The Nobel prize in economics has been awarded to Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago for research showing how people’s choices on economic matters — whether on savings or game shows like “Deal or No Deal” — are not always rational.

The 9-million-kronor ($1.1-million) prize was awarded to the academic for his “understanding the psychology of economics,” Swedish Academy of Sciences secretary Goran Hansson said Monday.

Thaler is considered one of the founding fathers of behavioral economics, a field that shows that far from being the rational decision-makers described in economic theory, people often make choices that don’t serve their best interests. That could include, for example, refusing to cut their losses when their investments plunge in value or making big bets at the casino because they are convinced their hot streak will continue.

Thaler is not the first behavioral economist to win the Nobel. In 2002, the award went to Israeli-American psychologist Daniel Kahneman who used psychological insights to study how people make economic decisions.