Behavioral Economics

Not to Be Antisocial, But ... Why Don’t You Leave Me Alone? Part II

By David Hirshleifer on February 9, 2012 in What Lies Beneath

In Part I, I discussed how the conviviality externality can cause people to issue too many social invitations, which on average makes people worse off. We'll now see that the problem of over-conviviality is exacerbated by the friendship paradox from the theory of social networks. Read More

Not to Be Antisocial, But—Why Don’t You Leave Me Alone? Part I

By David Hirshleifer on February 8, 2012 in What Lies Beneath

Have you ever felt deluged by invitations, festivities, celebrations, get-togethers, gatherings, blasts, soirees, shindigs, and Super Bowl tail-gates, when all you wanted to do was spend a nice quiet evening with your dog and the Internet? Read More

Six Degrees of Social Influence

By Douglas T. Kenrick on February 7, 2012 in Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life

Why would a world-renowned group of psychologists and marketing researchers team up with a man who was once the world’s most wanted computer hacker to write about one man’s social influence? Read More

3 Things to Know About the Psychology of Playing the Markets

By Denise K. Shull, M.A. on February 7, 2012 in Market Mind Games

Anyone can better at investing once they realize it is first and foremost a psychological game. Read More

Is Your Brain Undermining Your Best Interests?

By Susan Newman, Ph.D. on February 7, 2012 in Singletons

How our brains react in a given situation may very well undermine our best interests. Read More

Why Steve Jobs Is a Leadership Nightmare

By Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. on February 7, 2012 in Cutting-Edge Leadership

Steven Jobs was one of the most successful entrepreneurial leaders of the last half-century. He will likely be remembered as one of business's iconic leaders. Many of my students admire him. That is the problem. Read More

Knocking on Wood

By Michael Kay on February 3, 2012 in Financial Focus

Our lives don't need to be an endless cycle of road-rage and hurry infused with anger and frustration; it can be filled with wonder, gratitude and a sense of purpose based on our values and what is most important in our lives. Read More

The Seven Year Itch: Theories of Marriage, Divorce, and Love

By Dario Maestripieri, Ph.D. on February 3, 2012 in Games Primates Play

In the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, a married man struggles with the temptation to leave his wife and small child to run off with the young woman next door, played by Marilyn Monroe. The title of the film refers to a time in a marriage when—according to the U.S. Census Bureau—a divorce is most likely to happen. Read More

6 Ways to Start Your Own Brand

By Dr. Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D. on February 3, 2012 in Here, There, and Everywhere

Thinking about creating your own brand? It's got to start somewhere. Here are six tips to get the ball rolling. Read More

What Makes You Feel Rich?

By Art Markman, Ph.D. on February 3, 2012 in Ulterior Motives

When you think about how rich you are, you should subtract what you owe from what you own. Is that what you actually do? Read More

The Rational Irrationality of Soccer Deaths and Football Bets

By Garth Sundem on February 3, 2012 in Brain Trust

As you know, 74 people were killed this Wednesday when Egyptian soccer fans stampeded into a bottleneck after a 3-1 hometown upset win. While certainly tragic, it's far from irrational: it turns out the behavioral economics were stacked against them. Read More

Is "Managing Without Managers" An Oxymoron (Or Oxytocin)?

By Paul J. Zak on February 2, 2012 in The Moral Molecule

Can a company run without any managers? Find out how and why and what Peter Drucker thought here. And, what tomatoes have to do with it all. Read More

A Matter of Life and Death

By Peter Corning, Ph.D. on February 1, 2012 in The Fair Society

Both ends of the political spectrum have been myopic, or in denial, about our basic needs. It’s time to recognize these biological imperatives as a “social right.” Read More

Mars and Venus in the … Parking Garage?

By Sam Sommers on February 1, 2012 in Science Of Small Talk

In research just conducted in the United Kingdom, surreptitious surveillance of parking garages was used to compare the performance of men and women on a wide range of car-parking dimensions. What did the study find? And what do the findings tell us more generally regarding how we tend to think about sex differences? Read More

What Adam Smith Forgot

By Diogo Gonçalves on January 31, 2012 in There Are Free Lunches

Adam Smith created one of the most famous ideas in economics. The brilliant Scottish economist called his idea The Invisible Hand and through its creation removed from our minds the fear of free markets theory, making people believe that the best way to regulation is self-regulation. Read More

Science Is an Art, the Art of "Ought Management"

By Dr. Jeremy Sherman on January 31, 2012 in Ambigamy

Science is misunderstood as dispassionate fact-finding. It's really the art of managing our passions so we can serve them better. Read More

You Listen Most to the Experts Who Disagree With You

By Art Markman, Ph.D. on January 31, 2012 in Ulterior Motives

You might think that you are most inclined to be affected by experts who agree with you. New research suggests that might not be the case. Read More

American Economy Will Roar Again

By Steven Reiss, Ph.D. on January 30, 2012 in Who We Are

I have been one of the few PT bloggers who has been optimistic about the U.S. economy. We are solving our problems. Read and cheer up. Read More

5 Most Common Ways People Ruin Their Work Careers

By Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. on January 30, 2012 in Cutting-Edge Leadership

Even the most successful executives, professionals, leaders, and workers can suddenly "go off the track" and ruin their careers. Watch out for these in your own work career. Read More

The Context Dependence of Hot Guys (and Girls)

By Sam Sommers on January 29, 2012 in Science Of Small Talk

What makes someone attractive to you? Specific physical features? A particular personality type? A certain indefinable quality of character or depth of soul? All reasonable answers, sure, but there's an additional response you should at least consider. Another critical influence on who you're attracted to is context. Read More

Essential Reads: Editor's Picks

The Seven Year Itch: Theories of Marriage, Divorce, and Love
by Dario Maestripieri, Ph.D.
What Makes You Feel Rich?
by Art Markman, Ph.D.
5 Most Common Ways People Ruin Their Work Careers
by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D.

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