Humans are not rational

One of the main reasons I no longer have any respect for rationalism is that so much of life is counter-intuitive.  People's behavior, especially.  Perhaps it is only counter-intuitive to those of us of a certain age have been taught how important it is to be nice, turn the other cheek, do unto others, etc. This is why red-pilling was such a bombshell to many, because it revealed how animalistic people's motivations are, especially our own.

Even after being red-pilled, I am still constantly taken by surprise at how my fellow humans function.  Even though I know it is true, I still struggle with how I have to manipulate my students.  Here is an example:

In one class, my students are called upon to complete some legal forms.  The legal forms are not provided.  I know from long and bitter experience that if I provide the forms up front, the students will complain about all of the hard work the assignment requires because some of the forms cannot be simply filled out, and must be retyped.  If, however, I give the students the assignment without the forms, and only provide them less than 24 hours before the assignment is due, the students are grateful because I swooped in to save them in the last minute.  This seems counter-intuitive to me, because the behavior is not rational.  It is, however, predictable and observable.