Behavioral Economics: Influences on Your Financial Decisions (Flex)
In this 7-week flex course, students will use Nearpod to learn through interactive activities to learn about how cognitive and confirmation biases, sunk costs, FOMO, hedonic adaptation, and social media influence your financial decisions.
Brooke Martinez
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(37)
What's included
Class Experience
US Grade 9 - 12
In this 7-week flex course, students will use Nearpod to learn through interactive activities to learn about how cognitive biases, sunk costs, FOMO, confirmation bias, hedonic adaptation, and social media influencers can influence your financial decisions. This course will be filled with hands-on learning! My course is a great way to introduce students to economics. Many learners start with little knowledge about economics. After the course, they will grow to enjoy learning about behavioral economics and will be much more confident in financial decision making! This course will include videos, articles, interactive activities, and an exit ticket for each lesson. I'm a firm believer in creating engaging learning experiences. I'm excited to begin a journey of discovering behavioral economics with your learner! Students will be able to interact with each other on the Outschool platform. Students will work together to play a Dollar Auction game, analyze FOMO and Herd mentality in advertising, and complete a Social Media strategy project. This is a FLEX course, which means that there are no live meetings, but I will still be interacting frequently with students electronically and ask that they interact with each other as they are comfortable. We will interact using the classroom page. A lesson link will be provided every week. There will be multiple interactive activities throughout the lesson so students can synthesize what they are learning and keep track of it. I will ask students to share their work with me and/or the class and give them feedback on this work. I will pose a weekly discussion question for students to answer in the classroom and I will ask that classmates respond to each other's submissions. There will also be a reflection sheet as a check for understanding. Week 1: Are You Really in Control of Your Decisions? Buy Now or Buy Later What’s it Worth? Find the Sequence Rule Investing Cognitive Bias Week 2: Sore Loser The Psychology Behind Irrational Decisions What is Loss Aversion? Decision Making An Investor’s Guide to Loss Aversion Overcoming an Aversion to Loss Week 3: Let it Go! Why Are We So Attached To Our Things? Endowment Effect Dollar Auction Game What Are Sunk Costs?How Susceptible Are You to Sunk Costs? Week 4: Everyone Else is Doing It The Bandwagon Effect FOMO What are FOMO and YOLO teaching us about money? Panic Buying Until the Game Stops House Buying Regrets FOMO & Herd Mentality in Ads Week 5: Arrogance and Echo Chambers Confirmation Bias Explained Types of Confirmation Bias Overconfidence Types of Overconfidence The Psychology Behind Your Worst Investment Decisions Week 6: Enough is Enough Would winning the lottery make you happier? How much money do you need to earn to be happy? Why are we driven to buy more? The Hedonic Adaptation Cycle Spend Better Does Buying Things Lead to Happiness? You Have Enough Stuff! Week 7: I Saw it on Social Media How Social Media Keeps You Poor! The Ultimate Social Media Strategy
Learning Goals
Students will be able to:
Week 1: Are You Really in Control of Your Decisions?
Experience cognitive biases through thought experiments
Identify various cognitive biases
Give examples of cognitive biases in your own life
Explain what cognitive bias is and how it can impact our decision making
Week 2: Sore Loser
Discuss the cognitive bias of loss aversion and how we feel the effect of losses more than gains
Make decisions that involve risk and the possibility of loss
Analyze loss aversion from the perspective of consumers and investors
Choose strategies that will help overcome loss aversion
Week 3: Let it Go!
Identify how the endowment effect and sunk costs affect our decision making
Discuss how the endowment effect and sunk costs are connected to our personal finances
Demonstrate making decisions after you’ve already spent time, money, or effort
Choose strategies that are helpful in combating the endowment effect and sunk costs
Week 4: Everyone Else is Doing It
Understand what herd mentality and FOMO are
Explain how these two cognitive biases impact our personal finances
Identify practical steps someone can take to combat the influence of herd mentality and FOMO
Week 5: Arrogance and Echo Chambers
Understand what confirmation bias is and how it can influence your decision making
Identify types of overconfidence and give examples that show up in everyday life
Explore strategies to avoid confirmation bias and overconfidence
Week 6: Enough is Enough
Understand what hedonic adaptation is and how it influences our financial decisions
Explain the connection between our happiness levels and how much we earn and spend
Identify steps someone can take to counteract the impact of hedonic adaptation
Week 7: I Saw it on Social Media
Reflect on the various cognitive biases you have learned about in this unit
Identify the variety of ways social media marketers use cognitive biases to influence consumer behavior
Work with your peers to create a social media marketing strategy for a specific product
Other Details
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined March, 2021
4.9
37reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
Utah Teaching Certificate in Secondary Education
I am from the United States and have been teaching various business, marketing, and finance courses for 13 years. I have taught both at the high school and collegiate level. I teach both in person and online but online is my favorite! I have a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and Business Information Technology Education, a Masters in Business Administration and a PhD in Online Education.
I am very excited to work with all of you through Outschool!Reviews
Live Group Class
$5
weekly7 weeks
Completed by 4 learners
No live video meetings
Ages: 14-18
