The Effect Of Expectations Chapter 1 Analysis

In Chapter 9, “The Effect of Expectations” by Dan Ariely, the reader finds that expectations can influence nearly every aspect of our lives. Ariely introduced many examples for the reader to fully understand the chapter. He began the chapter by talking about a sports rivalry between his favored Philadelphia Eagles and his roommates’ team, the New York City Giants. He explained how at the end of the game the Eagles player made an amazing catch inside the endzone but the two friends started arguing. The Giants fan said that the receiver caught the ball out of bounds and that he could not believe that the referee did not see it. Because of his loyalty to his favorite team, the Giants fan anticipated that his team would win. This ultimately influenced …show more content…
At the time this episode aired the Apple Watch was merely a rumor and no one had ever seen it before or knew how it functioned. The show decided to approach people a device that they claimed was the new Apple Watch and recorded their response. Everyone believed that it was an Apple product despite it being a Casio watch because of the sticker placement. They loved Apple products so much that they disregarded the fact that it was a cheap watch. When asked whether they liked the product, one person stated that they just like the Apple logo on the back of the watch. Another stated that because it is Apple they would purchase that product. They expected that since they said it is an apple product then it must be of superior quality. This can also be related to the story told in that chapter about the pearl king in the sense that he asked Harry Winston, a famous gemstone dealer, to help sell the product. In this case, Winston is like Apple because it is a very well-known company with high quality products. Despite the black pearls being a less desirable product, people would buy it anyway just because Harry Winston chose to display it in his …show more content…
From watching sports games to serving different beers, the effect of expectations can be found everywhere throughout society. Ariely describes in the chapter that the effect of expectations can cloud one’s judgement. He provided the example with the football game in which two friends saw the same exact play differently because of their loyalty for that team. He also provided another example in which he conducted an experiment and found that if you tell someone to expect it to taste bad, most likely they will agree with you because of their expectations which clouded their perception. I find it fascinating to realize that this effect on expectations can be applied to countless things in our