ABSTRACT
Behavioural economists have turned to psychologists and neuroscientists to gain a deeper understanding of the psychological and biological processes driving human action. For this reason, a full understanding of behavioural economics requires a good working knowledge of some basic concepts and approaches from psychology and neuroscience. The aim of this chapter and the next is to introduce and explain some fundamental concepts and techniques from psychology and neuroscience, focusing specifi cally on their implications for behavioural economics and neuroeconomics. Psychology and neuroscience are themselves enormous fi elds, and it would take a library full of books and journals to cover them properly. A single chapter cannot cover all that is interesting and relevant, and we will be forced to take a ‘pickand-mix’ approach – focusing on just some of the psychological and neuroscientifi c concepts that have inspired and informed behavioural economists, or that could do so. For those who would like to learn more, some introductory psychology and neuroscience texts are set out in the ‘Further reading’ sections.
