Psychology

Traditionally economists have modeled the behavior of consumers and firms as rational choices to maximize objectives such as profits.  Behavioral economists draw upon conclusions and methods from psychology to study economic decisions.  They use experiments and neuroscience and have concluded, for example, that people are overconfident and reluctant to change their minds.

Presentation can vary to include such topics as how psychology relates to and informs the law, to presentations about witness memory, criminality and juror bias.

Talk summarizes research on predictors of happiness and how to make oneself a happier person.

Using real-life cases such as the Challenger Disaster, analyzes the factors at the individual/psychological, social psychological, organizational, and societal levels that lead "good" people to participate in unethical actions.

Educating people on forgiveness, what it is, what it is not, how to go about forgiving and how it could be healing for people.

Presentation covers the reasons why the Golden Rule as commonly interpreted sometimes limits our ability to behave as ethical people and proposes strategies for the Golden Rule to "work" as it was intended.

• basic argument is that it doesn't work in diverse organizations and a diverse world if taken literally
• speaker uses examples from other traditions as well

A summary of social psychological research on factors that cause people to be initially attracted to potential romantic partners.