Quotessence
Home / Authors / Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely Quotes

Professor

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleThinkingIfsWantShouldMotivationDecisionWaySavingKnows

Famous Dan Ariely Quotes

“With money we really fool ourselves. We are our biggest enemies with money and there are some things we can do about it. Automatic deductions are a wonderful thing. But ideally, you should wait until the end of the month, you can see how much extra money you had, and you should put that in your savings account. We don't do that too well, and if we did that, we would never save. So, what we do, is we take money out of our pocket into the saving account at the beginning of the month, take it outside of our control and as a consequence, we spend less and we save more.”

IfsShouldWellsEndsWaitingCan DoEnemyWonderfulFoolMonthsConsequenceAccountsSavingExtrasPocketsWonderful ThingsSavingsDeductionsSavings Accounts
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“Money is a great way to get happiness. Right? Lots of wonderful things you can do with money. The question is, are we really optimizing on that? So, if you think about getting lattes and getting cable. Which one of those is actually giving you a greater happiness, and if you have to cut on one of those, which one would you cut? So, I think thinking in terms of concrete terms would help us a great deal.”

IfsThinkingWayGivingHelpingTermCan DoDealsGreaterCuttingWonderfulConcreteWonderful ThingsCablesLattes
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“We can think about how we reduce the pain in paying. So, for example, credit cards are wonderful mechanisms to reduce the pain of paying. If you go to a restaurant and you are paying cash, you would feel much worse than if you were paying with credit card. Why? You know the price, there's no surprise, but if you're paying cash, you feel a bit more guilt.”

IfsThinkingKnowsFeelsPainBitsWonderfulExampleGuiltSurpriseCreditCardsRestaurantsCashMechanismCredit Card
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“If you want to spend more money in restaurants, use credit cards more than cash. If you want to spend less, use cash more than credit cards. But in general, we can think about how to use the pain of paying and how much of it do we want. And I think we have like a range. Credit cards have very little pain of paying, debit cards have a little bit more because you feel like today, at least it is coming out of your checking account, and cash has much more.”

IfsThinkingWantFeelsLittlesUseTodayPainBitsLittle BitAccountsCreditCardsRangeRestaurantsComing OutCashMore MoneyCredit CardDebitDebit CardsChecking Accounts
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“Imagine you have six loans, small to huge. People want to close loans and because of that, they try to pay off the small loans, but that's not the right strategy. The right strategy, of course, is to pay the loan with the highest interest rate. People make this mistake and it costs them lots and lots of money, it's a very expensive mistake because interest rates accumulate and become very, very expensive very quickly.”

PeopleWantTryingCoursesInterestPayMistakeImagineHugeCostSixHighestStrategyRateExpensiveLots Of MoneyLoanInterest Rate
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“If you have loans, the first thing you want to do is say, "Okay, look I have a credit card, if I really need to borrow, I have this emergency money that I can get, but for now there is no reason for me to keep cash at zero percent interest rate and at the same time, pay all of this money out. So, I think people need to figure out quickly how to pay loans and how much cash they should really keep.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantNeedsShouldFirstsLooksI CanReasonInterestPayFiguresPercentOkayRateCreditCardsNo ReasonZeroCashEmergenciesLoanCredit CardInterest Rate
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“Do you know how much money you would save if you changed your light bulb to compact florescent light bubs? How much would you save if you decreased your temperature of your house in the winter by one degree, or increase it by one degree? We just don't know these numbers, but I think displays could make it a memorable change in terms of attention, and also help us translate it in terms of concrete ways on what you can get.”

IfsThinkingKnowsWayHelpingLightHouseTermNumbersAttentionKnow HowChangedDegreesIncreaseWinterMemorableDo You KnowDisplayConcreteTranslateTemperatureBulbsCompactLight BulbYou Changed
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“...[D]ivision of labor, in my mind, is one of the dangers of work-based technology. Modern IT infrastructure allows us to break projects into very small, discrete parts and assign each person to do only one of the many parts. In so doing, companies run the risk of taking away employees' sense of the big picture, purpose, and sense of completion.”

MindPersonsBigsRunningPurposeBusinessCompanyBreakTechnologyRiskModernDangerProjectsLaborEmployeeInfrastructureCompletionBig PictureDiscrete
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image

“To summarize, using money to motivate people can be a double-edged sword. For tasks that require cognitive ability, low to moderate performance-based incentives can help. But when the incentive level is very high, it can command too much attention and thereby distract the person’s mind with thoughts about the reward. This can create stress and ultimately reduce the level of performance.”

PeopleMindPersonsHelpingAbilityLevelsAttentionToo MuchLowsTasksPerformancesStressRewardsCommandHuman BehaviorIncentivesModeratesCognitive
Book:The Upside of Irrationality (Enhanced Edition): The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home
Create image

“We all want explanations for why we behave as we do and for the ways the world around us functions. Even when our feeble explanations have little to do with reality. We’re storytelling creatures by nature, and we tell ourselves story after story until we come up with an explanation that we like and that sounds reasonable enough to believe. And when the story portrays us in a more glowing and positive light, so much the better.”

WorldWayWantBelieveLittlesEnoughStoriesRealityLightSoundCreaturesFunctionCome UpStorytellingBehaveExplanationReasonableGlowing
Author:Dan Ariely
Create image