Consumer Decisions as a Central Research Topic in Economic Psychology

2011 ◽  
Vol 219 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-254
Author(s):  
Erik Hoelzl ◽  
Erich Kirchler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
International Association ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Economic Psychology ◽  
Consumer Decisions ◽  
Human Decision

This section outlines the increasing interest of the scientific community in economic psychology and behavioral economics as a means to answer questions about human decision making in an economic/consumer context. It gives a quick overview of the activities of important societies in the field, such as the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology and the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, as well as periodicals devoted to psycho-economic research, including a categorization of papers published in the Journal of Economic Psychology in the period 1981–2010.

Personality, Relationships, and Decision Making with Relational Dynamics

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Bathory
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Economic Models ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Dsm V ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Variable Probability

Within the field of Economics there is great interest in predicting the future. In creating Economic Models the rationale has been to create fixed equations that can account for all variables associated with the issues of capital, labor, wages, prices, tariffs and taxes but few models explored the human variable. Probability Statistics bases decision making models upon mathematical predictions. Game Theory is an economic model that begins to explain the rationale of human decision making, but fails to account for flawed thinking and pathology. Relational Dynamics attempts to provide a means of understanding the strategies used in communication and decision making. Within humanity, not all decisions are made rationally and to account for illogical choices, psychology has provided theories of pathology to explain human idiosyncrasies. This paper will explore personality disorders as described by the DSM V and Relational Dynamics in an attempt to understand how pathology influences relationships, decision making and behavioral economics.

Behavioral Decision Theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhisa Takemura
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Theory ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Behavioral Finance ◽  
Utility Theory ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Behavioral Decision Theory ◽  
Behavioral Decision ◽  
Descriptive Theory ◽  
Human Decision

Behavioral decision theory is a descriptive psychological theory of human judgment, decision making, and behavior that can be applied to political science. Behavioral decision theory is closely related to behavioral economics and behavioral finance. Behavioral economics is an attempt to understand actual human economic behavior, and behavioral finance studies human behavior in financial markets. Research on people’s decision making represents an important part of these fields, in which various aspects overlap with the scope of behavioral decision theory. Behavioral decision theory focuses on the decision-making phenomena that are broadly divisible into those under certainty, those under risk, and others under uncertainty that includes ambiguity and ignorance. What are the theoretical frameworks that could be used to explain the decision-making phenomenon? Although numerous theories related to decision making have been developed, they are, in essence, often broadly divided into two types: normative theory and descriptive theory. The former is intended to support rational decision making. The latter describes how people actually make decisions. Both normative and descriptive theories reflect the nature of actual human decision making to a degree. Even descriptive theory seeks a certain level of rationality in actual human decision making. Consequently, the two are mutually indistinguishable. Nonetheless, a major example of normative theory is regarded as the system of utility theory that is widely used in economics. A salient example of descriptive theory is behavioral decision theory. Utility theory has numerous variations, such as linear and nonlinear utility theories. Most theories have established axioms and mathematically developed principles. In contrast, behavioral decision theory covers a considerably wide range of variations of theoretical expressions, including theories that have been developed mathematically (such as prospect theory) and those expressed only with natural language (such as multiattribute decision-making process models). Behavioral decision theory has integrated the implications of the normative theory, descriptive theory, and prescriptive theory that help people to make better decisions.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Ethan Porter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Consumer Decision Making ◽  
Consumer Decision ◽  
Consumer Decisions ◽  
Political Decisions

This chapter blends insights from political science, behavioral economics, history and psychology to lay out the theoretical proposition of the book. The consumer citizen approach has implications for attitudes toward government and government spending, levels of political knowledge, and even whether people sign up for government-sponsored health insurance. Empirical evidence about the incidence of consumer and political decisions is offered. The comparative ubiquity of consumer decisions, I argue, explains why consumer decision-making tools come to be used in political contexts. Ultimately, viewing citizens as consumer citizens means viewing their political behaviors and attitudes as they are, not as some might wish them to be.

Behavioral Economics and Public Policy 102: Beyond Nudging

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 396-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurabh Bhargava ◽  
George Loewenstein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Policy Problems

Policymakers have recently embraced Behavioral Economics as an alternative approach which recognizes the limits and consequences of human decision-making. Early applications of BE (“nudges”) produced notable successes and helped to set the stage for more aggressive applications aimed at the deeper causes of policy problems. We contend that policies that aspire to simplify products and incentives, rather than choice environments, aggressively protect consumers from behavioral exploitation, and leverage BE to enhance the design and implementation of traditional policy instruments offer solutions commensurate with contemporary challenges. Case studies in health insurance, privacy, and climate change illustrate the application of these ideas.

scholarly journals A behavioral economics perspective on the COVID-19 vaccine amid public mistrust

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Londeree Saleska ◽  
Kristen R Choi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Vaccine Decision Making ◽  
To Receive

Abstract The COVID-19 vaccine development, testing, and approval processes have moved forward with unprecedented speed in 2020. Although several vaccine candidates have shown promising results in clinical trials, resulting in expedited approval for public use from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, recent polls suggest that Americans strongly distrust the vaccine and its approval process. This mistrust stems from both the unusual speed of vaccine development and reports about side effects. This article applies insights from behavioral economics to consider how the general public may make decisions around whether or not to receive a future COVID-19 vaccine in a context of frequent side effects and preexisting mistrust. Three common cognitive biases shown to influence human decision-making under a behavioral economics framework are considered: confirmation bias, negativity bias, and optimism bias. Applying a behavioral economics framework to COVID-19 vaccine decision-making can elucidate potential barriers to vaccine uptake and points of intervention for clinicians and public health professionals.

