Description

Dan Ariely – A Beginner’s Guide to Irrational BehaviorAbout the CourseBehavioral economics and the closely related field of behavioral finance couple scientific research on the psychology of decision making with economic theory to better understand what motivates investors, employees, and consumers. This course will be based heavily on my own research. We will examine topics such as how emotion rather than cognition determines economic decisions, “irrational” patterns of thinking about money and investments, how expectations shape perceptions, economic and psychological analyses of dishonesty by presumably honest people, and how social and financial incentives combine to motivate labor by everyday workers and CEOs alike. This highly interdisciplinary course will be relevant to all human beings. This class has two main goals: 1. To introduce you to the range of cases where people (consumers, investors, managers, and significant others) make decisions that are inconsistent with standard economic theory and the assumptions of rational decision making. This is the lens of behavioral economics. 2. To help you think creatively about the applications of behavioral economic principles for the development of new products, technology based products, public policies, and to understand how business and social policy strategies could be modified with a deeper understanding of the effects these principles have on employees and customers.Recommended BackgroundCuriosity about human nature.Suggested ReadingsI will cover some of the material that is in my 3 books Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (2008), The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home (2010), and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves (2012). Course Introductionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzSfmkbQClkCourse Webpagehttps://www.coursera.org/course/behavioraleconUploader’s CommentsI cannot recommend this course enough! It is an absolute eye-opener that will have a long-lasting effect in how you view businesses, relationships and the world overall!I have compiled pretty much all of the material I could find, including:Videos of lectures by Dan Ariely and guest speakersLecture slidesMindmaps from two different authorsWiki entries that include links to additional materials (webpages, PDFs and videos), both serious and fun!Office Hour videos where Dan answers questions by studentsGoogle Hangout recordingsAn exclusive preview of a new documentary named Slippery SlopesAnd pretty much every video they have posted on the course home page If you’re feeling lazy to go through all the material, don’t worry, you can benefit from this, too! Just by downloading the lectures on the topics of your interest (they’re all named for your convenience) and watching them even once, you can instantly pick up many tips and generate many ideas to help you improve your business, family and life in general. I’m not exaggerating; I was there!Enjoy!Irrationally Yours,trionfanteP.S. As an additional tip, I would recommend you to add mindmaps to your Evernote account — it will OCR the images and make them searchable — and thank me later.