A complete summary of the course 'Consumer and economic psychology', given in the minor Psychology in Society, as well as in the regular bachelor psychology.
Chapter 1, introduction to economic psychology
1.1
Economic psychology as the science of economic mental life and behavior reflects a
contemporary approach to psychology, conferring equal status on the twin endeavors of
understanding mental life and understanding behavior.
- The science of economic mental life and behavior
- A branch of applied psychology
- An interdisciplinary field of study
1.2 the emergence of the discipline
Adam Smith (1776): explored concept of self-love and the importance of being able to take
others’ roles, as in the social interactions necessary for trading. Happiness and well-being
derived by happiness/well-being from others, sympathy, emotions, and virtues in general
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) concept of self-love and characterized utility as the
permanent hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, along with calculations to
maximize utility
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) model of homo economicus, a rational individual who makes
rational decisions that maximize utility, is self-interested, capable of learning from
experience, and with stable consistent preferences.
Obvious psychological law the universal preference for a greater gain as opposed to a
smaller one.
W. Stanley Jevons (1871) derived marginal utility from Mill’s model, while adding deductive
mathematics to establish basic assumptions, later tested empirically.
Karl Menger (1870s) Austrian psychological school, or marginalist school, emphasized the
importance of subjective elements in the economy: argue introspection only method
necessary to examine needs and attributions of value.
Tarde- one of pioneers of social psychology- claimed economic phenomena demanded a
minute analysis of the psychology involved in them: imitation, repetition, and innovation
could be used to analyze social and economic behavior
Thorstein Velben (1899), basic human drive was towards social and economic status, and
the means to achieve these could vary according to time and social and economic
conditions. Other disciplines such as psychology, biology, political science and history should
play a major role towards economic status
, Katona predicted that with the eager of people to buy goods, spend more money and enjoy
life after war: economic boom. Katona created index of consumer sentiment (ICS) that
assesses people’s economic explanations
Herbert Simon (similar time as Katona), developed an equally influential contribution to
economic psychology: fundamental criticism of the behavioral assumptions of mainstream
economic theory, people didn’t seek to maximize their profits, they set target levels above
which they would be satisfied that their business would be more than viable.
Understanding the psychology of economic decision-making has advanced by exploring the
process of making decisions and by investigating the joint roles of emotional and affective
influences and cognitive mechanisms.
Koopmans (1960) developed discounted utility model based on the rational principle that,
other things being equal, one should have time preferences for a positive event sooner
rather than later.
Behavioral economics is the branch of economics that uses psychological concepts and
theories to better understand economic behavior.
Homo economics’ (expected) utility maximization principle because people’s evaluations of
the same good can vary, depending on whether they own it or not.
They explain endowment effect in terms of prospects theory:
1. Economic outcomes are evaluated as gains or losses relative to a reference point
2. People are loss-averse
Similarities between behavioral and economic psychology:
- Both acknowledge many of the same historical roots (i.e., identifying Simon as a
founding parent)
- Both are essentially empirical sciences, placing a premium on the validity of theories
tested against behavioral evidence
- Both are applied sciences motivated to develop effective support for individuals and
society in the economic domain.
Differences between behavioral and economic psychology:
- Economic psychology draws broadly on contemporary psychology, which includes
the primary goal of modelling mental life psychological component of behavioral
economics is dominated by the approach to the psychological judgement and
decision-making developed by Tversky and Kahneman
behavioral can be seen as a school within a broader interdisciplinary endeavor
- Differences in epistemological approach: economic being prepared to employ a more
eclectic range of research methods, including study of behavior in realistic,
hypothetical scenarios and a range of methods to elicit self-reports. In contrast,
behavior deems to narrower range of methods to be scientific, and requires data to
be either from the real economic world or to be motivated by meaningful incentives.
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