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The science behind human irrationality just passed a huge test — Cathleen O’Grady

Summary:
Behavioral economics vindicated. This 1979 Kahneman-Tversky study and its contemporary replication is about loss aversion. There are many, many more cognitive-affective biases affecting rationality. There is also illogic, since most people are not trained in either critical thinking or rigorous scientific method, and mathematical innumeracy is high, especially when the long term is included, as it is in many economists' assumptions about rationality and maximization. Then there is connotation of terms in addition to denotation, where the connotation carries an emotional charge. Persuasion — real advertising, PR and propaganda — are based on this. People also often choose and act against their own assumed "better" interests eg., economic interests, since interest is determined by

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Behavioral economics vindicated.

This 1979 Kahneman-Tversky study and its contemporary replication is about loss aversion. There are many, many more cognitive-affective biases affecting rationality. There is also illogic, since most people are not trained in either critical thinking or rigorous scientific method, and mathematical innumeracy is high, especially when the long term is included, as it is in many economists' assumptions about rationality and maximization.

Then there is connotation of terms in addition to denotation, where the connotation carries an emotional charge. Persuasion — real advertising, PR and propaganda — are based on this.

People also often choose and act against their own assumed "better" interests eg., economic interests, since interest is determined by values and people often hold a value system that subordinates one set of interests, e.g., economic, to another, e.g., social, political, cultural or religious.

The assumption that humans are "rational agents" in the sense that economists understand the term, which focuses exclusively on economic interest, is not a truism as supposed. The evidence shows this.

Ars Technica
The science behind human irrationality just passed a huge test
Cathleen O'Grady

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See also

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Blair Fix /

Mike Norman
Mike Norman is an economist and veteran trader whose career has spanned over 30 years on Wall Street. He is a former member and trader on the CME, NYMEX, COMEX and NYFE and he managed money for one of the largest hedge funds and ran a prop trading desk for Credit Suisse.

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