Summer Career Connections at SAVY 2018: Session 5, Day 4 – Behavioral Economics and Game Theory (Rising 7th)
I can’t believe we are nearing the end of the week. Today was an excellent adventure for our students as they were able to fully act as behavioral economists. This morning they designed their own studies aimed at observing some of the phenomena of human behavior. Groups conducted classroom studies with their peers as participants. Students observed the effects of everything from dominated alternatives to individual overconfidence to the “Halo” effect. We were so busy with these classroom studies that we didn’t have time for a brain teaser today. Never to fear. Here is one for you anyway.
Our final case study was about the magic of free. Economists have often theorized that when people are presented with several alternatives they will select the one with the highest benefit-cost difference. However something odd happens when people are presented with a free item. Ask your student about this study concerning Hershey kisses and truffles.
Students are excited for the conclusion of the Sash competition tomorrow. We will be wrapping up the battle for game theory champion. More importantly we will be discussing whether or not it is ethical for companies to manipulate people using their knowledge of human behavior. While this sort of corporate entrenchment into the human psyche is impossible to fully monitor, we will still debate what levels of privacy people should be able to expect while in life’s marketplace and how we could go about making this happen.
Looking forward to seeing you at open house tomorrow!
Blake
One of Our Studies Focused on Health and Bias
