Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely was born to Yoram and Dafna Ariely in New York City while his father was studying for an MBA at Columbia University. He has two younger sisters. The family emigrated to Israel when he was three years old. He grew up in Ramat Hasharon.^[7]

In his senior year of high school, Ariely was active in Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, an Israeli youth movement. While he was preparing a ktovet esh (fire inscription) for a traditional nighttime ceremony, the flammable materials he was mixing exploded, causing third-degree burns to over 70 percent of his body.^[7] In his writings entitled "Painful Lessons", Ariely described his hospitalization and treatments, detailing how that experience led to his research on "how to better deliver painful and unavoidable treatments to patients".^[8][9]

Ariely was previously married to Sumedha (Sumi) Gupta in 1998; they have two children.^[10]

Ariely was a physics and mathematics major at Tel Aviv University but transferred to philosophy and psychology. However, in his last year, he dropped philosophy and concentrated solely on psychology, graduating in 1991. In 1994, he earned a master's degree in cognitive psychology and a Ph.D. two years later from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed a second Ph.D. in business administration at Duke University in 1998, at the urging of Daniel Kahneman.^[7][11] Ariely taught at MIT between 1998 and 2008, where he was the Alfred P. Sloan professor of behavioral economics.^[12] In 2008, he returned to Duke University as the James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics. His laboratory at Duke, the Center for Advanced Hindsight, pursues research in subjects like the psychology of money, decision making by physicians and patients, cheating, and social justice.^[7]

In 2008, Ariely, along with his co-authors, Rebecca Waber, Ziv Carmon, and Baba Shiv, was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in medicine for their research demonstrating that "high-priced fake medicine is more effective than low-priced fake medicine".^[13]

In 2006, when he was a professor at the MIT Media Lab, Ariely conducted experiments including administering electric shocks with a research assistant who had no human–subject training.^[14] As a consequence, MIT's ethics committee banned Ariely from supervising data collection for a year.^[15] Ariely confirmed this and said that he wasn't aware that the research assistant did not have the needed one-hour online human–subject training.^[16][17]

In 2010, Ariely told NPR's All Things Considered that data from Delta Dental, an insurance provider, showed that dentists frequently misdiagnosed cavities when analyzing X-rays, with only 50 per cent agreement between two dentists reading the same X-ray; he speculated that this might happen so that dentists could charge more money.^[18] A Delta Dental spokesperson stated they did not collect any such data,^[19] and NPR's public editor later stated they should have fact-checked Ariely's claim before airing the interview, and that the "unsubstantiated assertion unfairly hurt the reputation of many honest dentists".^[20] Ariely subsequently acknowledged that he hadn't seen or analysed any data before making the claim, stating that he was given the 50 per cent figure in a conversation with a Delta Dental official, but that "they didn't give me the raw data. It's just something they told me."^[21]

In 2021, a 2012 paper written by Francesca Gino, Max H. Bazerman, Nina Mazar, Lisa L Shu, and Ariely was discovered to be based on falsified data and was subsequently retracted.^{[22][16][23][24][25][26][27]} In 2024, Ariely told Business Insider that Duke had completed a three-year investigation that, according to him, concluded that data from the paper had been falsified but found no evidence that Ariely had used fake data knowingly.^[28] However, Ariely's claim about the outcome of the investigation has not been corroborated by other sources, with Duke University declining to comment on the grounds of confidentiality.^[29]

In July 2021, the journal Psychological Science challenged a 2004 paper by James Heyman and Ariely, "prompted by some uncertainty regarding the values of statistical tests reported in the article and the analytic approach taken to the data".^[30] The authors were unable to resolve the ambiguities, because the original participant-level data was no longer available. A follow-up analysis, and a letter to the editor by Gregory Francis from the Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, demonstrated that the problem in the paper could be a simple reporting error in which t-statistics were reported as F-statistics by mistake. Francis also showed that this error does not negate the findings in the original article.^[31]

In November 2022, the Israeli TV investigative show Hamakor (Channel 13), aired an episode^[32][33] questioning a number of Ariely's studies that were not reproducible or whose reliability was dubious in terms of the way they were carried out, the data collected, or whether the studies were carried out at all. For example, Ariely claimed that data for his "Ten Commandments" study were collected in 2004–2005 at UCLA with the assistance of Aimee Drolet Rossi. However, despite being thanked in the 2004 paper for collecting the data almost 20 years later, Rossi denies having run the study,^[34][35] and UCLA has issued a statement that the study did not take place there.^[34]

Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

On January 30, 2026, the United States Department of Justice released a tranche of around 3,000,000 documents from an archive previously collected by the FBI in relation to their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's various child sex crimes. It revealed that Ariely had a longstanding relationship with Epstein, including having visited him at his New York home on several occasions.^[36] One of the documents is an image of an email from Ariely to Epstein, in which he requests the name and email of a "redhead" that Epstein had previously introduced to him.^[37][38][39] Following claims made about his association with Epstein, Ariely published a response in the student newspaper Duke Chronicle, stating, "...the contact I had with Jeffrey Epstein was infrequent, largely logistical, often mediated by assistants".^[40] The New York Times subsequently reported further on Ariely's relationship with Epstein, including Ariely asking Epstein for funding for a film he was making in 2014, seeking travel tips, and accepting a tour of a Ferrari factory arranged by Epstein.^[41] Ariely is named 636 times in the Epstein files,^[36] which reveal that his friendship with Epstein lasted for nine years, including well after Epstein was initially charged with soliciting sex from a minor.^[42] Ariely also suggested that Epstein use learnings from his research to help rehabilitate his public image, stating via email, "If you want to talk about where to take this research or other questions...[l]et me know."^[43]

Early in his career, Ariely co-founded the behavioral economics consulting firm BEworks, which was acquired by Kyu in 2017.^[44]

In 2012, aspiring to develop a time management app that helps people "use time better" and avoid procrastination, Ariely co-founded Timeful with Yoav Shoham and Jacob Bank.^[45][2] The app was acquired by Google in 2015.^[2]

In 2013, Ariely and Kristen Berman co-founded Irrational Labs, a consulting firm aimed at applying behavioral economics to consumer behavior and decision-making.^[46]

In 2014, Ariely co-founded the kitchen appliance company Genie with Ayelet Carasso-Stenberg and Doron Marco.^[47] Genie manufactures a food "replicator" that cooks freeze-dried meals in cartridges.^[48]

In 2015, Ariely invested in Qapital, a personal finance app, and was appointed as its chief behavioral economist.^[49] He was later named chair of the board.^[50]

In 2015, Ariely gave a talk at Google about dating and relationships, discussing what women want from men, including how women's attraction to men varies depending where they are in their menstrual cycle.^[51] This was one of many talks Ariely collaborated with Google on over several years, including, for example, a talk about how people rationalize cheating.^[52] In 2015, Google acquired a startup Ariely cofounded with Stanford computer science professor Yoav Shoham, called Timeful.^[53]

In 2016, he took on the position of chief behavioral officer at Lemonade, an insurance company that integrates aspects of behavioral economics into its insurance model.^[49][54]

Ariely's entrepreneurial ventures also include founding Shapa in 2017, a company focused on health monitoring and behavior change.^[55]

Ariely has appeared in several documentary films and television productions.

In 2011, he worked on the documentary The Flaw, which investigates the causes of the 2008 financial crisis. In it, Ariely explained and presented scientific data on the forces that shape human behavior, motivation, and decision-making.^[56][57]

In 2015, Ariely appeared in another documentary, (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies. It explores three key themes: why people lie, how often they do it, and the consequences of dishonest behavior.^[58]

Ariely contributed to Boom Bust Boom, a 2015 documentary about economic crashes.^[59]

In 2019, he appeared in The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, a documentary that tracks the rise and fall of Theranos.^[60]

In 2022, he contributed to Why Like This? Lama Kacha, a Hebrew television series broadcast on Kan 11. In it, Ariely distilled complex scientific concepts and provided accessible explanations for the forces that shape human behavior, motivation, and decision-making.^[61]

Ariely has also presented talks at several TED, with titles such as "Our Buggy Moral Code" and "Unraveling the Mysteries of Human Behavior".^[62][63]

"Ask Ariely" WSJ advice column

From June 2012 to September 2022, Ariely contributed a weekly advice column titled "Ask Ariely" to The Wall Street Journal.^[64]

The Irrational TV show

Ariely's life, research, and best-selling book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions inspired the NBC television series The Irrational,^[65][66] which premiered on September 25, 2023.^[65][67] The show's protagonist, Professor Alec Mercer, who is portrayed by Jesse L. Martin, was based on Ariely.^[68][28]

