Much of Economics assumes that individuals have access to everything they need to make a decision and do so rationally and without bias.

Much of Psychology has taught us that bias is an unavoidable part of life and it is rare for anyone to have access to or consider the full set of data available before making a decision. Behavioural science brings these two elements together and considers the extent to which individuals can and do act rationally in the face of human limitations, how to model those limitations and how to predict behaviour when psychological biases are taken into account.

Researchers in Warwick have been active in this area for decades, developing pioneering models of decision-making, working to understand the theory behind behavioural biases and running laboratory and field experiments to test and understand human behaviour in realistic settings. Our focus has been on the full spectrum of important variables ranging from personality, attitudes towards risk and time, the heuristic and bounded methods that people use when considering complex decisions, traditional and alternative ways to model decision-making, through to novel and under-researched areas such as the interaction between mood and behaviour, and the lessons that can be drawn from data science.

Theme leads

Professor Daniel Read

Warwick Business School

Professor Daniel Sgroi

Department of Economics

Professor Thomas Hills

Department of Psychology