In today’s article, I will share details of a free online course on behavioural economics that starts on 25 March 2013. This course is going to be conducted by Dan Ariely.
Behavioural economics and behavioural finance teaches us more about how we think when it comes to economic decisions.
If you are serious about becoming a better investor, the first step is to understand your mental make-up. How do you take decisions? How do you react? How do you make mistakes? Do you repeat mistakes?
More importantly, how can we avoid mistakes and take better decisions. This is possible if we know ourselves better.
I have already joined this course today.
What is behavioural economics?
Wikipedia has this definition,
Behavioral economics and the related field, behavioral finance, study the effects of social, cognitive, and emotional factors on the economic decisions of individuals and institutions and the consequences for market prices, returns, and the resource allocation.
Who is Dan Ariely?
Source: Bill Holsinger-Robinson
Dan Ariely is the Professor of Psychology & Behavioral Economics at Duke University. He is the author of multiple best-seller books including,
- Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
- The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves
What is the course content?
Week | Topic | Description |
---|---|---|
Precourse | Introduction to Behavioral Economics | Background and General Introduction to the class and the field of behavioral economics |
Week 1 | Irrationality | Visual and Decision Illusions, Defaults, Preferences, Choice Sets, Coherent Arbitrariness, and Learning from our Mistakes |
Week 2 | Psychology of Money | Opportunity Cost, Relativity, Pain of Paying, Mental Accounting, Fairness and Reciprocity, Loss Aversion, The Endowment Effect, Market versus Social Norms, FREE, and Micro-payments |
Week 3 | Dishonesty | The Simple Model of Rational Crime, Shrinking and Expanding the Fudge Factor, Conflicts of Interest, and Cheating Over Time and Across Cultures |
Week 4 | Labor and Motivation | Extrinsic versus Intrinsic Motivation, Meaning, Acknowledgement, the IKEA Effect, the Not-Invented-Here Bias, Cognitive Dissonance, High Stress and Performance, and Big Bonuses |
Week 5 | Self-control | Problems with Self-control, Reward Substitution, Ulysses Contracts, and The Individual and the Environment |
Week 6 | Emotion | Two Systems, Intra-empathy Mismatch, The Identifiable Victim Effect, Emotional Decision Making, and Risk Assessment |
Postcourse | Applications | Applications of Behavioral Economics to the Real World |
Source: Coursera
How do I join?
Visit the Coursera website and join the A Beginner’s Guide to Irrational Behavior Course by Dan Ariely.
Anil Kumar Tulsiram says
Thanks a lot for sharing this.
Though I have read about behavior finance in my CFA course, after reading some of the articles I realized there is still a LOT to be discovered. I have been planning to devote some time to explore this field. Hope to complete this course.
Kunal Pawaskar says
You’re welcome.
I too have read about behavioural finance over time but never in a concentrated course or a module. This should be good. Lets see how it goes from the 25th onwards.