Sway: The Irresistible Pull Of Irrational Behavior

In Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, authors Ori and Rom Brafman create multiple theories and claims that deeply elaborate on why humans act in certain manners. One of such postulations articulates the idea that people are susceptible to labeling others due to initial opinions. To support such claim, the Brafmans use a study on the effect of description: a professor is either described as “‘warm’ or cold’” and this causes students to give the professor a “high or low value” (Brafman 73). This instance, along with many others in the book, demonstrate the claim that people inevitably label, whether it is intended or not. In addition, multiple outside sources further support this claim. For instance, an article by Harold Kelley

To elaborate, this claim can be supported with evidence found in both their book and reliable sources. In Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, an experiment is described in which teachers who had the highest attendance in their classrooms were given a bonus. As a result, the teachers became less concerned about teaching curriculum and more interested in creating engaging classroom environments with a production of more attendance with lower test scores. Teachers became “pitted” against themselves because of the conflicting parts of the brain: the “pleasure centers” and the “altruism centers” (Braufman 146-147). This exemplifies that their claim is accurate because their evidence shows that teachers were willing to forfeit the opportunity to successfully teach kids for the financial incentive. Similarly, in Gregory Hamel’s article, “Negatives of Motivating Employees With Financial Rewards,” he explains that, when offered money, employees create an “every man for himself” tone which creates inconsistency within the workplace. Negative effects of an individualized workplace include a lack of communication amongst employees; coworkers will fight over work loads because the more work that is completed, the higher their bonus is. Furthermore, the inconsistency of monetary incentives may cause people to get a large bonus one year, and a small bonus the next: this can lead to a lack in confidence in their performance at work. This supports what the Braufman’s are concluding in their writing because it shows the negative effects monetary influences inflict upon people. This is a credible source because the author, Gregory Hamel, has a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Economics and has written 3 novels since mid-2008. Additionally, Alfie Kohn, author of “Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work,” found how the Harvard Business Review explains that monetary