Behaviour in Society

Course manual 2025/2026

Course content

The course Behaviour in Society aims to deepen students' understanding of human behaviour in societal contexts and its role in shaping policy decisions. Building upon the mathematical and computational modeling concepts covered in the previous semester, this course introduces students to evidence-based decision-making. Students will gain essential insights into human behaviour that can inform the design and evaluation of field experiments aimed at effective policy interventions. Throughout the course, students will explore diverse behavioural models and learn how to translate these models into practical field experiments. This will enable them to become proficient in conducting (experimental) research while identifying and overcoming the associated challenges that arise in informing policy decisions. Importantly, the field experiments designed in this course will align with the parallel course Challenge-based Project II. With the two courses, students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world scenarios, enhancing their understanding of the practical implications of behavioural insights in policymaking.

The course progresses by examining decision-making processes at various levels, starting from the individual and expanding to group influence, group decisions, and intergroup decisions. By comprehensively studying these different decision-making dynamics, students will gain valuable insights into identifying and reflecting on stakeholders' (often conflicting) interests. This knowledge will further equip them with the skills to navigate negotiations and utilize stakeholders' interests as drivers for effective policy steering. Throughout the course, a complexity perspective will be adopted, enabling students to view these decision-making elements as emergent properties.

Study materials

Literature

• For each lecture, students read between three and five scientific articles. Link to the artciles will be published on Canvas.

Practical training material

• Seminars will include problem based learning and the problems will be shown during the seminars.

   

   

   

   

   

Objectives

• Students are able to synthesize information on different types of social influence and incorporate it into decision-making models.
• Students are able to distinguish biases in human judgement and decision-making and analyze how those shape attitude and behaviour.
• Students are able to interpret empirical attitude networks consisting of beliefs, emotions, and behaviors..
• Students are able to analyze social dilemmas and the role of social influence in decision making.
• Students are able to evaluate collective decision-making processes, identifying the causes and consequences of polarization.
• Students are able to identify emergent societal structures and describe cycles of emergence.
• Students are able to analyze and apply decision-making skills in negotiations with conflicting interests.
• Students are able to communicate a research proposal to interdisciplinary audiences.
• Students are able to propose an experimental setup to test specific behavioral theories and models.

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Self-study
• Seminar

The lectures will serve to familiarize the students with the fundamental knowledge that the course is based on. During self-study, students can get a deeper understanding of this fundamental knowledge. The seminars will focus on translating the knowledge obtained during the lectures and self-study to real-world problems.

Learning activities

Attendance

Additional requirements for this course:

Students may be absent in 2 out of 12 seminars and absence need to be communicated to the course coordinator. If students are absent during the presentations, they have to present on a different day.

Assessment

Information on the exam

The cut-off score for the exam is 55%.

The study material for the exam are the lectures and associated articles.

There are no permitted tools during the exam.

The exam will be digital.

The resit will be in the same format as the regular exam.

Information on the assignments

The assignments will focus on a field experiment, in which students use the acquired knowledge in the course to propose a policy change related to their challenge-based project. They then propose a field experiment to test this policy change.

There will be two group presentations on the field experiment during the seminars and the grading rubric will be published on Canvas.

There will be one written group assignment, which will be the proposal for the field experiment. The grading rubric for this proposal will be published on Canvas.

Feedback will be provided for both presentations and the written proposal.

Missing deadlines without good reason for the assignment will result in the maximally achievable grade of 6 for the assignment.

Inspection of assessed work

We will set appointments for feedbacks on the grades during the seminars.

Assignments

See assessment.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Last year's student feedback

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student feedback to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• Jonas Dalege