Behavioural Science (11240.1)

Please note these are the 2025 details for this unit
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Behavioural Science
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods On-campus
Online
Online real-time
 Bruce, Canberra
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Business, Government & Law
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Canberra School Of Politics, Economics And Society Level 2 - Undergraduate Intermediate Unit Band 2 2021 (Prof Pathway Psychology-After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 2 2021 (Prof Pathway Psychology-Before 1 Jan 2021)
Band 2 2021 (Standard Course Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Pg Clinical Psychology)
Band 4 2021 (Standard Course Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
This multidisciplinary subject unit uses insights from economics, psychology and policy research to study human behaviour and decisions under various contexts with particular emphasis on heuristics, beliefs, biases, risk and uncertainty, perceptions of fairness, happiness, and the effectiveness of conducting policy by 'nudging'.

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Apply specialised economic and psychology concepts to identify, understand, and analyse behavioural issues; such as habit-formation, cognitive illusions, heuristics and biases;
2. Identify problematic patterns of behaviour, how they relate to standard economics assumptions and how to formulate policy responses;
3. Demonstrate an effective understanding of the experimental method in economics and psychology; and
4. Reflect upon their unit experience, including theories, discussions and feedback, and how it relates to the goals set out in their professional portfolio.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems


Prerequisites

11175 Introduction to Economics.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

10084 Behavioural Economics.

Assumed knowledge

None.
Availability for enrolment in 2025 is subject to change and may not be confirmed until closer to the teaching start date.
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
2024 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 05 February 2024 On-campus Dr John Hawkins
2024 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 05 February 2024 Online Dr John Hawkins
2025 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 03 February 2025 Online real-time Dr John Hawkins
2025 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 03 February 2025 On-campus Dr John Hawkins
The information provided should be used as a guide only. Timetables may not be finalised until week 2 of the teaching period and are subject to change. Search for the unit timetable.

Required texts

There is no required textbook. The Canvas site will include readings for each week.

Suggested textbook

Angner, Erik (2021) A Course in Behavioural Economics, 3nd edition, Palgrave Macmillan.

Other textbooks

Students who wish to read more widely on topics could consult the following books, from which the lectures will sometimes draw. (Page/chapter references in lecture slides will refer to the stated editions, but other editions would suffice for most purposes.)

Baddeley, Michelle (2017) Behavioural Economics: A Very Short Introduction, 1st edition, Oxford 麻豆村 Press. 

Cartwright, Edward (2018) Behavioral Economics, 3rd edition, Routledge. 

Chaudhuri, Ananish (2009) Experiments in Economics, 1st edition, Routledge. 

Dhami, Sanjit (2016) The Foundations of Behavioral Economics, 1st edition, Oxford 麻豆村 Press.

Thaler, Richard & Sunstein, Cass (2009), Nudge, 1st (international) edition, Penguin or (2021 'final' edition). 

Wilkinson, Nick & Klaes, Matthias (2018) An Introduction to Behavioural Economics, Palgrave Macmillan. 

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and 麻豆村 of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

None

Required IT skills

Familiarity with the basics of Microsoft Word. 

In-unit costs

None

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

Next step

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