(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies

Directed by Yael Melamede and released in 2015, (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies is a documentary film exploring dishonesty in contemporary society.^[69] Ariely presents the film, offering analysis on the psychological mechanisms that drive deceit. With references to behavioral experiments and anecdotes—from athletic and academic cheating to political scandals—Ariely draws on his research on behavioural economics and irrationality to shed light on why and how people lie. Numerous people make appearances in the documentary, including the author and marketer Ryan Holiday, to share their personal experiences with dishonesty and lies.^[70]

The Adventures of Professor D

In 2024, Ariely published a children's graphic novel titled Professor D Takes Control, illustrated by Omer Hoffman. It is the first in a planned three-part series.^[71][72] The book is about a character named Professor D, who "gets into all kinds of trouble" and "uses social science" to get out of it.^[73]

Books

• Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (2008; second edition in 2012). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061353239
• The Upside of Irrationality (2010). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062008565
• The Honest Truth about Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves (2012; second edition in 2013). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062298553
• Behavioral Economics Saved My Dog: Life Advice for the Imperfect Human (2015). Oneworld. ISBN 9781780748177
• Irrationally Yours: On Missing Socks, Pick-up Lines, and Other Existential Puzzles (2015). HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062380012
• Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations (2016). Simon & Schuster / TED. ISBN 9781501120053
• Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter (2017). Co-authored with Jeff Kreisler. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062651228
• Small Change: Money Mishaps and How to Avoid Them (2018). Co-authored with Jeff Kreisler. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781509889167
• Amazing Decisions: The Illustrated Guide to Improving Business Deals and Family Meals (2019, illustrated by Matt R. Trower), Farrar, Straus and Giroux.ISBN 9781466899544
• Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things (2023), Bonnier Books UK. ISBN 9781785120787

Selected publications

• Ariely, Dan; Loewenstein, George; Prelec, Drazen (2003), "Coherent Arbitrariness: Stable demand curves without stable preferences", The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118 (1): 73–106, doi:10.1162/00335530360535153, archived from the original on April 4, 2012
• Ariely, Dan (2000), "Controlling information flow: Effects on consumers' decision making and preference", Journal of Consumer Research, 27 (2): 233–248, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.203.1798, doi:10.1086/314322
• Ariely, Dan; Wertenbroch, Klaus (2002), "Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment" (PDF), Psychological Science, 13 (3): 219–224, doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00441, PMID 12009041, S2CID 3025329
• Heyman, James; Ariely, Dan (2004), "Effort for Payment: A Tale of Two markets" (PDF), Psychological Science, 15 (11): 787–793(7), doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00757.x, PMID 15482452, S2CID 8573184
• Carmon, Ziv; Ariely, Dan (2000), "Focusing on the Forgone: Why Value can Appear so Different to Buyers and Sellers" (PDF), Journal of Consumer Research, 27 (3): 360–370, doi:10.1086/317590
• Shiv, Baba; Carmon, Ziv; Ariely, Dan (2005), "Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions: Consumers May Get What They Pay For" (PDF), Journal of Marketing Research, XXII (4): 383–393, doi:10.1509/jmkr.2005.42.4.383, S2CID 14170707
• Mazar, Nina; Ariely, Dan (2006), "Dishonesty in Everyday Life and Its Policy Implications" (PDF), Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 25 (1): 117–126, doi:10.1509/jppm.25.1.117, S2CID 2813683
• Lee, Leonard; Frederick, Shane; Ariely, Dan (2006), "Try it, you'll like it: The influence of expectation, consumption, and revelation on preferences for beer" (PDF), Psychological Science, 17 (12): 1054–1058, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01829.x, PMID 17201787, S2CID 1252769
• Ariely, Dan; Gregory S. Berns (March 3, 2010). "Neuromarketing: the hope and hype of neuroimaging in business" (PDF). Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 11 (4): 284–292. doi:10.1038/nrn2795. PMC 2875927. PMID 20197790. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 11, 2013.
• Ariely, Dan; Michael I. Norton; Daniel Mochon (July 2012). "The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love" (PDF). Journal of Consumer Psychology. 3. 22 (3): 453–460. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.08.002. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 20, 2014.