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Gwyn Duus

Word Count: 3043

Citation Style: MLA

5/7/2021

The Application of Dan Ariely’s Findings in Predictably Irrational to the Fictional Works of

Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Camus’ The Plague

We tend to make decisions that we think are irrational, but Dan Ariely found that many

of our decisions are in fact predictable. His book, Predictably Irrational, shows his findings in a

variety of ways, such as his own experiences, those of other individuals, and experiments he had

conducted alongside others. Ariely’s focus on these decisions is mainly observed through an

economic lens, however, this paper will apply three of his findings to the fictional works of

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and The Plague by Albert Camus. These

findings will be applied both in and out of economic situations. The three findings being applied

are the high price of ownership, the effect of expectations, and the cycle of distrust.

We tend to hold a high value over our belongings, whether big or small. As Ariely states,

“the ownership of something increases its value in the owner’s eyes” (170), and “we overvalue

everything we own” (180). This concept can be applied to Dostoyevsky’s Crime and

Punishment. The focus of the story is on Raskolnikov’s plan to kill an old pawnbroker. The first

example of Ariely’s high price of ownership can be seen when Raskolnikov goes to the

pawnbroker and asks for four roubles, and she ends up giving him one rouble and fifteen

copecks. He valued the watch more than she did because it was his father's (5-6). He held it at a

higher value than the stockbroker because it had been his father's and therefore, he had more of a

connection and value to it. Since the pawnbroker had been known for cheating people out of
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their money, it was not surprising that she would give him less, and she did not see the same

value in it that Raskolnikov did.

Ariely also states that ownership “is not limited to material things. It can also apply to

points of view. Once we take ownership of an idea […] what do we do? We love it perhaps more

than we should” (180). This can be applied to Raskolnikov’s way of thinking, but it can also be

applied to Raskolnikov’s view of the pawnbroker’s life. Since he sees the pawnbroker as a

“sickly, stupid, ill-natured old woman” who “does not deserve to live” (Dostoyevsky 54), he sees

more value in her death than her life, and she held more value to her life. She was also in

possession of money and many valuable things, as Raskolnikov “resolved to gain possession of

the old woman’s money and use it for [his] first years without worrying [his] mother, to keep

[himself] at the university and for a little while after leaving it” (Dostoyevsky 326-327). The

high price of ownership that she had, as well as the way she cheated people out of their money,

resulted in her death.

Ariely’s findings on the high price of ownership can also be applied to Albert Camus’

The Plague. Oran was closed off due to the plague, so supplies were not coming into the town.

Prices rose because of this, with businesses in possession of food and alcohol. It was noted that

“though prices soared inevitably, never had so much money been squandered, and while bare

necessities were often lacking, never had so much been spent on superfluities” (Camus 198). It

was also shown that “the Prefect took measures controlling the traffic and the food supply. Gas

was rationed and restrictions were placed on the sale of foodstuffs” (Camus 79). Businesses had

the high price of ownership, benefitting from raised prices and increased sales during the plague.

An instance of individual ownership can be seen through a story that Cottard told of a

grocer “who had laid by masses of canned provisions with the idea of selling them at a big profit.
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[…] ‘He died in the hospital There’s no money in plague, that’s sure’” (Camus 80). This man put

a high value on food, planning to sell them for more than they were normally worth. The price of

ownership during the plague in Oran can be easily seen through the businesses, and it seems that

the people of Oran were happy to pay more to feel as though everything was still normal.

The first area of Ariely’s findings, the high price of ownership, can be applied to both

Crime and Punishment and The Plague from an economic viewpoint. The stockbroker placing a

lower monetary value on items that the owner places a higher personal value on clearly shows

the high price of ownership as Ariely explained it. The value of basic goods such as gas and food

during the quarantine placed a higher value on them, and in this case, the people were happy to

pay that high price for a feeling of normalcy. Outside of an economic viewpoint, the value the

pawnbroker holds on her life and ownership of her things is not as high as Raskolnikov views the

price of the material things she owns, putting her life below that and killing her.

Ariely also discusses the effect of expectations and says that “although expectations can

make us look foolish from time to time, they are also very powerful and useful” (215). Ariely

also states that “expectations play a huge role in the way we end up experiencing things” (222).

Raskolnikov was made a fool of his expectations in the end. He had expected his plan to murder

the pawnbroker to go off well, but those expectations are shattered when her sister comes in. He

then has to kill her too, an innocent woman whom he held no ill will toward. He becomes

incredibly ill and delirious after killing the pawnbroker, and nothing goes as he expected.

In the article “Going inside Crime and Punishment: The Oranges of Anti-Rehabilitative

Justice,” Anna King explains that Raskolnikov is lured “through a series of cognitive

rationalizations and distortions into believing that if he has ‘the daring’ to transcend the laws of

man, he will have proved himself a man capable of changing history” (102). His expectations
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that he would become some sort of hero by killing the pawnbroker play a part in how poorly he

responds to her sister showing up, and he is ill throughout the rest of the book, likely in part due

to the fact that he killed the innocent woman alongside the pawnbroker when his expectation was

that she would be home alone.

