Description
By understanding how and when common sense fails, we will enhance our understanding of the present and better plan for the future.
Drawing on the latest scientific research, at the side of a wealth of historical and contemporary examples, Watts shows how common sense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into believing that we bear in mind more about the world of human behavior than we do; and in turn, why attempts to predict, manage, or manipulate social and economic systems so frequently go awry.
It seems obvious, for example, that people respond to incentives; yet policy makers and managers alike continuously fail to anticipate how people will respond to the incentives they create. Social trends frequently appear to be driven by certain influential people; yet marketers have been unable to identify these “influencers” in advance. And even though successful products or companies at all times seem in retrospect to have succeeded as a result of their unique qualities, predicting the qualities of the next hit product or hot company is notoriously difficult even for experienced professionals.
Watts’ argument has important implications in politics, business, and marketing, as well as in science and everyday life.