Re: econ. and cognitive psychology

[Thornton Wheeler <twheeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Has anyone ever applied cognitive psychology to understand economic
> events and phenomena?

Jim:

Not that I know of.  Your question is very interesting.  I understand
cognitive theory to be interactionist.  For instance, Piaget portrayed
intelligence as the result of the interaction of the organism with its
environment.  Behaviorists (s/a Skinner) focus on the environment as the
cause of behavior, while psycodynamic theorists (s/a Freud & Jung) focus on
the organism and its genetics among other internal sources as behavior's
impetus.

Economic behavior is human behavior.  We develop our economic
intelligence as the result of interaction with the economic environment
be it micro/macro or otherwise.  I love the way Piaget refused to be
limited to the existing models of his day.  According to his NYT
obituary, he eventually focussed his efforts on the needs of children
because he felt their interests were not represented.

Perhaps we are missing out on the development of constructive economic
thought by defining ourselves so closely with existing schools of thought.

Thornton