Neuroeconomics An Investigation into the Biological Foundations of Decision Making
Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Elliott, Catherine
Keywords
Neuroeconomics, Decision Making, Cheater Detection
Area of Concentration
Economics
Abstract
Economists' fundamental aspiration is to model human behavior in a realistic fashion to be able to make educated predictions regarding how individuals will behave in a specific scenario and how policy -- be it in a company or economy-wide -- can potentially either augment or prevent particular behaviors. In recent years, however, a number of criticisms with regard to the traditional economic approach to modeling and predicting behavior have been expressed. Striving to bridge the gap between modeled and observed behavior, a group of economists has recently started to employ several of the most powerful techniques from economics and neuroscience to explore a radically different model of people's decisionmaking behavior, thereby giving rise to the latest addition to the field of economics -- neuroeconomics. Using this approach as a stepping-stone, this thesis seeks to obtain insights into two of the most central questions pertaining to the study of economics: (1) How do people (really) make decisions? and (2) Is it possible to predict people's and/or group behavior with any degree of accuracy? To highlight the merit of the field of neuroeconornics with regard to answering these questions and unify its research agenda, an original neuroeconomic model of human decision making is constructed and applied to the question of humans' ability to detect cheaters during social interactions.
Recommended Citation
Mohr, Sascha J., "Neuroeconomics An Investigation into the Biological Foundations of Decision Making" (2004). Theses & ETDs. 3426.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/3426
Rights
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