PSY6036 Foundations and Frontiers of Economic psychology:

Introduction to Economic Psychology

MMM Chap 8
Lea (1994). Rationality: the formalist view. In H. Brandstaetter & W. Gueth (Eds.), Essays in economic psychology. .......330.019
Dietz & Stern (1995). Toward a theory of choice: Socially embedded preference construction. Journal of Socio-Economics, 24, 261-279 .......BJ
LTW General Introduction & Chap. 20.
Fischoff (1988) in R. J. Sternberg & E. Smith, The psychology of human thought .......SL/SEd
Sloman Chap. 1
Collard, D. (1978). Altruism & Economy, Chap. 1 (Altruism). .......330.1COL
Hargreaves Heap et al, Chapters 1 (Rationality) & 3 (How people choose) .......Roboro
Shafir, E., & Le Boeuf R (2002). Rationality. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 491-517

Lane, Chap. 3 (The costs of rationality) .......Roboro
Elgar pp 480-487 ('Rationality' by Singer)
Rachlin, H. (1989). Judgment, decision and choice, Chap. 9 (Rational thought).
LTW Chap. 5 (Rationality).
Thaler (1988), Anomalies - The ultimatum game. J. Econ. Perspectives, 2(4), 195-206. .......BJ/Box
Etzioni, A. (1988). The moral dimension, Chaps 8 (What is rational?), 9 (Instrumental rationality: supportive condition) & 10 (Thoughtless rationality - rules of thumb). .......Roboro
Dewan & Eide (1995) Rationality as maximising versus rationality as satisficing in decision making - a methodological appraisal, IAREP conference proceedings, Vol 1, 165-178. .......330.019INT
Stanovich, K. & West, R (2000) Individual differences in Reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23, 645 -
Arkes, H, & Ayton, P. (1999). The sunk cost and Concorde Effects: Are humans less rational than lower animals? Psychological Review, 125, 591-600. CJ/Box
McFadden, D (1999). Rationality for Economist? Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Box
Hanoch, Y (2002). "Neither an angel nor an ant": Emotion as an aid to bounded rationality. Journal of Economic Psychology, 23, 1-25

Kahneman & Tversky (1979), Prospect theory: An analysis of decisions under risk. Econometrica 47, 263-291.
Robinson, J. (1972). Economic philosophy. Chaps 1 (Metaphysics, morals and science) & 3 (The neo-classics: utility).
Becker, G. S. (1996). Accounting for tastes. Chap. 1 (Preferences and values). .......658.834 BEC SL
Kemp, Lea & Fussell (1995), Experiments on rating the utility of consumer goods: Evidence supporting microeconomic theory. JOEP 16(4), 543-561
Kemp, S. (1998). Rating the value of government and market supplied goods. Journal of Economic Psychology, 19, 447-461.
Kahneman, Knetsch & Thaler (1991). Anomalies: the endowment effect, loss aversion and the status quo bias. J. Economic Perspectives, 5, 193-206 BJ

LTW Chap. 10 (Gambling).
Elgar pp 247-252 ('Gambling' by Walker)
Tversky & Kahneman (1974). Judgement under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124-1131
Griffiths (1989), Gambling in children and adolescents, J. Gambl.Behav., 5, 66-83. .......BJ
Neal, M (1998). You lucky punters! A study of gambling in UK betting shops. Sociology, 32(3), 581-600 CJ
Henze, N. (1997). A statistical and probabilistic analysis of popular lottery tickets. Statistica Neerlandica, 51, 155-163. Box
Dickerson, M. (1984), Compulsive gamblers, Chaps 3 (Explanations of why people gamble), 4 (Who are they and how do they gamble), 5 (Why do they persist when losing), & 8 (Conclusions) .......301.57DIC
Ali (1977), Probability and utility estimates for racetrack betting. J. Polit. Econ., 85, 803-815 .......BJ
Mullet et al (1994). Probability, value and suspense. JOEP 15(3), 537-557 .......BJ
Friedman, D (1998). Monty Hall's three doors: construction and deconstruction of a choice anomaly. American Economic Review, 88, 933-946.
Beenstock, M., & Haoitovsky Y (2001). Lottomania and other anomalies in the market for lotto. Journal of Economic Psychology, 721-744

LTW Chap 9 (Giving)
Elgar pp 257-262 ('Gifts' by Burgoyne)
FA pp191-202 (part of chapter 9, Money in the family)
Collard (see BASIC), Chaps 2-4 (Exchange; The free rider; Non-selfish games) [for those with some economics] .......330.1COL
Rushton (1980). Altruism, socialization & society, Chap 3. .......301.1RUS
Lynn & Grassman (1989), Restaurant tipping: An examination of three 'rational' explanations. JOEP 11, 169-181. .......BJ
Burgoyne & Routh (1991), Constraints on the use of money as a gift at Christmas: The role of status and intimacy. JOEP, 12, 43-69. .......BJ
Belk & Coon (1993). Gift-giving as agapic love: an alternative to the exchange paradigm based on dating experiences. J.Cons. Res. 20, 393-417 .......BJ
Sherry et al (1993). The dark side of the gift. J. Business Res., 28(3), 225-244. .......on order
Carrier (1993) in D. Miller, D. (Ed.), Unwrapping Christmas (or other chapters) .......394.268282MIL
Pieters R & Robben, H (1999). Consumer evaluation of money as a gift: A two utility model and an empirical test. Kyklos, 52, 173-200
Pieters R & Robben, H (1998). Beyond the horse's mouth: exploring acquisition and exchange utility in gift evaluation. Advances in Consumer Research 25, 163-169
Wang, J et al (2001). Faring one thousand miles to give goose feathers: gift giving in the People's Republic of China. Advances in Consumer Research 28, 58-63
Both of the last two articles (and many others on gift-giving) are available on the ACR website at

Does it help to describe either giving or gambling as"irrational"?
"Utility is a metaphysical concept of impregnable circularity". Does Joan Robinson's view still stand?
Why do people give gifts?
What kind of data would you collect on the National Lottery to further our understanding of gambling?

Paul Webley Carole Burgoyne

School of Psychology

Washington Singer Laboratories

Exeter EX4 4QG

United Kingdom

Tel +44 1392 264626

Fax +44 1392 264623

(access count since 11th January 1997).
Document revised 9th October 2002 (PW)