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from the dept. [article] How we actually play the ultimatum game, as opposed to the traditional view, is generating remarkable insights into how the human brain drives financial decisionmaking, social interactions and even the supremely irrational behaviour of suicide bombers and gangland killers. In standard economic theory people are assumed to be motivated primarily by rational self-interest, and therefore enthusiastically accept any legal tender given to them, no matter how low the amount. But in practice derisory offers are declined all the time. Indeed, if the sum is [paltry], four out of five of us tell the selfish so-and-so to get lost. We get so angry at such deliberate unfairness that we are prepared to incur a cost to ourselves, purely to punish. Homo sapiens is definitely not Homo economicus, the ultra-rational being envisioned by many professional economists. Neuro-economics is an emerging fusion of evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and economics that is now starting to tell us why this is so. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2392997,00.html http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2392997,00.html http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-2392997-2,00.html < Human brain region functions like digital computer | Williams Syndrome, The Brain And Music >
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Why say no to free money? It's neuro-economics, stupid
