ABSTRACT
Understanding human action is a vital task in economics. Not only is it about making sense of individuals, but endeavouring at a fundamental level to understand the reactions of individuals to economic policies. Behavioural economics is not a homogenous approach, emerging from different currents, such as experimental economics, economic psychology, and neuroeconomics. Cognitive theories consider that with the development of moral reasoning, the individual develops moral judgments and is then increasingly compelled to behave according to these moral judgments. Rational individuals maximize their own utility or satisfaction without paying attention to the utility of others. Numerous economic experimental studies have shown that people can be cooperative, confident, reciprocatory, fair, and even altruistic when they play games in a laboratory context or in the field. The findings from moral psychology, similar to those from behavioural economics, suggest that homo economicus is a morally immature individual who is probably lacking in an identity.
