Psychology and Economic Behaviour

People buy and consume products, they gamble, they negotiate, and save money for their children. All these behaviours are examples of economic decisions that are governed by psychological processes. In this course, you will learn what psychology can contribute to the understanding of economic decisions and we will discuss how knowledge about psychology and economic behaviour can be used in practice. Can companies use it to help us make better choices? And can governments use insights from economic psychology to improve public policy?

This course will consist of lectures and tutorials. During the lectures, the teachers will give an overview of research and practice in the field of economic psychology. During the tutorials, students will learn how to apply psychological theory to economic problems. They will conduct an experiment and write a report on the way in which research findings can inform us about potential solutions to real-life problems. Assessment consists of individual and group assignments as well as an exam.

At the end of the course the student is able to:
• understand the main psychological phenomena at play in economic decisions
• design and conduct an experiment in the field of economic psychology
• reflect upon the implications of research findings for real-life situations

Although students are assumed to have a basic understanding of classical economic theories and relevant theories from the social sciences, we will also briefly touch upon these topics at the beginning of the course.

• Book Economic Psychology (ISBN 9781118926345)