Cognitive
A Rose by Any Other Name: Understanding Judicial Decisions that Do Not Cite Precedent
September 7, 2018
In common‐law countries, legal precedent serves as a foundation of judicial opinions. Judges cite precedent to explain their decision, and it is this use of precedent that threads one decision to another. The Supreme Court in India stands in contrast to its counterparts in other countries in that it annually decides not dozens, but thousands, of cases. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly half the Court's decisions do not cite any precedent at all. This article examines this phenomenon, specifically...
September 7, 2018
In common‐law countries, legal precedent serves as a foundation of judicial opinions. Judges cite precedent to explain their decision, and it is this use of precedent that threads one decision to another. The Supreme Court in India stands in contrast to its counterparts in other countries in that it annually decides not dozens, but thousands, of cases. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly half the Court's decisions do not cite any precedent at all. This article examines this phenomenon, specifically...
The Narrative Arc of Conflict
September 4, 2018
What’s going on here? Gawande’s puzzle is that we seem not to evaluate the experience – good or bad – but rather report on a recollection of the experience. In describing medical experiences – certainly those involving some pain – patients recall either the worst or the most recent moment. An accounting of the experience at the time tends to differ from a recall of the total experience afterwards. This is where Gawande turns to Kahneman who has researched and reported on research on this...
September 4, 2018
What’s going on here? Gawande’s puzzle is that we seem not to evaluate the experience – good or bad – but rather report on a recollection of the experience. In describing medical experiences – certainly those involving some pain – patients recall either the worst or the most recent moment. An accounting of the experience at the time tends to differ from a recall of the total experience afterwards. This is where Gawande turns to Kahneman who has researched and reported on research on this...
Conflict-Averse Doesn’t Mean Negotiation-Averse
August 28, 2018
When I explained my struggles to Dr. Babcock, her immediate response was: “Why are you thinking of a negotiation as a conflict?” She added that a negotiation should be a conversation, not a confrontation. “If you see it as a conflict, and you’re conflict-averse and avoid it, that’s not going to serve you well,” she said. “Try seeing it as a conversation that needs to be managed.” Plus, unlike a true, every-person-for-themselves conflict, when done properly, both parties get what...
August 28, 2018
When I explained my struggles to Dr. Babcock, her immediate response was: “Why are you thinking of a negotiation as a conflict?” She added that a negotiation should be a conversation, not a confrontation. “If you see it as a conflict, and you’re conflict-averse and avoid it, that’s not going to serve you well,” she said. “Try seeing it as a conversation that needs to be managed.” Plus, unlike a true, every-person-for-themselves conflict, when done properly, both parties get what...
Heuristics and Public Policy: Decision Making Under Bounded Rationality
July 27, 2018
How do human beings make decisions when, as the evidence indicates, the assumptions of the Bayesian rationality approach in economics do not hold? Do human beings optimize, or can they? Several decades of research have shown that people possess a toolkit of heuristics to make decisions under certainty, risk, subjective uncertainty, and true uncertainty (or Knightian uncertainty). We outline recent advances in knowledge about the use of heuristics and departures from Bayesian rationality, with particular...
July 27, 2018
How do human beings make decisions when, as the evidence indicates, the assumptions of the Bayesian rationality approach in economics do not hold? Do human beings optimize, or can they? Several decades of research have shown that people possess a toolkit of heuristics to make decisions under certainty, risk, subjective uncertainty, and true uncertainty (or Knightian uncertainty). We outline recent advances in knowledge about the use of heuristics and departures from Bayesian rationality, with particular...
Sunstein, Reisch, & Kaiser on Trusting Nudges
July 21, 2018
Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School; Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)), Lucia A. Reisch (Copenhagen Business School - Department of Management, Society and Communication; Zeppelin University CCMP - Center for Consumers Markets Politics), & Micha Kaiser (University of Hohenheim) have posted Trusting Nudges? Lessons from an International Survey on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the past decade, policymakers have increasingly used behaviourally informed policies, including...
July 21, 2018
Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School; Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)), Lucia A. Reisch (Copenhagen Business School - Department of Management, Society and Communication; Zeppelin University CCMP - Center for Consumers Markets Politics), & Micha Kaiser (University of Hohenheim) have posted Trusting Nudges? Lessons from an International Survey on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the past decade, policymakers have increasingly used behaviourally informed policies, including...
Zamir and Teichman on Behavioral Law & Economics
July 19, 2018
Eyal Zamir and Doron Teichman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law and Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law) have posted Behavioral Law and Economics - Introduction (Behavioral Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, 2018) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the past few decades, economic analysis of law has been challenged by a growing body of experimental and empirical studies that attest to prevalent and systematic deviations from the assumptions of economic rationality....
July 19, 2018
Eyal Zamir and Doron Teichman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law and Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law) have posted Behavioral Law and Economics - Introduction (Behavioral Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, 2018) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the past few decades, economic analysis of law has been challenged by a growing body of experimental and empirical studies that attest to prevalent and systematic deviations from the assumptions of economic rationality....
How Sound Can Hack Your Memory While You Sleep
July 8, 2018
Can you cram for a test while you sleep? Our intrepid neuroscientists attempt to enhance memory by running experiments on subjects while they sleep. You'll be surprised by the results.
July 8, 2018
Can you cram for a test while you sleep? Our intrepid neuroscientists attempt to enhance memory by running experiments on subjects while they sleep. You'll be surprised by the results.
The Amazing Ways Exercise Changes Your Personality
July 8, 2018
Being more physically active makes people more extraverted, conscientious, agreeable and open to new experience, new research finds. A few of the benefits of these personality changes include: Higher conscientiousness is linked to more success in life, more extraverted people experience more positive emotions, and being open to experience is linked to creativity and intelligence.
July 8, 2018
Being more physically active makes people more extraverted, conscientious, agreeable and open to new experience, new research finds. A few of the benefits of these personality changes include: Higher conscientiousness is linked to more success in life, more extraverted people experience more positive emotions, and being open to experience is linked to creativity and intelligence.
This Computer is Learning to Read Your Mind
July 7, 2018
Modern technology lets neuroscientists peer into the human brain, but can it also read minds? Armed with the device known as a electroencephalogram, or EEG, and some computing wizardry, our intrepid neuroscientists attempt to peer into a subject's thoughts.
July 7, 2018
Modern technology lets neuroscientists peer into the human brain, but can it also read minds? Armed with the device known as a electroencephalogram, or EEG, and some computing wizardry, our intrepid neuroscientists attempt to peer into a subject's thoughts.
“Trusting” the Expert
June 25, 2018
In an article entitled How Your Brain Can Trick You Into Trusting People, Tim Herrera discusses the shortcuts our brains take in everyday life to reach conclusion so that we can get through the day, otherwise known as unconscious biases. As an example, the author notes that if we enter a subway car that is empty, we may unconsciously draw the conclusion that there is a reason for this and so, we will move to the next car which is more crowded. (Id.) And, our brains are imbedded with unconscious...
June 25, 2018
In an article entitled How Your Brain Can Trick You Into Trusting People, Tim Herrera discusses the shortcuts our brains take in everyday life to reach conclusion so that we can get through the day, otherwise known as unconscious biases. As an example, the author notes that if we enter a subway car that is empty, we may unconsciously draw the conclusion that there is a reason for this and so, we will move to the next car which is more crowded. (Id.) And, our brains are imbedded with unconscious...
