Irrationally Yours
A new podcast by Duke professor Dan Ariely takes a quirky look at the bright ideas brewing on campus
Monday, July 14, 2008
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Arming the Donkeys podcastA new podcast lets listeners in on the kind of casual, clever conversations that research-minded Duke University faculty members like to have over a cup coffee.
The host for these serious, if quirky, chats is Duke professor Dan Ariely. The podcast will be something of a campus calling card for Ariely who, after a year as a visiting professor, officially joined the university faculty this month as the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at the Fuqua School of Business. (He holds secondary appointments in the Department of Economics and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience.)
Playfully named “Arming the Donkeys,” the podcast seeks to equip hardworking yet stubborn creatures -- such as donkeys and humans -- with the latest insights from the social and natural sciences, Ariely said.
“We have all this tremendous research that we do … and because we write them in academic journals, for obvious reasons, almost nobody learns about them,” Ariely said about findings by himself and his fellow researchers. “I think it’s worthwhile putting some effort into making this research accessible, helping people understand why we do all this stuff.”
The editorial criteria for his podcast? “Things that interest me in science this week,” Ariely said. He will choose his guests based on whom he happens to meet on campus and at conferences, as well as by plucking names from academic papers and stories from the Duke Research online magazine.
In the first episode of “Arming the Donkey,” Ariely explores with colleague Jack Soll, an assistant professor of management, how the standard miles-per-gallon automobile rating can mislead car buyers on how best to gain fuel efficiency. Ariely hopes to post a new interview each week this year.
Ariely’s podcast follows on the launch of his recent book, “Predictably Irrational,” a look at behavioral economics through entertaining examples. Publicity efforts for the book spawned a number of internet communications initiatives, which have taken on a life of their own. Ariely estimates he spent about seven hours a week online on public outreach, and another seven hours per week on mainstream media interviews.
Previously an ordinary citizen of the internet, Ariely began his first blog in January based on prompting from his publisher. He came to enjoy the snappy style of blogging and the immediate response from strangers. The readership of his Predictably Irrational blog has climbed into the thousands per month, and he began incorporating short video blog posts that he shot himself.
“If somebody likes having quick conversations about ideas -- blogs are basically that,” Ariely said. “It’s like going and having coffee with somebody and telling them one thought.”
Ariely’s blog entries generate incoming emails, which Ariely in turn culls for blogging material. He signs his replies, “Irrationally Yours.”
“It’s everybody,” Ariely said about his emailing audience. “I get emails from not-for-profits who ask for advice; I get email from people who are struggling; I get emails from criminals; I get emails from people with questions about money, relationships; I get emails from Pfizer, Bank of America.”
In one exchange posted to his blog, Ariely responds to a father who rides the New York City subway every day with his nine-year-old son. When changing trains, the two walk from one platform to the other, but run if they see the second train has already arrived. The son suggested it would make more sense to do the opposite: begin running from the platform of the first train and then walk if they see the second train has not yet arrived.
“So your son is right,” Ariely replied. “If you want to minimize your travel time, the best thing is to run first, but if you just care about minimizing regret, keep on with your current practice. Irrationally yours, Dan”
In a twist on these electronic exchanges, Ariely recently held office hours by phone, during which time anyone could call into an internet forum called Learn From My Life to participate in a moderated question-and-answer session.
“Interestingly enough, they told me a third of the people who called [out of about 500] were from India,” he said. “It’s very interesting to have this kind of dialogue.”
