Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, where he also directs the Center for Advanced Hindsight — a research group dedicated to understanding why people make the choices they make, and using that understanding to help people live happier, healthier lives.

He has spent his career studying the hidden, often irrational forces behind everyday decisions, and translating that research into plain language for a general audience. That work became a series of books — Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, Payoff, Dollars and Sense, and most recently Misbelief — and, unexpectedly, the inspiration for an NBC drama, The Irrational, on which he serves as a consulting producer.

Outside the classroom, Dan has co-founded a handful of companies (BEworks, Timeful, Shapa, Kayma, and Epilog) built around putting behavioral insight into practice, and advises organizations like Anthropic and Irrational Capital on the same. He holds Ph.D.s in Business Administration (Duke) and Cognitive Psychology (UNC Chapel Hill), and a B.A. in Psychology from Tel Aviv University.

He's always glad to hear from people curious about the research.