Being an economist requires that we respond to the troubling question, "Don't economists assume that everyone is selfish?" While it is certainly true that most economic models involve actors who value only their own consumption, this has long been recognized as a simplifying assumption and not descriptively accurate. My proposed research is aimed at increasing the descriptive accuracy of economic theory by incorporating social and psychological concerns. The goal of my research is to demonstrate and investigate how psychological concepts impact economic decisions. I investigate concepts from social psychology (e.g. equity and helping behavior) from cognitive psychology (e.g. nonconsequential reasoning and framing) and cross-cultural psychology (e.g. collectivism and individualism) on economic decisions like bargaining and public goods provision. My research demonstrates the impact of these concepts on economic behavior and suggests new, more descriptively accurate, models of human behavior.
