3036 - The Irrational and More, Part 3 (Shai Robkin)
Course Description
Instructor: Shai Robkin
This course explores many of the ideas featured in the second season of the NBC show “The Irrational.” Students need not watch the show to enjoy the class but doing so will enhance the experience. (Episodes can be watched by purchasing individual episodes or all of season 2 from Amazon and other streaming platforms. Instructor recommends purchase of the entire season, which includes 18 episodes, as he will, in all likelihood, offer a future course based on episodes that come after the episodes covered in this class.) Participation in The Irrational Part 1 and The Irrational Part 2 classes, which covered through Season 2, Episode 3, is not needed for participation in this class. We will also examine some of the new and emerging research into the underlying forces, many unknown to our conscious minds, that drive individual and collective societal behaviors, focusing on the work of behavioral economists, social psychologists and neuroscientists. Where applicable, we’ll see what behavioral scientists have to say about some of the most important and often divisive issues of the day and their possible implications for public policy.
It is not necessary to have taken the prior course.
Bio: Shai (pronounced “Shy”) Robkin works with small and mid-size business executives to leverage the power of behavioral economics. A serial entrepreneur, Shai, together with his wife Judy, opened in 1981 Israel’s first combination bookstore/coffee shop. They returned to Atlanta in 1984 to care for aging parents, using the proceeds from the sale of the Israeli store to acquire Vernon, a manufacturer and distributor of library supplies. Vernon’s technology division was sold in 2011 to One Equity Partners, a division of JP Morgan. The library supplies part of the company was sold in June 2019. He is an active volunteer on behalf of a number of causes, including instant runoff/ranked choice voting and living kidney donation. His work as a behavioral economist led him to explore behavioral science in general and to start and lead a social psychology podcast club.