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Dan Ariely

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Dan Ariely (Hebrew: דן אריאלי; born April 29, 1967) is an Israeli-American professor and author. He serves as a James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. He is the co-founder of several companies implementing insights from behavioral science.[1] Ariely wrote an advice column called "Ask Ariely" in The Wall Street Journal from June 2012 until September 2022.[2] He is the author of the three New York Times best selling books Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The Honest Truth about Dishonesty.[3] He co-produced the 2015 documentary (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies.[4]

Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely wearing a dark long-sleeved shirt, standing in semi-profile, appearing to speak onstage
Ariely in 2019
Born (1967-04-29) April 29, 1967 (age 57)
New York City, U.S.
EducationCognitive psychology (PhD)
Business administration (PhD)
Alma materDuke University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Tel Aviv University
Known forBehavioral economics
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsDuke University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisorJames Bettman
John G. Lynch Jr.
Websitedanariely.com

In 2021, a paper with Ariely as the fourth author was discovered to be based on falsified data and was subsequently retracted.[5][6] In 2024, Duke completed a three-year confidential investigation and according to Ariely concluded that "data from the honesty-pledge paper had been falsified but found no evidence that Ariely used fake data knowingly".[7]

Ariely's life, research, and book Predictably Irrational inspired the NBC television series The Irrational;[8] it premiered on September 25, 2023.[9]

Biography

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Dan Ariely was born to Yoram and Dafna Ariely in New York City while his father was studying for an MBA at Columbia University. He has two younger sisters. The family emigrated to Israel when he was three years old. He grew up in Ramat Hasharon.[3]

In his senior year of high school, Ariely was active in Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, an Israeli youth movement. While he was preparing a ktovet esh (fire inscription) for a traditional nighttime ceremony, the flammable materials he was mixing exploded, causing third-degree burns to over 70 percent of his body.[3] In his writings entitled "Painful Lessons", Ariely described his hospitalization and treatments, detailing how that experience led to his research on "how to better deliver painful and unavoidable treatments to patients".[10][11]

Ariely was previously married to Sumedha (Sumi) Gupta in 1998; they have two children.[12]

Education and academic career

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Ariely was a physics and mathematics major at Tel Aviv University but transferred to philosophy and psychology. However, in his last year, he dropped philosophy and concentrated solely on psychology, graduating in 1991. In 1994, he earned a masters in cognitive psychology and a Ph.D. two years later from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed a second Ph.D. in business administration at Duke University in 1998, at the urging of Daniel Kahneman.[3][13]

Ariely taught at MIT between 1998 and 2008, where he was the Alfred P. Sloan professor of behavioral economics.[14]

In 2008, he returned to Duke University as the James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics. His laboratory at Duke, the Center for Advanced Hindsight, pursues research in subjects like the psychology of money, decision making by physicians and patients, cheating, and social justice.[3]

In 2008, Ariely, along with his co-authors, Rebecca Waber, Ziv Carmon, and Baba Shiv, was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in medicine for their research demonstrating that "high-priced fake medicine is more effective than low-priced fake medicine".[15]

Professional ventures and affiliations

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Early in his career, Ariely co-founded the behavioral economics consulting firm BEworks, which was acquired by Kyu in 2017.[16]

In 2012, aspiring to develop a time management app that helps people "use time better" and avoid procrastination, Ariely co-founded Timeful with Yoav Shoham and Jacob Bank.[17][1] The app was acquired by Google in 2015.[1]

In 2013, Ariely and Kristen Berman co-founded Irrational Labs, a consulting firm aimed at applying behavioral economics to consumer behavior and decision-making.[18]

In 2014, Ariely co-founded the kitchen appliance company Genie with Ayelet Carasso-Stenberg and Doron Marco.[19] Genie manufactures a food "replicator" that cooks freeze-dried meals in cartridges.[20]

In 2015, Ariely invested in Qapital, a personal finance app, and was appointed as its chief behavioral economist.[21] He was later named chairman of the board.[22]

In 2016, he took on the position of chief behavioral officer at Lemonade, an insurance company that integrates aspects of behavioral economics into its insurance model.[21][23]

Ariely's entrepreneurial ventures also include founding Shapa in 2017, a company focused on health monitoring and behavior change.[24]

Media

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Ariely has appeared in several documentary films and television productions.