C. Uwasomba also explains Raskolnikov’s thought process in their article "A Socio-

Psychological Exploration of Dostoyevsky’s Crime And Punishment," stating that “based on

very superficial and weak thinking, and influenced by certain unrealized ideas in his head, he

decides to quickly get out of a difficult situation by killing an old woman of sixty years […]

whom he had been patronizing” (Uwasomba 287). Raskolnikov had high expectations for the

murder of the pawnbroker, as he knew that others were not fond of her, and he thought he would

come out a hero by killing the evil old lady.

As stated before, when his expectations of a flawless plan were ruined when the sister

showed up, he was then responsible for killing a kind and innocent woman, and his expectations

regarding the outcome drastically changed to the point where his physical and mental health

suffered greatly. Ariely noted that expectations are powerful and play a role in how we

experience things, and Raskolnikov’s unrealistic expectations played a role in how he

experienced both the murders and his reality after.

Expectations play a role in The Plague as well. The townspeople assume that their

quarantine will end quickly. When the citizens of Oran would think of how long the “exile”

would last and realized it could be longer than their expected six months, they were devastated

and:
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“the collapse of their courage, willpower, and endurance was so abrupt that they felt they

could never drag themselves out of the pit of despond into which they had fallen.

Therefore they forced themselves never to think about the problematic day of escape, to

cease looking to the future, and always to keep […]their eyes fixed on the ground at their

feet” (Camus 72-73).

The citizens realized that this would not pass by quickly, and they lost their hope in this, so their

expectations were shifted from positive to negative. It is also described how “they drifted

through life rather than lived […] they came to know the incorrigible sorrow of all prisoners and

exiles” (Camus 73). If they had expected a longer quarantine, they would likely have been

happier and more prepared for the reality of their situation.

Ariely states that “positive expectations allow us to enjoy things more and improve our

perception of the world around us. The danger of expecting nothing is that, in the end, it might

be all we’ll get” (223). The citizens of Oran were in the middle of this spectrum, because while

they had positive expectations, they were not realistic, which impacted their perception of the

world around them.

One man who is an exception to this sorrow the citizens face from the reality of their

unrealistic expectations is Cottard. Tarrou describes Cottard as some who “is happily at one with

all around him, with their superstitions, their groundless panics, the susceptibilities of people

whose nerves are always on the stretch; with their fixed idea of talking the least possible about

plague and nevertheless talking of it all the time” (Camus 197). Cottard is pleased by the

quarantine. He is not a social person, and his expectation of the quarantine lasting a long time,

opposite of the expectations most citizens had, brings him joy. John Krapp describes Cottard’s

feelings towards the quarantine lifting as such:

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“Cottard, who stands to lose the most when the epidemic fizzles out, is leery of an

absolute forgetting and accompanying return to the social organization that prevailed in

Oran prior to the plague. He is not interested in the development of moral consciousness

and solidarity. Cottard remains concerned only with himself. He gambles on Tarrou’s

prediction that all sorts of bureaucratic problems will arise and require a revised public

administration once the furore [sic] dies down” (673).

Furthermore, Krapp demonstrates exactly where Cottard’s expectations, both his personal beliefs

and his reliance on Tarrou’s predictions, land him. He “ends up entangled in a system of justice

whose function is to blot out the past and preserve the kind of static social order he so desires”

(673). The people of Oran have the expectation that the quarantine won’t last long and the plague

will quickly die down, and they are disappointed in the harsh reality of the long quarantine, while

Cottard is one of the few who seem to thrive as his expectations of a quiet, anti-social society are

met during the quarantine.

The effect of expectations can be applied to both of these works outside of an economic

viewpoint. Raskolnikov’s expectations of how his plan for murdering the pawnbroker will go,

and his idea that he would be some sort of hero for it, are unrealistic, which he comes to see after

he commits the murders. He had expected the old woman to be home alone and had not

accounted for her sister showing up. His expectations were unrealistic, so they were not met, and

he was shattered by the effects of this. Similarly, the people of Oran had expected a short

quarantine and that things would not change while they were quarantined. This was not the case,

as their expectations were also unrealistic, so they became depressed and felt like prisoners once

they realized this. Cottard is an example of someone who was positively impacted by the
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expectations of a long quarantine, as he is not a social persona and therefore thrives in the social

environment created by the quarantine.

Ariely also talks about the cycle of distrust and how “human beings are inherently social

and trusting animals, and we tend to believe in one another even in the face of clear rational

reasons not to do so” (265) yet “trust, once eroded, is very hard to restore” (269). Raskolnikov is

a very anti-social individual, purposefully avoiding people and going out of his way to avoid

being noticed by others. This dislike of others can be seen at the beginning of the novel when he

is on his way to meet with the pawnbroker:

“He was so badly dressed that even a man accustomed to shabbiness would have been

ashamed to be seen in the street in such rags. […] But there was such accumulated

bitterness and contempt in the young man’s heart that, in spite of all the fastidiousness of

youth, he minded his rags least of all in the street. It was a different matter when he met

with acquaintances or with former fellow students, whom, indeed, he disliked meeting at

any time” (Dostoyevsky 2).

