Predictions for the next decade in Behavioral Science

Behavioral Scientists have put together their favourite predictions, ideas, worries and challenges in the field of behavioral science for the next decade. We were delighted they accepted our pitch on cogitive economics as one of the new oppportunities in the future!

Here is our prediction for the future - what is yours?

"The twenty-first century is pushing us toward an ever more digital, information-driven, persuasion-based global economy—just as a new set of tools are emerging in neuroscience and psychology that offer the power to understand these phenomena in a new way. Cognitive economics is a new field rooted in behavioral economics, paralleling the shift from behavioral to cognitive psychology. Rather than focusing on biases in choices between material goods, cognitive economists explore how people consume intangible products with their minds.

Consumers no longer strive to acquire only material goods or earn the most money. Instead, they seek purpose, symbolic value, intense experiences and convenience: all things consumed inside their heads.

The old economics cannot explain the huge value consumers place on these symbolic goods, mental states, thoughts, and beliefs. Although behavioural economics explores some of the psychology behind economic decisions, it still mainly deals in money and physical goods.

Cognitive economics considers our emotions, hopes, beliefs, fears, and ideas, asking how much does your internal mental experience matter to you? How much are they worth? And the biggest economic question of all: How can society deliver all of us the best possible outcomes?"

Don't miss out on familiar names adding in their thoughts on the next decade - George Loewenstein, Koen Smets and more. Full article here.