Event Detail

Psychologists and Behavioral Economists have spent the past 30 years documenting that individuals often violate normative standards for behavior and decision making. In this talk, I explore the notion that considering the individual as the unit of analysis may not provide a complete picture. I begin by discussing how the aggregated preferences of individually rational agents can be irrational (c.f Arrow’s Theorem) and show how a number of the anomales observed in individuals can be explained as an emergent property of the aggregation of preferences of neurons/neural systems. I then explore how the aggregated irrational preferences of individuals can lead to improved/rational group decision making and outcomes. I conclude by discussing the implications of levels of analysis and aggregation for the development of normative standards.