Overview

Distinguished authors like Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, and Nassim Nicholas Taleb have written much about the flaws in the human brain when it comes time to make a decision. Our intuitions and passions frequently fail us, leading to outcomes we don't want. In this book, Eyal Winter, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for the Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wonders: why? If our emotions are so destructive and unreliable, why has evolution left us with them? The answer is that, even though they may not behave in a purely logical manner, our emotions frequently lead us to better, safer, more optimal outcomes. In fact, as Winter discovers, there is often logic in emotion, and emotion in logic. For instance, many mutually beneficial commitments--such as marriage, or being a member of a team--are only possible when underscored by emotion rather than deliberate thought. The difference between pleasurable music and bad noise is mathematically precise; yet it is also the result of evolution. And our inherent overconfidence--the mathematically impossible fact that most people see themselves as above average--affords us advantages in competing for things we benefit from, like food and money and romance. Other subjects illuminated in the book include the rationality of seemingly illogical feelings like trust, anger, shame, ego, and generosity. Already a bestseller in Israel, Feeling Smart brings together game theory, evolution, and behavioral science to produce a surprising and very persuasive defense of how we think, even when we don't.

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9781469091518

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Reviews

"""Feeling Smart puts the social back into social science. The truth is that there's a touchy feely aspect of Game Theory, and Winter shows how expressing and understanding your feelings (and those around you) will help you become a far better strategist. Be smarter or be smarting, your call."" -- ""Barry Nalebuff, Milton Steinbach Professor, Yale School of Management, and coauthor of The Art of Strategy"" ""Emotions and rationality are often thought of as polar opposites. But Eyal Winter--a leading game theorist and economist--shows compellingly that emotions can actually promote rational behavior. His book makes fascinating reading."" -- ""Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics"" ""Eyal Winter, a distinguished game theorist and behavioral economist, writes about rationality and emotion with compassion and empathy."" -- ""Alvin Roth, Nobel Laureate in Economics"" ""Eyal Winter's book admirably draws together the important recent work on social and individual behavior and its implications for economic behavior. He shows clearly how the more traditional rational analysis remains an important part of explanation but is by no means adequate. His exposition is breezily informal, yet rigorous; accounts from his family join seamlessly with citations on the literature, to which he himself has made significant contributions."" -- ""Kenneth Arrow, Nobel Prize-winning economist"" ""In Feeling Smart Eyal Winter shows us how the emotions that we sometimes wish we didn't have, such as anger and envy, can be surprisingly useful. You will certainly not be less angry after reading this book, but you will better understand the focus that shapes your emotions."" -- ""Dan Ariely, bestselling author of Predictably Irrational"" ""It is a pleasure to follow Eyal Winter as he explores the deep logic of illogical emotions and helps us to see the rationality of irrational behavior."" -- ""Roger Myerson, Nobel Laureate in Economics"" ""Much like Sigmund Freud, Eyal Winter knows that understanding human behavior demands listening and observing rather than labeling and categorizing. But here's what Freud didn't know: that framing his findings in the rigorous language of economic theory would be so illuminating, so surprising, and so exciting."" -- ""Robert Lucas, Nobel Laureate in Economics"" ""We are used to thinking that emotions such as anger, love, insult, and so forth are irrational. In his new book, Eyal Winter explains why these emotions are actually very rational, fulfilling important functions that usually advance the most vital interests of each of us. This is an important, enjoyable, and convincing book."" -- ""Robert J. Aumann, Nobel Laureate in Economics"""

Author Information

Eyal Winter is professor of economics and director of the Center for the Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one of the world's leading institutions in the academic study of decision-making. He served as chairman of the economics department at Hebrew University and was the 2011 recipient of the Humboldt Prize, awarded by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. He has lectured at over 130 universities in twenty-six countries around the world, including Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, University of California at Berkeley, and University of Cambridge. Sean Pratt, a working actor for over twenty-five years, has performed at numerous regional theaters around the country. He is the author of To Be or Wanna Be, and he has recorded over seven hundred books in just about every genre, earning eight AudioFile Earphones Awards and four Audie Award nominations.

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