Behavioural insights and the Law
Date:
18/05/2017
Organised by:
University of East Anglia
Presenter:
Dr Sebastian Peyer
Level:
Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)
Contact:
Bookings can be made by e-mailing SSF.AdvancedTraining@uea.ac.uk. Academic/content enquiries should be addressed to simon.d.watts@uea.ac.uk (01603 591295).
Description:
The aim of this workshop is to introduce postgraduate research students to behavioural insights into human decision making and how this affects what we know about the law. Behavioural approaches to law are a relatively new field that has emerged with the advances that have been made in cognitive sciences and with the recognition that humans are not rational actors – an assumption that underpins the economic analysis of law. These insights are relevant to all areas of law, including contract law, tort law, criminal law and consumer protection law to name just a few. The practical implications are considerable: the UK government founded a behavioural insights team - also known as the Nudge Unit - that looks into more realistic models of human behaviour and how to motivate individuals to make better choices for themselves (nudging). Regulation based on behavioural insights and ‘nudging’ humans to make certain choices means steering individual behaviour which, in turn, raises a large number of ethical and legal questions.
The purpose of this workshop is to allow participants to get a first sight of what these behaviour insights are and how it could affect our understanding of the objective, effects, interpretation and enforcement of legal rules. We will provide a taster of what this emerging new field of research has to offer: How does the law actually affect people and what do people do in response to the law? Why have certain legal rules emerged the way they are? Can the law be used to improve people’s life? This taster workshop is for everyone who is interested in interdisciplinary research and who would like to improve the understanding of the interplay between human behaviour and legal rules. We do not assume a background in any particular field other than a Masters level qualification in some area of social science.
Provisional Schedule: 10.00-11.30am: Basic Behavioural Insights; 11.30am–1.00pm: Nudging and Choice Architecture; 1.00-1.30pm: Lunch; 1.30-2.30pm: Behavioural Insights and Tort Law; 2.30-3.30pm: Decision Making in Law (Judges and Juries); 3.30-4.30pm: Coffee/Tea followed by Round Table Q&A.
Cost:
PGR students from Universities of East Anglia; Essex; Kent; Surrey; Sussex; Reading; Royal Holloway; Goldsmiths; Roehampton; & City University = FREE; PGR students from all other institutions = £30; Early-career researchers/academics = £60
Website and registration:
Region:
East of England
Keywords:
Behavioural Research, Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Research, Behavioural insights , Legal rules
Related publications and presentations:
Behavioural Research
Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Research