The study of irrational behavior is of interest in fields such a psychology, cognitive science, economics, game theory and evolutionary psychology, as well as of practical interest to the practitioners of advertising and propaganda.
Theories of irrational behavior include:
People’s actual interest differ from what they believe to be their interests.
Mechanisms that have evolved to give optimal behavior in normal conditions lead to irrational behavior in abnormal conditions.
Situations are outside of one’s ordinary circumstances, where one may experience intense levels of fear, or may regress to a fight-or-flight mentality.
People fail to realize the irrationality of their actions and believe they are acting perfectly rationally, possibly due to flaws in their reasoning.
Apparently irrational decisions are actually optimal, but made unconsciously on the basis of “hidden” interests that are known to the conscious mind.
People have the inability to comprehend the social consequences of one’s own actions, possibly due in part to a lack of empathy.
Some people find themselves in this condition by living “double” lives. They try to put one “mask” for one group of people and another for a different group of people. Many will become confused as to which they really are or which they wish to become.
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