scholarly journals THEORETICAL BASICS AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 68-73
Author(s):  
Marine Natsvaladze
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Optimal Decision ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Value Propositions ◽  
Classical Economic

Traditional Economics looks at the persons as at some kind of rational machine which takes into consideration all available information and then makes optimal decision. Re- ality is rather different. The behavioral economics claims that there is no rational «economic human” and probably will nev- er exist. Person’s behavior is irrational and this irrationality is not random and clueless. Vice-versa - this irrationality is systemic and predictable. Behavioral economics explores what affects people›s economic decisions and the consequences of those decisions for market prices, returns, and resource allocation. Tradition- al economic research assumes that people›s economic deci- sions are based on the rule of maximizing utility. Behavioral economics uses experiments that observe human behavior in order to uncover how we think. Behavior- al economics has been called the science of decision-making. It is a growing academic discipline which uses experiments that observe human behavior in order to uncover how we think. Behavioral economics is about understanding com- mon decision mistakes that people make and why they make them. In particular, a large aspect of behavioral economics is concerned with the gap between intention and action. Classical economic theory assumes that individuals are rational. However, in the real world, we often see irrational behavior – decisions which don›t maximize utility but can cause a loss of economic welfare. It means economists need to take into account the potential for irrationality. Successful marketers must have a profound understand- ing of the consumer’s thought process in order to create a suc- cessful marketing campaign. By understanding the consumer’s decision-making process, marketers are able to develop value propositions that really fit the consumer’s needs. The impor- tance of understanding behavioral economics for marketers is immeasurable as it allows for a better understanding of the human mind. Behavioral economics allows marketing profes- sionals to optimize marketing strategies and get real results. In the article are reviewed applied aspects of behavioral economics, also theoretical and practical results of researches. These results will be useful in company management, for pol- iticians, in private decision making as they give different per- spective to rational-functional models. In case of ignoring the interdisciplinary approaches, integration of economics and psy- chology can result in waste of resources and wrong decisions.

Personality, Relationships, and Decision Making with Relational Dynamics

2016 ◽  
pp. 1405-1422
Author(s):  
David S. Bathory
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Economic Models ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Dsm V ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Variable Probability

Within the field of Economics there is great interest in predicting the future. In creating Economic Models the rationale has been to create fixed equations that can account for all variables associated with the issues of capital, labor, wages, prices, tariffs and taxes but few models explored the human variable. Probability Statistics bases decision making models upon mathematical predictions. Game Theory is an economic model that begins to explain the rationale of human decision making, but fails to account for flawed thinking and pathology. Relational Dynamics attempts to provide a means of understanding the strategies used in communication and decision making. Within humanity, not all decisions are made rationally and to account for illogical choices, psychology has provided theories of pathology to explain human idiosyncrasies. This paper will explore personality disorders as described by the DSM V and Relational Dynamics in an attempt to understand how pathology influences relationships, decision making and behavioral economics.

scholarly journals Towards a Sociology of Regret

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-46
Author(s):  
Mikhail Sokolov
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Expected Utility ◽  
Regret Theory ◽  
Anticipated Regret ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Sunk Cost ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Anticipate Regret

The paper looks into sociological implications of two discussions currently developing in behavioral economics and organizations theory: (1) regret theory, exploring the proposition that human decision making is governed by avoiding anticipated regret, rather than maximizing expected utility, and (2) studies of sunk cost fallacy, consisting in making decisions aimed at justifying previous decisions. We argue that these two areas of theorizing, presently isolated, are dealing with essentially the same phenomenon. This becomes evident if we recognize that choices are organized in sequences, with the merits of each particular choice being evaluated in the light of outcomes of the whole sequence. We then explore some general conditions of the ability to anticipate regret: interaction with one’s future Self and sequential organizations of states an individual find him/herself. We then discuss some widely spread forms of individual adaptations to the threat of experiencing regret: dissonance avoidance, prospective rationalization, cultivation of prescience, de-sequencing and open endings. We further explore various forms of collective actions involving regret avoidance, using the development of the sociological discipline as an example.

scholarly journals THE EVOLUTION OF HOMO ECONOMICUS

2016 ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
N. V. Komarovskaia
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Law And Economics ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Economic Decision Making

The article provides a review of the ways in which interdisciplinary research in modern economic thought gives a more realistic understanding of human behavior and economic decision making. On the one hand, economic imperialism drove wider application of economics methods across social sciences and brought about new interdisciplinary fields, such as law and economics, economic sociology, public choice theory, etc. On the other hand, the origin of behavioral economics, experimental economics, and neuroeconomics bridging psychology, neurobiology, and economics influences the change in the methodology used by the economics itself and fuels transformation of the model of rational economic behavior 'homo economicus', one of the central assumptions of the neoclassical economics. George Akerlof and Robert Shiller's animal spirits, prospect theory of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, research by Amartya Sen, Daniel McFadden, Vernon Smith, and other economists focusing on decision making either significantly limit, or supplement the homo economicus concept providing a deeper insight into the nature of human rationality. Behavioral economics has already become so strong as a separate discipline that it can be classified into two streams - Classical and Modern, and its main principles should be incorporated into a basic course of traditional economics. The achievements of behavioral economics yield higher quality of economic research and forecasting. Interdisciplinary approach to the human behavior studies and transformation of homo economicus offer new tools for the development policy making.

Evaluating Human Decision-Making Theories With Monkey Data

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D. Brown ◽  
Pete Cassey ◽  
Andrew Heathcote ◽  
Roger Ratcliff
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Decision
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