Swayed

I read a book recently called Sway by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman. Sway discusses irrational behavior, a topic with which I am obsessed. The book was not as interesting to read as I'd hoped. It was a cursory survey of studies showing the humans are irrational, which (I think) most people know. Though the studies themselves were interesting, the book was strikingly lacking in analysis. For example, the book didn't explore why people think they are so rational in the first place. There also seemed to be no acknowledgement in the book that at least some people (myself included) are fully aware that they are engaging in irrational behavior, yet continue to do so. I would have felt more satisfied if the book had explored at least one interesting angle like that. (Incidentally, the lack of meta-analysis in the book left me feeling empty and likely contributed to the existential crisis I am now experiencing.)

One particular irrationality in human behavior that was not discussed in Sway is the need to have a rational explanation for everything. At least I think it is irrational to expect everything (particularly things that concern human emotions) to have a rational basis.

To me some of the most absurd attempts at rationalization tend to concern the basis of human sexual attraction. When I wrote "Night and Day", one of my earliest blog posts, I was thinking of how people try to explain why they are attracted to someone. It usually doesn't add up. People can often think of "reasons" or qualities about a person that makes the person attractive, but you can often find the same qualities in other people, and even the same combination of qualities, yet be repulsed by the other person.

I argue that sometimes it doesn't make sense to try to explain. Sometimes it makes more sense to let yourself be swayed.