This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

MKW3701 - Neuroscience of decision-making: An introduction

6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Business and Economics

Organisational Unit

Department of Marketing

Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Alexandre Schaefer

Offered

Malaysia

First semester 2016 (Day)

Synopsis

The main objective of this unit is to introduce a novel interdisciplinary field characterised by the utilisation of neuroscientific and behavioural methods to understand and predict economic behaviours, including consumer behaviour. A major emphasis will be given to the fields of neuromarketing and neuroeconomics, and to their applications.

This unit will be relevant for business students without any background in neuroscience, yet interested in cutting-edge approaches that integrate knowledge from several scientific fields. This unit may also appeal to students from biomedical disciplines, in particular psychology and neuroscience, and also to social sciences students.

Outcomes

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

understand basic fundamentals of neuroanatomy and neuroimaging methods necessary to understand most published studies in the fields of neuroeconomics and neuromarketing
understand basic principles of neural and cognitive processes underlying economic, financial and social decision-making processes
understand the main results obtained in the field of consumer neuroscience
understand issues related to how brain sciences can realistically contribute to business practices
develop important ethical values: how can neuroscience be used for marketing purposes without harming consumer's interests and rights? Are neuromarketing consultancy companies truly able to help businesses, or are they misleading business practitioners?
develop skills in innovation and application of research skills in the professional world: how to use the knowledge and methods of cognitive psychology and neuroscience in the field of economics and business.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 50%
Examination: 50%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Associate Professor Alexandre Schaefer

Prerequisites

MKW2402 or PSY1011