200081 SE Advanced Seminar: Mind and Brain (2023S)
Behavioral Economics and Neuroeconomics
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
Vertiefungsseminare können nur für das Pflichtmodul B verwendet werden! Eine Verwendung für das Modul A4 Freie Fächer ist nicht möglich.
Registration/Deregistration
Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).
- Registration is open from Th 02.02.2023 09:00 to Th 23.02.2023 09:00
- Deregistration possible until Fr 03.03.2023 09:00
Details
max. 20 participants
Language: English
Lecturers
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
This course will be semi-blocked during the first part of the semester. During March, April and the first half of May there will be twice-weekly meetings on Mondays and Tuesdays at 16:45-18:15
Monday
06.03.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal H Psychologie KG Liebiggasse 5
Tuesday
07.03.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal D Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0624
Tuesday
14.03.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal F Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5 1. Stock
Monday
20.03.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal E Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5 1. Stock
Tuesday
21.03.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal D Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0624
Monday
17.04.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal H Psychologie KG Liebiggasse 5
Monday
24.04.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal H Psychologie KG Liebiggasse 5
Tuesday
25.04.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal E Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5 1. Stock
Tuesday
02.05.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal H Psychologie KG Liebiggasse 5
Wednesday
03.05.
16:45 - 18:15
Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Monday
08.05.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal H Psychologie KG Liebiggasse 5
Tuesday
09.05.
16:45 - 18:15
Hörsaal E Psychologie, Liebiggasse 5 1. Stock
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Assessment and permitted materials
Students will be assessed based on a mix of short written essays and a structured debate. All assessments can be prepared at home, with only a single limitation on permitted aids: no chatGPT.
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
Since a substantial part of the contents discussed during this course will deviate from a minimal reading of the assigned materials, active class participation will be required to be able to fully digest the wide range of novel topics discussed. Formal assessment will take place via two essays and a structured debate. In these assignments, students are required to provide a concise description of the learned materials, as well as offer a critical reflection on the topics discussed.
Examination topics
At the end of this course, the student is expected to:
• Have a basic understanding of where the fields of behavioral- and neuro-economics are situated within the broader social sciences.
• Have a basic understanding into the concept of “economic rationality”, as well as its place within both the economic and behavioral sciences.
• Have a basic understanding of how rational agents interact with each-other in a social context – that is, have a basic understanding of game theory.
• Be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of economic rationality and the application of game theory as a tool to understand social behavior.
• Be able to derive (on a superficial level) the rational benchmarks associated to economic behavior – as well as how to interpret empirical data against this benchmark.
• Be able to discuss the strengths, promises, pitfalls and weaknesses of the developing field of neuro-economics – as well as understand the logic behind a range of novel methods and paradigms in this field.
• Be able to concisely discuss and debate the pro’s and con’s of rational-agent models, game-theoretical approaches and the wider fields of behavioral- and neuro-economics.
• Have a basic understanding of where the fields of behavioral- and neuro-economics are situated within the broader social sciences.
• Have a basic understanding into the concept of “economic rationality”, as well as its place within both the economic and behavioral sciences.
• Have a basic understanding of how rational agents interact with each-other in a social context – that is, have a basic understanding of game theory.
• Be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of economic rationality and the application of game theory as a tool to understand social behavior.
• Be able to derive (on a superficial level) the rational benchmarks associated to economic behavior – as well as how to interpret empirical data against this benchmark.
• Be able to discuss the strengths, promises, pitfalls and weaknesses of the developing field of neuro-economics – as well as understand the logic behind a range of novel methods and paradigms in this field.
• Be able to concisely discuss and debate the pro’s and con’s of rational-agent models, game-theoretical approaches and the wider fields of behavioral- and neuro-economics.
Reading list
The minimum (required) reading will consist of a series of journal articles and reading provided by the teacher. The journal articles will be announced at the start of the course. The required reading will be split on a topic-by-topic basis, and articles are selected to provide a broad an easily accessible overview for the key concepts discussed during the topics. Additional recommended (optional) materials will also be provided, consisting of a series of journal articles and popular science books.
Association in the course directory
Last modified: Su 05.03.2023 16:08
Since this course will be predominantly aimed at students coming from a behavioral science background (that is, psychology, neuroscience or the cognitive sciences), we will focus on the economics part of behavioral and neuro-economics. The course consists of three four blocks: one introduction block and 3 topic-specific block. During the first topic-specific block we will introduce and discuss the concept of economic rationality on an individual level: what is rational behavior, where are its historical origins, what place does it hold in economic theory and behavioral economics and finally, what are the limitations to rationality. In the second topic-specific block we will build upon rational behavior by exploring the implications of rational behavior for social interactions – that is, how rational principles help us to create a parsimonious framework to frame the interactions between multiple agents. Finally, in the third topic-specific block we will explore what is perhaps the newest field of decision-making research: neuro-economics (oftentimes also referred to as neuro-decision science). During this block we will explore how the combination of economic theories and novel tools in neuroscience can shed a new light on the cognitive processes that underlie our decisions.