Behavioral Economics is exciting and unsettling. The research also can be used by employees in order to be overcompensated by their bosses! Likewise it can be

Behavioral Economics is exciting and unsettling. The research also can be used by employees in order to be overcompensated by their bosses! Likewise it can be used to get faster promotions or increase an employee's chances they are chosen to keep their job vs being among those given pink slips should layoffs ever happen at their employer. In my experience I have seen more employees discover and utilize insights from behavioral economics to their advantage than I have seen instances of managers using it to exploit their employees. Employees who spend a bunch of time researching best strategies to ask for a raise are often way more prepared for such a meeting than their manager. After a raise, is the new higher salary "fair compensation"? Or is it now "overcompensation"?...Who knows, there is no right answer to this. That is part of Ariely's point. Things like "fairly compensated" or "under compensated" are really subjective - one should be careful not to apply their own such value statements too broadly. everyone needs to chill and rethink their assumptions. Also don't worry too much. This stuff mainly only matters at the margins (hence these things are "hidden").