{"ModuleCode":"FMA1202D","ModuleTitle":"Taking Risks: Economics, Psychology, and Biology","Department":"Economics","ModuleDescription":"Risk taking lies at the heart of business and the economy. Biology, psychology, and economics are converging today into a unified discipline which can deliver a revolutionary approach to understanding how people take risk, to realize greater returns or for recreation. We shall begin with discussing economic models of risk taking incorporating psychological considerations and how they are tested in choice experiments. Beyond economic outcomes and psychological factors, evidence points to the role of biology, through genes, hormones, and neurochemicals, in modulating risk taking observed in the laboratory and in the field with important ramifications for the real world.","ModuleCredit":"4","Workload":"0-3-0-2-5","Prerequisite":"‘A’ grade in A’ Level Mathematics. Students who do not meet the grade requirement may contact the lecturer for an online discussion prior to the first class.","Preclusion":"Other Freshman Seminar modules","Types":["Module"],"AcadYear":"2014/2015","History":[{"Semester":2,"Timetable":[{"ClassNo":"1","LessonType":"Seminar-Style Module Class","WeekText":"Every Week","DayText":"Friday","StartTime":"1400","EndTime":"1700","Venue":"AS1-0207"}],"IVLE":[{"Announcements":null,"Forums":[],"Workbins":[],"Webcasts":[],"Gradebooks":[],"Polls":[],"Multimedia":[],"LessonPlan":[],"ID":"6bca444f-7572-4b8e-93fe-fb7ac10447fe","CourseLevel":"1","CourseCode":"FMA1202D","CourseName":"TAKING RISKS: ECONOMICS, PSYCHOLOGY, AND BIOLOGY","CourseDepartment":"","CourseSemester":"Semester 2","CourseAcadYear":"2014/2015","CourseOpenDate":"/Date(1417104000000+0800)/","CourseOpenDate_js":"2014-11-28T00:00:00","CourseCloseDate":"/Date(1433001540000+0800)/","CourseCloseDate_js":"2015-05-30T23:59:00","CourseMC":"0","isActive":"N","Permission":"S","Creator":{"UserID":null,"Name":"Chew Soo Hong","Email":null,"Title":null,"UserGuid":"29f3a0f5-2a4c-4989-8e57-2abe71606e1a","AccountType":null},"hasGradebookItems":false,"hasTimetableItems":true,"hasGroupsItems":false,"hasClassGroupsForSignUp":false,"hasGuestRosterItems":true,"hasClassRosterItems":true,"hasWeblinkItems":false,"hasLecturerItems":true,"hasDescriptionItems":true,"hasReadingItems":false,"hasAnnouncementItems":false,"hasProjectGroupItems":false,"hasProjectGroupsForSignUp":false,"hasConsultationItems":false,"hasConsultationSlotsForSignUp":false,"hasLessonPlanItems":false,"Badge":0,"BadgeAnnouncement":0,"WebLinks":[],"Lecturers":[{"ID":"cfd60e8f-22a4-4135-a78f-f890244881a8","User":{"UserID":null,"Name":"Chew Soo Hong","Email":null,"Title":null,"UserGuid":"29f3a0f5-2a4c-4989-8e57-2abe71606e1a","AccountType":null},"Role":"Lecturer ","Order":1,"ConsultHrs":null},{"ID":"7bb01c53-c672-43e8-9b1d-e0ca6d83888f","User":{"UserID":null,"Name":"Bui Ha My","Email":null,"Title":null,"UserGuid":"7fd2ec0c-64f1-4481-b5a2-f8880c2140dd","AccountType":null},"Role":"Co-Lecturer ","Order":5,"ConsultHrs":null}],"Descriptions":[{"ID":"1e5f053b-8835-4692-be49-41f07234cfff","Title":"Learning Outcomes","Description":"Description. Risk taking lies at the heart of business and the economy. Elements of economics, psychology and biology are converging towards a unified discipline which can deliver a revolutionary approach to understanding how people take risk. We shall begin with discussing classical models of decision making under risk, followed by refinements that incorporate psychological considerations. We shall also discuss how these models are tested in choice experiments. Beyond economic outcomes and psychological factors, evidence points to the role of biology, through genes, hormones, and neurochemicals, in conjunction with psychology in modulating risk taking observed in the laboratory, in the field, and in the real world.
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\r\nObjectives/learning outcomes. Students will gain a broad understanding of risk taking behavior from three complementary perspectives – economics, psychology and biology – which are converging in delivering a unified understanding of how people make decisions, including risk taking for investment and gambling for recreation. They will get an opportunity to dramatically alter their views on the mechanisms underpinning human decision making beyond choice as an amalgamation of its consequences (typical in economics) or in terms of cognition and emotion (typical in psychology), to encompass biological factors such as genes, hormones, and neurochemicals which have become increasingly observable with advances in the methodologies in both cognitive neuroscience and molecular genetics.
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\r\nRationale. Being exposed to a highly interdisciplinary subject matter which underpins a good range of potential majors for a freshman (from psychology and the life sciences to economics, business and the social sciences) will help students develop a better sense of their academic and career interests and contribute to how they plan their studies over the subsequent years.
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