Universität Wien

200141 SE Advanced Seminar: Mind and Brain (2023W)

Behavioral and Neuro-economics

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 20 - Psychologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Vertiefungsseminare können nur fürs Pflichtmodul B verwendet werden! Eine Verwendung fürs Modul A4 Freie Fächer ist nicht möglich.
Moodle

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).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 05.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 12.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 19.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 09.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 16.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 23.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 30.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 07.12. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 14.12. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 11.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 18.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
  • Thursday 25.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The course Behavioral and Neuro-Economics will provide an introduction to the (relatively) new fields of behavioral economics and neuro-economics; or, depending on your choice of phrasing, into the fields of decision science and neuro-decision science. This course focusses on discussing and understanding the “core ideas” which lie underneath any papers that you may encounter in these areas. Consequentially, the aim of this course is to help you construct a basic framework to further explore the topics of behavioral and neuro-economics in the future.
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.

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.

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: Th 05.10.2023 17:08