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- [Colin] We have a saying [br]in neuroscience sometimes:

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"Don't ask the person,[br]ask the brain,"

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because the brain activity[br]may be something

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that's less than fully conscious.

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♪ [music] ♪

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My research is about[br]behavioral economics

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and neuroeconomics.

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And behavioral economics

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is using ideas from psychology[br]and other social sciences

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to make economics[br]a little bit more lifelike

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and fit human behavior.

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The neuroeconomics part [br]is that we actually try to see

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what's happening in the brain

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when people are making [br]economic decisions.

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Hypothetical bias is a term [br]for when you ask somebody

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whether they're going[br]to do something,

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but there's no actual consequences,

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like a lot of surveys:[br]"Are you going to vote?"

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"Will you buy [br]this new product we have?"

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You tend to get a kind [br]of upward "yes" bias.

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People are more likely to say,[br]"Yeah, I'd think I'd buy it"

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or "Oh, yeah,[br]I'm planning to vote."

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The hypothetical bias[br]can be pretty high,

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and it can be also retrospective.

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So if you ask people did they vote,

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70% say yes and really [br]the answer was 45%.

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One application is [br]in things like marketing.

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A lot of new products fail,[br]and one reason they fail

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is because when [br]they test marketed,

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a lot of people said, [br]"Yes, I'd buy it,"

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who weren't going to buy it.

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One thing that people [br]have been chasing

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in different fields in economics[br]and psychology is

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how could we measure the size [br]of this bias and adjust for it?

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So that if 70% of the people say[br]they're going to buy a new product,

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we know that [br]the real number is 45%.

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We did a couple of studies[br]using brain imaging to say

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is there a kind[br]of signature in the brain

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of when somebody says, [br]"Yes, I would buy it,"

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but when they really have [br]to choose, they say no.

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So we showed them pictures[br]of different goods,

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and the first part [br]of the experiment, we asked them,

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"Would you pay $27 [br]for this backpack, yes or no?" --

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that's the hypothetical part.

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And then we kind of surprised them[br]when they come out of the scanner,

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and we say to them,[br]"Oh, by the way,

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now we're going to actually[br]have you decide to spend money,

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so we're going to give you $50."

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If you want to buy[br]the backpack for $27,

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we're going to take it[br]out of your 50,

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so that now they have[br]to make real decisions.

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And then we study [br]in the brain imaging,

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could we tell what areas [br]were saying yes,

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but actually would later say no,

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compared to the areas that said,[br]"Yes, I think I'll buy it,"

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and, yes, they really did buy it.

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And we found both[br]more activity in certain regions

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associated with valuation

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and then activity[br]in different regions,

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which were somewhat predictive

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of when a yes was going to turn[br]into, "Well, not really."

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In some other studies [br]on hypothetical bias,

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we used eye tracking, [br]which is a computerized way

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of seeing what you're looking at[br]for how long.

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It also measures pupil dilation.

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When you're aroused [br]by something that you like

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or possibly you're scared,[br]the pupil dilates a little bit.

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So we used that method

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and then another method[br]using mouse movements.

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And so we found [br]that the mouse tracking

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and the eye tracking[br]actually could give us an idea

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of when people would say, "Yes, [br]I'm going to buy this product,"

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but then they really didn't[br]when they had skin in the game

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and had to buy it.

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The quicker a person moves a mouse[br]to a box to click on something,

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the more they like it.

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It's like a fast trajectory,[br]"I really like this."

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A slow meandering trajectory is, [br]"Well, I don't know. I'm not sure."

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The motor activity in the mouse is[br]actually an index in economic value

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as well as some other things,[br]like indecision.

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We live in a kind of golden age[br]of social science

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in which we can measure things[br]in lots and lots of different ways.

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So one thing we've just begun

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that I think is going [br]to be really, really fun

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is in order to study habit[br]and a bunch of other things,

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we bought a smart vending machine,

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and a smart vending machine

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is basically a vending[br]machine in the back

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and a giant iPad in the front.

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So you could program the iPad[br]to show whatever you want.

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For example, if somebody[br]buys habitually,

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and you raise the price[br]by a few percent,

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do they just ignore that

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because they're not [br]even looking at the price?

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Eventually, we'd like also[br]to be able to use

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webcams or cameras to record,

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so when I say somebody[br]is not looking at the price,

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I really mean they are[br]not looking at the price

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because the camera looked[br]at where their eyes were looking.

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- [Narrator] Want to see [br]more economists in the wild?

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Check out our playlist.

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Are you a teacher?

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Here's some related material [br]for your classroom.

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♪ [music] ♪