# We're just monkeys

- Author: Joichi Ito
- Date: 2005-04-02T05:09:58Z


Jim Downing @ Smart Mobslike a monkey driving a car

This article in Businessweek says that "the study of neuroeconomics may topple the notion of rational decision-making. According to the new science of neuroeconomics, the explanation might lie inside the brains of the negotiators. Not in the prefrontal cortex, where people rationally weigh pros and cons, but deep inside, where powerful emotions arise. Brain scans show that when people feel they're being treated unfairly, a small area called the anterior insula lights up, engendering the same disgust that people get from, say, smelling a skunk. That overwhelms the deliberations of the prefrontal cortex. With primitive brain functions so powerful, it's no wonder that economic transactions often go awry. "In some ways, modern economic life for humans is like a monkey driving a car," says Colin F. Camerer, an economist at California Institute of Technology".
Why Logic Often Takes A Backseat I generally don't like the idea of trying to turn everything into economics. It often reminds me of trying to make music with math. This idea that we act irrationally is obvious to most people and if neurologists can help explain it to the economists, good. But I don't think it's just our economy that's being run by monkeys.





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Economics