no consequence in their lives (whether or not to donate organs after death) to be irrational. It's simply not an important decision. Perhaps Ariely addresses the issue better in his book. Also, his bio in the link says nothing about whether or not he was burned so I am going to continue to assume that he is a zombie.
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Watch his other TED talk (also a fascinating watch); he was burned.
 
wow thats was very entertaining good post! i think we are in control but only on certain things... the question is how much control can you take.
 
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