In 2011, he worked on the documentary The Flaw, which investigates the root causes of the 2008 financial crisis. In it, Ariely explained and presented scientific data on the forces that shape human behavior, motivation, and decision-making.[25][26]

In 2015, Ariely appeared in another documentary, (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies. It explores three key themes: why people lie, how often they do it, and the consequences of dishonest behavior.[27]

Ariely contributed to Boom Bust Boom, a 2015 documentary about economic crashes.[28]

In 2019, he appeared in The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, a documentary that tracks the rise and fall of Theranos.[29]

In 2022, he contributed to Why Like This? Lama Kacha, a Hebrew television series broadcast on Kan 11. In it, Ariely distilled complex scientific concepts and provided accessible explanations for the forces that shape human behavior, motivation, and decision-making.[30]

Ariely has also presented talks at several TED, with titles such as "Our Buggy Moral Code" and "Unraveling the Mysteries of Human Behavior".[31][32]

"Ask Ariely" WSJ advice column

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From June 2012 to September 2022, Ariely contributed a weekly advice column titled "Ask Ariely" to The Wall Street Journal.[33]

The Irrational TV show

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Ariely's life, research, and best-selling book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions inspired the NBC television series The Irrational,[8][34] which premiered on September 25, 2023.[8][35] The show's protagonist, Professor Alec Mercer, who is portrayed by Jesse L. Martin, was based on Ariely.[36][7]

(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies

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Directed by Yael Melamede and released in 2015, (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies is a documentary film exploring dishonesty in contemporary society.[37] Ariely presents the film, offering analysis on the psychological mechanisms that drive deceit. With references to behavioral experiments and anecdotes—from athletic and academic cheating to political scandals—Ariely draws on his research on behavioural economics and irrationality to shed light on why and how people lie. Numerous people make appearances in the documentary, including the author and marketer Ryan Holiday, to share their personal experiences with dishonesty and lies.[38]

Controversy

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Experiment with research assistant lacking ethics training

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In 2006, when Ariely was a professor at the MIT Media Lab, he conducted experiments including electric shocks with a research assistant that had no human-subject training.[39] As a consequence, MIT's ethics committee banned Ariely from supervising data collection for a year. [40] Ariely confirmed that he was suspended from supervising data collection at MIT and said that he wasn't aware that the research assistant did not have the needed one-hour online human-subject training.[6][41]

Manipulated data in experiment about dishonesty

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In 2021, a paper with Ariely as the fourth author was discovered to be based on falsified data and was subsequently retracted.[5][6] In 2024, Duke completed a three-year confidential investigation, and according to Ariely, concluded that 'data from the honesty-pledge paper had been falsified but found no evidence that Ariely used fake data knowingly'.[7][42][43][44][45][46]

Other disputes about data reliability

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In 2010, Ariely told NPR in an interview that data from Delta Dental, an insurance provider, showed that dentists frequently (with a probability of "about 50 percent") misdiagnosed cavities when analyzing X-rays, and speculated that this might happen so that dentists could charge more money.[47] A Delta Dental spokesperson denied collecting data that could support such a claim.[48] Ariely maintained that he was told about the finding by a Delta Dental medical officer.[49] This was confirmed in a 2024 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.[50]

In July 2021, the journal Psychological Science challenged a 2004 paper by James Heyman and Ariely, "prompted by some uncertainty regarding the values of statistical tests reported in the article and the analytic approach taken to the data".[51] The authors were unable to resolve the ambiguities because the original participant-level data was no longer available. A follow-up analysis, and a letter to the editor by Gregory Francis from the Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, demonstrated that the problem in the paper could be a simple reporting error in which t-statistics were reported as F-statistics by mistake. Francis also showed that this error does not negate the findings in the original article.[52]

