

A Short Course in Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler and Daniel Kahneman - antiform
http://edge.org/3rd_culture/thaler_sendhil08/thaler_sendhil_index.html

======
antiform
A couple of excerpts to get an idea of what is inside:

'During the mid-morning break (with cookies), Richard Thaler shows videos from
a 40-year-old study (Walter Mischel, 1973) of children offered one cookie now
or two if they wait. The observed behavior correlates strongly, by almost any
measure, with both the economic success of the parents and the child's future
success. Hypothesis: small behavioral shifts might produce (or "nudge") large
economic results.'

and

'Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel laureate for his work in behavioral economics told
us about priming—how a subtle influence radically shifts how people act. So,
in one experiment people are asked to fill out a survey. In the corner of the
room is a computer, with a screen saver running. That's it—nothing overt, just
a background image in the room. If the screen saver shows pictures of money,
the survey answers are radically different. Danny went through example after
example like this where occurred. The first impulse one has in hearing this is
no, this can't be the case. People can't be that easily and subconsciously
influenced. You don't want to believe it. But Danny in his professorial way
says, "Look, this is science. Belief isn't an option". Repeated randomized
trials confirm the results. Get over it.'

'The second impression is perhaps even more surprising—the influences are
quite predictable. Show people images of money, and they tend to be more
selfish and less willing to help others. Make people plot points on graph
paper that are far apart, and they act more distant in lots of way. Make them
plot points that are close together, and damned if they don't act closer.
Again, it seems absurd, but cheap metaphors capture our minds. Humans, it
seems, are like drunken poets, who can't glimpse a screen saver in the corner,
or plot some points on graph paper without swooning under the metaphorical
load and going off on tangents these stray images inspire...'

------
william42
An interesting book on the same subject is Dan Ariely's Predictably
Irrational.

