Works like this one by Dan Ariely shows us the extent to which we are not in control of ourselves. This illusion of control is one of the major insights of indian thinkers. But for the last few centuries, indian thought has been derided  by western scholarship as world-denying and pretty much worthless. It reminds me of Albiruni, who commenting on indian number system said, we were foolishly obsessed with big numbers when all man needed was a system of counting till one thousand.

Dan Ariely in this talk,  explains the concept of cognitive bias with remarkable examples.