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Prof Saadi Lahlou QUE 3.26

Dr Frédéric Basso QUE 3.14

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Psychology of Economic Life. This course is not available as an outside option.

Human activity is goal-oriented and social; it is evaluated at individual level in terms of emotions and well-being.–a heritage of our Primate nature. Humans have now grown outside of the initial “natural” ecological condition of small tribes of hunters-gatherers to which their body and psyche were adapted. They have socially constructed socio-economic systems (“Production-Consumption Systems” –PCS). In these PCS, individual satisfaction and resources are obtained through participating into a labor division following institutional rules. While this institutionalized system enables canalizing positively some explosive characteristics of humans (competition, hierarchy, preference for the present etc.), the growth of such PCS in a limited world poses urgent problems of sustainability.

Some of the most blatant limitations to the current system come from human drives (competition, aggression, desire for more, inter-group rivalry, short-termism, etc.).

The problem addressed by the Psychology of Economic Life is therefore to explore new ways of constructing sustainable PCS, and to manage the transition from the current state to a more sustainable one. This exploration must be informed by a realistic psychology, which is the object of this course.

The course is delivered in Michaelmas Term over 10 lectures of 2h (2 per week, over weeks 1 to 5); 5 weekly seminar sessions of 1.5 hours (weekly over weeks 1 to 5) and three special seminar sessions of 2 hours (weeks 7, 8, 9). Students taking PB403 will also be required to attend PB400 lectures, 10 x 120 mins (MT), and 9 x 60 mins seminars/discussion groups (MT).

Students will be expected to produce 1 mini-essay in the Michaelmas Term.

There is no single text for PB403 but one may find the following texts useful.

Barkow, J., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992). The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. New York: Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press.

Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse. How societies choose to fail or succeed. New York: Penguin Books.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday Anchor books.

Himmelweit, H. T. & Gaskell G. (1990). Societal psychology. London: Sage Publications, Inc.

Johansson, T. (2000). Social Psychology and Modernity. Buckingham & Philadelphia: Oxford University Press.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Lahlou, S. (n.d.). (2017) Installation Theory. The societal construction and regulation of individual behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lewis, A. (Ed.). (2008). The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lewis, A., Webley, P., & Furnham, A. (1995). The New Economic Mind. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester/ Wheatsheaf Books.

Farr, R. M. (1997). “The new economic mind: The social psychology of economic behavior: A. Lewis, P. Webley, and A. Furnham (eds.)” Book review. Journal of Economic Psychology, 18(6), 713-717.

Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self & society: from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago: The University of Chicago press.

Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

Webley, P., Burgoyne, C., Lea, S., & Young, B. (2001). The Economic Psychology of Everyday Life. Hove & Philadelphia: Psychology Press

Essay (80%, 5000 words) and essay (20%, 1000 words) in the MT.

The 5000 word essay is written in groups, which will be marked collectively (i.e. all students in one group will receive the same mark). The 1000 word essay is an individual essay which will be marked separately.

Assessment is part of the learning process. Students must demonstrate their knowledge of theories learned in the course, and apply them to analyse a real case of economic phenomenon (business model, organization, public policy…) -and eventually propose realistic recommendations for an improvement of sustainability. The case must be different from cases studied in the option courses, and from the dissertation. This work is collective. The students will be assembled in groups and produce a case study collectively.

Both assessments are prepared by an unmarked formative.