In November 2022, an Israeli TV investigative show, Hamakor (Channel 13), aired an episode[53][54] questioning a number of Ariely's studies that were not reproducible or whose reliability was dubious—in terms of the way they were carried out, the data collected, or whether the studies were carried out at all. For example, Ariely claimed that data for his "Ten Commandments" study were collected in 2004–2005 at UCLA with the assistance of Professor Aimee Drolet Rossi. However, despite being thanked in the 2004 paper for collecting the data almost 20 years later, Rossi denies having run the study,[55][56] and UCLA has issued a statement that the study did not take place there.[55]

Bibliography

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Books

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  • Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (2008; second edition in 2012). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061353239
  • The Upside of Irrationality (2010). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062008565
  • The Honest Truth about Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves (2012; second edition in 2013). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062298553
  • Behavioral Economics Saved My Dog: Life Advice for the Imperfect Human (2015). Oneworld. ISBN 9781780748177
  • Irrationally Yours: On Missing Socks, Pick-up Lines, and Other Existential Puzzles (2015). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062380012
  • Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations (2016). Simon & Schuster / TED. ISBN 9781501120053
  • Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter (2017). Co-authored with Jeff Kreisler. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062651228
  • Small Change: Money Mishaps and How to Avoid Them (2018). Co-authored with Jeff Kreisler. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781509889167
  • Amazing Decisions: The Illustrated Guide to Improving Business Deals and Family Meals (2019, illustrated by Matt R. Trower), Farrar, Straus and Giroux.ISBN 9781466899544
  • Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things (2023), Bonnier Books UK. ISBN 9781785120787

