We all think we know how our users behave. It turns out, we don’t. Founders over-index on rational assumptions, but users most often behave irrationally. Behavioral economics, by contrast, is the practice of truly seeing your users’ emotions, beliefs, and habits. This kind of vision is critically missing from product design at most startups. In this episode, NFX General Partner Gigi talks with Dan Ariely — the world’s top expert in behavioral economics and a renowned professor at Duke — as he breaks down the most common types of irrational user behavior and shares frameworks for predicting how your users will actually behave.
The Jordan Harbinger Show: Dan Ariely | The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations

Dan Ariely (@danariely) is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations. What We Discuss with Dan Ariely: How does the What the Hell effect keep us making bad decisions even when we know they’re bad? Are we ever truly rational, unbiased, or impartial? What’s the best time to appear before a judge? How transparency in our lives can often backfire. How motivation works (and doesn’t work) and how we can use our own psychology against ourselves. And so much more…