ØSS118 Economics, Psychology and Philosophy

Contents and structure

The course is a unique combination of three different fields - Economics, Psychology and Philosophy.

The course is structured around fundamental questions about humans, e.g. "Are humans fundamentally selfish?", "What is fairness?", "What is morality? and "Do we have free will?". We will approach these questions using a combination of modern behavioral research in the intersection between economics and psychology, and philosophical insights from the history of philosophy. The students will be given an introduction to ongoing research in the field of behavioral economics and will be introduced to important experimental research spanning different fields in the last 50 years. We will also make use of experiments during the teaching.

Learning Outcome

Knowledge

The student will be left with an understanding of fundamental questions concerning human behavior, and how different perspectives from different fields can help us answer these questions. The student will know about results from important experimental studies on behavior conducted in the last 50 years - for instance experiments on how cooperation might arise in a situation with opposing interests across individuals, and experiments that show how humans misinterpret probabilities and logic. The student will know about fundamental concepts regarding how to conduct controlled experiments such as randomization.

Skills

The student will be able to conduct a controlled experiment that can provide insights into different aspects of human behavior. This includes planning, conducting and analyzing the results from an experiment. The student will also be able to apply insights from economics, psychology and philosophy to interpret and explain human behavior.

General knowledge

The student will achieve knowledge about conducting experimental studies, and be able to critically discuss and interpret empirical findings from this type of study

Entry requirements

None

Teaching methods

Lectures and classroom experiments

Compulsory learning activities

None

Assessment

Exam in two parts:

1. Group based experiment report - 30%

2. Individual essay - 70%

Grades A-F, where F is fail.

Examination support material

All tools available

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