The Evolution of Irrationality
Laurie Santos is a professor of psychology at Yale University. She was awarded the Stanton Prize for outstanding early-career contributions to interdisciplinary research in philosophy and psychology, as well as the Arthur Greer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Junior Faculty at Yale University. In 2012, she was awarded the Lex Hixon Prize for teaching excellence in the social sciences at Yale University. She has been listed in Popular Science Magazine as one of their “Brilliant 10” young minds, and in Time Magazine as a “Leading Campus Celebrity.”
Overview
Monkeynomics & The Evolution of Decision Making
In this talk, Professor Santos will explore the evolutionary roots of some of your more irrational decisions. We will start by reviewing some classic biases in the field of judgment and decision-making. She will then turn to the question of how these biases came about in the first place by exploring some recent experiments in “monkeynomics” that demonstrate how monkeys make some of the same financial choices we do.
The lecture will also explore ways that the human species is uniquely irrational. The lecture will end with a discussion of cases in which monkeys make smarter choices than people do. You’ll leave the lecture with a new understanding of your decision-making biases, both in terms of where they come from and how they can be overcome.
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