The Psychology of Finance
Discover the cognitive biases and emotions behind financial decisions.
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At a Glance
- Enrollment:
- Open enrollment
- Length:
- 8 weeks
- Format:
- Online
Upcoming Dates
There are currently no upcoming dates.
Students may register up to 7 days after the course start.
Harness insights into human decision-making to drive optimal outcomes.
This eight-week University of Chicago course explores money management and financial trading from the behavioral finance perspective. It is designed to teach you the biases that influence decision-making processes and how to apply this knowledge to make rational choices with lasting impacts across a range of investment scenarios.
Designed For
Designed for current and emerging business leaders and managers, financial advisors, and marketing professionals interested in acquiring a nuanced understanding of behavioral finance to better understand consumer and market participant motivations and support stakeholder decision-making.
Learning Objectives to Become a Behavioral Finance Expert
Behavioral finance proposes that psychological influences and biases affect the financial behaviors of investors and financial practitioners. These psychological factors can explain diverse market anomalies, especially those related to the stock market. Our course will help you master the thinking behind money management and financial trading.
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- Explain the psychology behind financial decisions made by business leaders and investors.
- Neutralize relevant biases.
- Encourage and execute better financial decisions.
- Explain the consumer choice theory.
- Differentiate mental models related to behavioral finance.
- Earn a credential certifying completion from the University of Chicago and become part of the UChicago network.
What Drives Supply and Demand?
Understand the psychology behind financial decisions made by business leaders and investors.
Enroll NowBehavioral Finance Curriculum
You will learn to:
- Describe concepts such as utility, probability weighting, the certainty effect, and survivorship bias, as well as risk, gains, and losses.
- Explain the causation/correlation error, the mental error in probability weighting, the consequences of the anchoring bias, overtrading due to overconfidence, the equity premium puzzle, and active vs. passive mutual funds.
- Evaluate subjective vs. absolute probabilities, overconfidence as the “mother of all biases,” and the framing and reversal of preferences.
Online Format Features
- Self-paced interactive learning modules with a variety of engaging learning activities, assignments, and resources.
- Live sessions that bring you, your peers, and your instructor together to learn collaboratively about the current state of the field, engage with real-world problems, and explore authentic solutions.
- Continuous support from your instructional assistant, who will accompany you on your journey through the content, answer your questions, and provide feedback on your work.
Online Course Schedule
Learn to define and describe irrationality in human decision-making and financial markets and explain the basis and consequences of the consumer choice theory.
Gain insight into the Dual Process Theory and its influence on decision-making. Learn to use the Prospect Theory to explore how we calculate risks and utility when making decisions, the ways we avoid loss, and how anticipated regret can lead to problematic inaction.
Learn how to avoid mistakes when calculating probabilities and utilize decision trees when calculating probabilities that depend on multiple factors. Identify the factors that skew our probability calculations.
Learn to critically distinguish between correlation and causality in relation to the financial market and how to identify biases that could cloud an investor's judgment. Leverage analytical thinking to make rational, unbiased decisions.
Identify the heuristics in our thinking, show how they can become biases, and explore these biases' effects on financial decisions.
Explore the effects of language on our framing, analyze our attachment to our belongings, and examine our attitude toward change.
Discover which financial trends traditional economics fails to predict while examining the trends that behavioral finance can predict. Delve into how and why financial bubbles form.
Survey the many factors behind our financial decisions and learn about the rules that all investors should follow and the reasoning behind why most investors do not follow these rules.
Earn a Credential in the Psychology of Finance
After successful completion of this course, participants will receive credentials certified by the University of Chicago including a digital badge to recognize their achievement.
Meet Your Instructor
Our highly trained instructors are courageous thinkers and passionate leaders who leverage years of industry expertise and up-to-date knowledge of terminology, tools, and trends to deliver an unparalleled learning experience. Through their rigorous discourse, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and field-shaping contributions, they create practical solutions and pioneering innovations that enrich our world.
This instructor teaches this course regularly. Please speak to your enrollment advisor if you wish to know who the current teacher is.
George Dan, MBA
Founder and CEO, User Nudge Inc.
George Dan founded User Nudge Inc. as part of a lifelong journey to understand human decisions. Using behavioral science, the company decodes human behavior and focuses on how those using online interfaces make decisions. Previously, Dan was the head of operations analytics at a software-as-a...
Career Outlook
Diverse market anomalies, especially those related to the stock market, can be explained through psychological biases and influences. At a time of increased uncertainty and market volatility, behavioral finance is growing in practice. Advisors seek to incorporate this analysis into their wealth management processes to improve the client experience, deepen relationships, and deliver better results.
The average annual base pay for an investment advisor in the United States.
The position of social/behavioral scientist in the ranking of emerging finance roles.
The percentage of financial advisors using behavioral finance techniques.
Potential Job Titles for Professionals Leveraging Insights from Behavioral Finance
- Behavioral Economics Researcher
- Behavioral Scientist
- Consultant
- Financial Analyst
- Financial Associate
- Investment Manager
- Personal Financial Advisor
How Do I Get Started?
- Complete the form on the registration page.
- Pay the tuition fee through our secure gateway.
- Receive a welcome email with your login information for the virtual campus.
- Gain access to the course content prior to the start date.
Of Interest
Professional Certificate in Strategic Financial Management
Unlock impactful financial decision-making for success in modern business.