Synopses & Reviews
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 commitmentsand#151;such as marriage, or being a member of a teamand#151;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 overconfidenceand#151;the mathematically impossible fact that most people see themselves as above averageand#151;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.
Review
"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
Review
and#147;It is that rare book that a casual reader could open at a random page and expect to find something interestingand#133;For the casual reader,
Feeling Smart is a fascinatingand#133;romp through the positive ways that emotions can shape our actions. It is also a helpful balm for those who worry that their emotions occasionally over-run their and#145;higher facultiesand#8217;.and#8221;and#151;
Financial Timesand#147;Insightful and intriguing.and#8221; and#151;Success Magazine
and#147;Filled with fascinating studies and personal anecdotesand#133;A lively, accessible work.and#8221; and#151;Kirkus Reviews
and#147;[Feeling Smart] gives plentiful insights into the many factors that govern our choices...we can at least begin, with its help, to reason with our emotions through their inherent foundation of rationality.and#8221; and#151;Publishers Weekly
and#147;Eyal Winterand#8217;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.and#8221;and#151;Kenneth Arrow, Nobel Laureate in Economics
and#147;Eyal Winterand#8217;s breezy guide to when and why it is sometimes perfectly rational to let the heart rule the head is as fresh as it is clever. In his brisk tour of the burgeoning field of experimental economics, Professor Winter shows that sense and sensibility are complements rather than polar opposites, and proves his point with intriguing insights into hot-button issues like affirmative action and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Feeling Smart will leave you feeling not only smarter, but more optimistic as well.and#8221;and#151;Sylvia Nasar, author, A Beautiful Mind
and#147;In Feeling Smart Eyal Winter shows us how the emotions that we sometimes wish we didnand#8217;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.and#8221;and#151;Dan Ariely, bestselling author of Predictably Irrational
and#147;Many suppose that the domains of emotion and rational thought are always separate. But as this intriguing book demonstrates they are wrong: emotional sensibility makes an important contribution to rational decision making. Feeling Smart shows us how.and#8221;and#151;Lawrence Summers, former President of Harvard University and former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States
and#147;Feeling Smart puts the social back into social science. The truth is that thereand#8217;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.and#8221;and#151;Barry Nalebuff, Milton Steinbach Professor, Yale School of Management, and coauthor of The Art of Strategy
and#147;Emotions and rationality are often thought of as polar opposites. But Eyal Winterand#151;a leading game theorist and economistand#151;shows compellingly that emotions can actually promote rational behavior. His book makes fascinating reading.and#8221;and#151;Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics
and#147;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.and#8221;and#151;Roger Myerson, Nobel Laureate in Economics
and#147;Much like Sigmund Freud, Eyal Winter knows that understanding human behavior demands listening and observing rather than labeling and categorizing. But hereand#8217;s what Freud didnand#8217;t know: that framing his findings in the rigorous language of economic theory would be so illuminating, so surprising, and so exciting.and#8221;and#151;Robert Lucas, Nobel Laureate in Economics
and#147;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.and#8221;and#151;Robert J. Aumann, Nobel Laureate in Economics
and#147;Eyal Winter, a distinguished game theorist and behavioral economist, writes about rationality and emotion with compassion and empathy.and#8221;and#151;Alvin Roth, Nobel Laureate in Economics
and#147;Eyal Winter has written engagingly on the science of action and emotion; on why and how feelings make us smarter and are central to understanding rational action and interaction in processes of human betterment that are subtly inaccessible to our self-aware consciousness.and#8221;
and#151;Vernon Smith, Nobel Laureate in Economics
and#147;Eyal Winter's Feeling Smart brings together, with interpretations from natural selection, most of the work of the past thirty years on Choices and Decisions that transcend "rational choice" but complement and support it, with attention and credit to "emotional" contributions to motivations for choice. You may be acquainted with some or even much of itand#151;I wasand#151;but ther's almost certainly enough you didn't know to make it a treasure. It is also fun to read!and#8221; -Tom Scheling, Nobel Laureate in Economics
Synopsis
Which is smarterand#151;your head or your gut? Itand#8217;s a familiar refrain: youand#8217;re getting too emotional. Try and think rationally. But is it always good advice?
In this surprising book, Eyal Winter asks a simple question: why do we have emotions? If they lead to such bad decisions, why hasnand#8217;t evolution long since made emotions irrelevant? 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 commitmentsand#151;such as marriage, or being a member of a teamand#151;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 something we feel at an instinctive level. And even though people are usually overconfidentand#151;how can we all be above average?and#151;we often benefit from our arrogance.
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 donand#8217;t.
About the Author
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 26 countries around the world, including Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cambridge.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction: What Is Rationality? xv
PART I: ON ANGER AND COMMITMENT
CHAPTER 1: What Is the Point of Getting Annoyed? Emotions as a Mechanism
for Creating Commitments 3
CHAPTER 2: Why We Love Those Who Are Cruel to Us: Stockholm Syndrome and
the Story of the Nazi Schoolteacher 12
CHAPTER 3: Emotional Impostors, Empathy, and Uncle Ezraand#8217;s Poker Face 18
CHAPTER 4: Game Theory, Emotions, and the Golden Rule of Ethics 31
CHAPTER 5: The Prisonerand#8217;s Dilemma in Repeated Interactions: Do Drawn
Knives Increase Cooperation in the World? 38
CHAPTER 6: On Decency, Insult, and Revenge: Why Donand#8217;t Suckers Suffer from
Disgust? 51
PART II: ON TRUST AND GENEROSITY
CHAPTER 7: On Stigmas and Games of Trust: Why Did the Bees Commit
Suicide?, 61
CHAPTER 8: Self-Ful?lling Mistrust 69
CHAPTER 9: Cultural Differences, Palestinian Generosity, and Ruthand#8217;s
Mysterious Disappearance, 73
CHAPTER 10: Collective Emotions and Uncle Walterand#8217;s Trauma 87
CHAPTER 11: The Handicap Principle, the Ten Commandments, and Other
Mechanisms for Ensuring Collective Survival, 98
CHAPTER 12: Knowing How to Give, Knowing How to Receive: The Full Half of
the Cholent, 110
PART III: ON LOVE AND SEXUALITY
CHAPTER 13: The Spray That Will Give Us Love: On the Hormone that Creates
Trust and Neutralizes Suspicion 117
CHAPTER 14: On Men, Women, and Evolution: Testing the Myths 121
CHAPTER 15: Make Me a Match Made in Heaven: Reproduction and the
Mathematics of Romance 145
CHAPTER 16: From Cavemen Flutes to Bach Fugues: Why Did Evolution Create
Art? 160
PART IV: ON OPTIMISM, PESSIMISM, AND GROUP BEHAVIOR
CHAPTER 17: Why Are We So Negative? The Arithmetic of Emotions 167
CHAPTER 18: On Arrogance and Humility: The Norwegian Professorand#8217;s Syndrome173
CHAPTER 19: Overcon?dence and Risk: The and#147;It Canand#8217;t Happen to Meand#8221; Syndrome 178
CHAPTER 20: The Voice Is Herd: On the Sources of Herd Behavior 189
CHAPTER 21: Team Spirit: The Paradox of the Generous Bonuses and the Lazy
Workers 201
PART V: ON RATIONALITY, EMOTIONS, AND GENES
CHAPTER 22: Irrational Emotions 219
CHAPTER 23: Nature or Nurture: What Is the Source of Rational Emotions? 228
Epilogue 233
Notes 239
Index 247