This passage shows that Raskolnikov dresses poorly to avoid being noticed by others, and even

when he was meeting with people he knew, he disliked it. Raskolnikov is not a trusting or social

person, and throughout the novel, he is seen to be rude towards others he does not know well,

clearly going out of his way so as to not have to talk to others.

He clearly distrusts the pawnbroker, as stated earlier, and she is seen as a “sickly, stupid,

ill-natured old woman” who “does not deserve to live” (Dostoyevsky 54). Ariely notes that

“we’ve become more distrustful – not only of those who are trying to swindle us but of
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everyone” (252). Raskolnikov is distrustful of the pawnbroker because she is known to swindle

others, but there are many others whom Raskolnikov is distrustful towards.

Another person whom Raskolnikov shows a clear distrust for is Luzhin, whom his sister

Dounia is set to marry. After learning that Dounia is to marry Luzhin, Raskolnikov’s “bitterness

grew more and more intense, and if he had happened to meet Mr. Luzhin at the moment, he

might have murdered him” (Dostoyevsky 34). Uwasomba describes Luzhin as “a calculating

manipulator who knows how to exploit his helpless victims” (289) which supports Raskolnikov’s

views of Luzhin as an untrustworthy man.

Another character who is distrusting of others is the pawnbroker herself, shown when

Raskolnikov meets with her at the beginning of the novel. She is described to have “eyed her

visitor with evident distrust” and later when “a gleam of mistrust came into her eyes again”

(Dostoyevsky 4). When Raskolnikov brings a pledge to her later on, she “looked intently,

maliciously, and mistrustfully” (Dostoyevsky 62). The pawnbroker is seen to be disliked by

many, so it is clear why she would not be trusting of others since she swindles people out of their

money and has possibly had customers try to swindle her before. After bringing her the pledge

and invading her home unannounced, she is likely even more mistrusting of Raskolnikov since

he is on edge and showed up unannounced.

In The Plague, Tarrou says that while people “have an instinctive craving for human

contact, [they] can’t bring themselves to yield to it, because of the mistrust that keeps them apart.

For its common knowledge that you can’t trust your neighbor; he may pass the disease to you

without your knowing it” (Camus 199). The people in Oran are unable to fully trust others

because they do not want to catch the plague from someone. However, many of the characters

focused on in the novel do not seem distrustful of others, rather wary in the sense that they do not
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know who may be carrying and spreading the plague. Cottard is the one character who has a

clear distrust for others in general and the plague makes him feel more at home as it fits into his

ideal lifestyle.

Ariely’s findings on distrust can be applied within an economic viewpoint in Crime and

Punishment, as the pawnbroker does not trust Raskolnikov and he does not trust her (so neither

trusts the other to sell a good deal or pay for one), but it can also be applied to both novels

outside of an economic viewpoint. Raskolnikov does not trust Luzhin and does to want his sister

to marry him. He does not believe that he would treat his sister well and knows that she only

plans to marry him for money. Raskolnikov is not a very trusting person in general, with this

being shown multiple times throughout the novel. The people of Oran also show mistrust outside

of an economic viewpoint. They do not trust others because they do not know who may be

carrying and spreading the plague, and their cycle of distrust may likely continue after their

quarantine.

Of Ariely’s findings, these three are applicable to the fictional works of Crime and

Punishment and The Plague. The high price of ownership can be applied to both novels, at an

individual level as well as a more generalized economic level. The effect of expectations impacts

the outcome of Raskolnikov’s situation as well as the lives of those in Oran. Finally, the cycle of

distrust can be shown through Raskolnikov’s character towards the pawnbroker and Luzhin, and

through Cottard in The Plague. Ariely’s findings in these three areas hold true, both in and out of

economic situations, even when applied to fictional work such as Dostoyevsky’s Crime and

Punishment and Camus’ The Plague. By applying Ariely’s findings to fictional works, it shows

the accuracy of them within both reality and fiction, as well as in and out of an economic

viewpoint.
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Works Cited

Ariely, Dan. Predictably Irrational. Brooklyn. HarperCollins, 2009.

Camus, Albert. The Plague. New York. Vintage International, 1991.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. Dover Publications, 2001.

King, Anna. “Going inside Crime and Punishment: The Oranges of Anti-Rehabilitative Justice.”

Journal of Theoretical & Philosophical Criminology, vol. 9, no. 2, Aug. 2017, pp. 99–

117. EBSCOhost,

https://ssuproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru

e&db=i3h&AN=127590874&scope=site.

Krapp, John. “Time and Ethics in Albert Camus’s ‘The Plague.’” University of Toronto

Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 2, 1999, pp. 655–676. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.3138/utq.68.2.655.

Uwasomba, C. "A Socio-Psychological Exploration of Dostoyevsky’s Crime And Punishment."

Ife Psychologia, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 280-297. ProQuest,

https://ssuproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-

journals/socio-psychological-exploration-dostoyevskys/docview/856362213/se-

2?accountid=28768.