Selected publications

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Olson, Parmy (May 5, 2015). "Google Buys Experimental Software That Kills Procrastination". Forbes.
  2. ^ Ariely, Dan (September 22, 2022). "A Decade's Worth of Social-Scientific Advice". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e Shani, Ayelett (April 5, 2012). "When Dan Ariely found the key to human nature". Haaretz. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012.
  4. ^ "(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies". IMDb. May 22, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "How data detectives spotted fake numbers in a widely cited paper". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c "Behavioral researcher says he 'undoubtedly made a mistake' in false data scandal". The Times of Israel. September 4, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Taylor, Kate (February 25, 2024). "Duke's 3-year fraud investigation into Dan Ariely has ended, and the star professor still has a job. Does he want it?". Business Insider.
  8. ^ a b c Petski, Denise (December 27, 2022). "'The Irrational' Drama Starring Jesse L. Martin Lands NBC Series Order". Deadline. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  9. ^ "The Irrational". TVGuide.com. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  10. ^ Ariely, Dan. "Painful Lessons" (PDF). Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  11. ^ Dahl, Melissa (July 31, 2015). "How a Terrible Accident Inspired Dan Ariely's Career Path". New York magazine. Archived from the original on November 15, 2018.
  12. ^ "Interview with Daniel Ariely, PhD". Mentor Coach. October 31, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  13. ^ "Dan Ariely CV" (PDF). labs.vtc.vt.edu. April 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 12, 2020.
  14. ^ "Dan Ariely". web.mit.edu. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  15. ^ "Winners of the Ig® Nobel Prize". Improbable Research. August 2006. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  16. ^ "Exclusive: IDEO Investor Kyu Acquires BEworks, a Behavioral Economics Firm". Fortune. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  17. ^ Gannes, Liz (July 31, 2014). "Dan Ariely's Timeful App Helps You Better Apply Your Time". Vox. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  18. ^ "How Behavioral Economics Influence Consumer Decisions Effectively with Kristen Berman". Impact Pricing. August 19, 2024. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  19. ^ "Israeli smart oven co Genie Enterprise raises $10m". Globes. November 4, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  20. ^ Rowan, David. "This food replicator can make dinner in under a minute". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  21. ^ a b "This Man Wants to Stop You Making Bad Decisions". Fortune. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  22. ^ "Dan Ariely on how Qapital uses behavioral finance principles to help people save more". Tearsheet. May 24, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  23. ^ "Lemonade Is Using Behavioral Science to Onboard Customers and Keep Them Honest". Fast Company. March 17, 2017.
  24. ^ "The Shapa Smart Scale Never Tells You How Much You Weigh". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  25. ^ "The Flaw (2011)". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  26. ^ "The Flaw". Variety. January 23, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  27. ^ Niewijk, Grace. "Documentary Review: (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies – Yale Scientific Magazine". yalescientific.org. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  28. ^ "Terry Jones' 'Boom Bust Boom' and the Greedy Monkey Theory of Economic Collapse". In These Times. March 9, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  29. ^ "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley | Rotten Tomatoes". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  30. ^ "Why Like this? Lama Kacha?" (PDF). The Israel Television Catalog. The Israeli Academy of Film and Television: 25. 2022.
  31. ^ "Top TED Talks by Israeli Influencers". Culture Trip. October 22, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  32. ^ "Unraveling human behavior with Dan Ariely". Technique. February 17, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  33. ^ Ariely, Dan (September 22, 2022). "A Decade's Worth of Social-Scientific Advice". WSJ.
  34. ^ "Updates". Dan Ariely. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
  35. ^ "NBC's 'The Irrational': See release date, storyline, streaming details and more". The Economic Times. September 1, 2023. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  36. ^ "Here's When The Irrational Season 2 Premieres". nbc.com. July 9, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
  37. ^ History News Show (October 29, 2021). The Best Dis Honesty the Truth About Lies 2021 Full English. Retrieved July 19, 2024 – via YouTube.
  38. ^ Chelin, Pamela. "Inside "(Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies"". Forbes. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  39. ^ "Dan Ariely was suspended from collecting data himself at MIT after conducting an unauthorized experiment with human subjects". המקום הכי חם. August 23, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  40. ^ Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (September 30, 2023). "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  41. ^ Lukacs, Ilan (September 3, 2021). "טעיתי, המוניטין שלי יספוג מכה": דן אריאלי שובר שתיקה - ומה גרם לו לבכות?" [I was wrong, my reputation will "take a hit": Dan Arieli breaks the silence – and what made him cry?]. Channel 12 (in Hebrew).
  42. ^ "A study on dishonesty was based on fraudulent data". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  43. ^ "[98] Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty". Data Colada. August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  44. ^ "A Big Study About Honesty Turns Out to Be Based on Fake Data". BuzzFeed News. August 25, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  45. ^ Fountain, Nick; Guo, Jeff; Romer, Keith; Peaslee, Emma (July 28, 2023). "Fabricated data in research about honesty. You can't make this stuff up. Or, can you?". NPR: Planet Money. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  46. ^ Fountain, Nick (July 28, 2023). "Ariely, in a statement, now says: "Getting the data file was the extent of my involvement with the data."". Twitter. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  47. ^ "The 'Irrational' Way Humans Interact With Dentists". NPR. October 5, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  48. ^ "Letters: Dentists". NPR. October 13, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  49. ^ Shepard, Alicia C. (November 8, 2010). "Should You be Suspicious of Your Dentist or NPR's Source?". WBUR.
  50. ^ "Is Dan Ariely Telling the Truth?". chronicle.com. January 18, 2024.
  51. ^ Bauer, Patricia J.; Ariely, Dan (July 23, 2021). "Expression of Concern: Effort for Payment: A Tale of Two Markets". Psychological Science. 32 (8): 1338–1339. doi:10.1177/09567976211035782. ISSN 0956-7976. PMID 34296633. S2CID 236200023.
  52. ^ Francis, Gregory (2021). "Letter to the Editors of Psychological Science: Resolving Inconsistencies with Data Gleaning: Regarding Bauer and Ariely (2021)". Psychological Science: 35640 Bytes. doi:10.25384/SAGE.16543740.v1.
  53. ^ "המקור, עונה 21, פרק 19: חוקר השקרים | חדשות 13". רשת 13 (in Hebrew). Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  54. ^ "Dan Ariely Investigation by The Source – The Lies Researcher – Transcript". thebehavioralscientist.com. July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  55. ^ a b Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (September 30, 2023). "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  56. ^ "The Dishonesty of Honest People: A Theory of Self-Concept Maintenance". Journal of Marketing Research. 45 (6): 633–644. doi:10.1509/jmkr.45.6.633. ISSN 0022-2437. (This paper currently has an expression of concern, see doi:10.1177/00222437241285882. If this is an intentional citation to a such a paper, please replace {{expression of concern|...}} with {{expression of concern|...|intentional=yes}}.)
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