Marketing Fundamentals - BUAD 307



|[pic] |GESM 131g: Seminar in Social Analysis |

| |The Art and Science of Decision Making |

| |Spring 2020 |

| |Professor: Dr. Cheryl Wakslak |

| |Office: HOH 402 |

| |Cell Phone: (818) 253-4426 |

| |E-mail: wakslak@marshall.usc.edu |

| | |

| |Teaching Assistant: Elizabeth Quinn |

| |Email: quinne@marshall.usc.edu |

| | |

Lecture Class:

Section 35441R: Monday/Wednesday 8:30am-9:50am, LVL 3V

Section 35446R: Monday/Wednesday 2:00pm-3:20pm, LVL 3V

Office Hours:

Mondays 12:00-1:00 PM. If this time does not work, please email, call, or text to set up a time!

| | |

Introduction and Course Objective

Over the last thirty years, psychologists and economists have joined forces to study how people process information and make choices, rather than how they would make decisions if they were fully rational and selfish. This course will introduce you to the methods of social analysis used by psychologists, and explore how these methods have expanded our understanding of the nature, causes, and consequences of such deviations from “optimal” choice. Throughout, our goal will be to leverage insights from this growing area of scholarship (dubbed “behavioral economics” or “judgment and decision making”) to enhance your ability to make decisions – right now and in the future, as you move into leadership positions in organizations. We will develop frameworks for keeping biases in check, for understanding when to rely on intuition and when not to, and for improving your ability to generate excellent alternatives and make decisions you can stand behind proudly. You will learn how to assess empirical evidence, how to utilize such evidence in your own decision-making, and how to conduct simple research projects to improve organizational decision processes.

Learning Objectives

This course is designed to help you leverage the methods and insights of psychology to improve the quality of your decisions in your personal life and in the organizations with which you are and will be affiliated...

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Apply methods of social analysis from the discipline of psychology to the study of human decision making and behavior in economic, political, interpersonal, and organizational settings.

• Understand the nature of empirical evidence and assess the usefulness of different types of evidence (e.g., qualitative and quantitative) in explaining specific outcomes and providing a basis for organizational decisions; and

• Demonstrate an understanding of the interplay between individual decision-making, group dynamics, and organizational settings.

Prerequisites: None.

Required Materials and Course Notes: The majority of course readings are available on Blackboard. These are already uploaded in a “course readings” folder under “content” and can be accessed at any time. Open-reading quizzes will also take place on Blackboard (see below for more info). For all other course information and communication, we will be using . We will also be using three Harvard Business School cases, which must be purchased as a course reader through the bookstore. There is no required textbook. Class slides will be posted after lecture sessions. If for any reason you have a strong need for class slides before lecture sessions, please contact me directly.

Class Policies:

• Laptops and Cell Phones: Laptops are not allowed. Please bring a notebook to class to take notes in. Cell phones are not permitted in class.

• Absences: When you are absent, the class can’t benefit from your comments and insights on the material, and this will of course hurt your class participation grade. If you are absent, you should arrange beforehand with a classmate to take notes and pick up any assignments or handouts.

• Late Arrivals: Please arrive on time to avoid disrupting the class.

• Email Correspondence: I am often, but not always, on email. Therefore, to make sure that you get any information you need well before deadlines, please email me at least 24 hours before you need an answer, want to set up a meeting, etc.

Grading Summary:

|Components |% of Grade |

| | |

|Open-Reading Quizzes |15% |

| | |

|Mid-Semester Homework Assignment (due date of midterm) |8% |

| | |

|Midterm |20% |

| | |

|Final |20% |

| | |

|Final Project (due date of final) | |22% |

| | | |

|Participation | | |

| | |10% |

|“Question of the Day” responses | | |

| In-Class Participation | 5% |

| | | | |

|TOTAL | 100% |

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING DETAIL

Open-Reading Quizzes (15%). I expect you to come to class prepared for discussion, by having read that day’s required reading. There is no textbook required for this class. Instead, readings consist of 1-3 general interest articles per session, and may sometimes include a podcast or television episode that I would like you to listen to or watch. To incentivize timely reading, I will require you to complete a brief “reading quiz” before each session. These quizzes will consist of a small number of questions that ask you for factual information contained in the readings. They may also ask you to think about or reflect on the readings. They can be completed “open-reading,” i.e., with the reading right in front of you! If you read the articles, you should be able to easily earn 100% on this grading component. Quizzes can be found and completed in the “Reading Quizzes” folder on Blackboard. Please note that multiple-choice answers for quizzes will be auto-graded. However, open ended responses on quizzes will be graded by hand at the semester’s end and will therefore be marked as “needs grading” on Blackboard until the end of the semester.

Mid-Semester Homework Assignment (8%). There will be a single 1-2 page homework assignment, due the day of the midterm. You are welcome to do it earlier in the semester if you like. For the assignment, I would like you to find one article published in a mainstream news outlet that you believe suffers from one or more of the biases we have discussed in class. Attach a copy of the article to your homework assignment. Briefly describe the bias (based upon what we learned in class), and explain how the article exhibits this bias. Argue for why the presence of this bias is or is not a problem in the context of the article you have chosen (in other words, does it matter that this bias in the article exists) and reflect on any larger lessons beyond the context of this article.

Midterm (20%). The midterm will be on Monday March 2. We will talk more about it in class. Based on prior experience, it will be harder than you expect it to be.

Final (20%). The final will be on Monday May 11. For the 8:30 class, it will be from 11-1. For the 2:00 class, it will be from 2-4. The final will be structured similarly to the midterm.

Final Project (22%). The final project has two components: a 12-page paper and a 5 minute video presentation. The format of the video is up to you: you can use video animation (powtoon, moovly, etc. – although be sure to check free option limitations before you start ;-)), imovie, live footage, media embedded in a ppt deck or narration of a ppt deck, or anything else that you like. We will watch the presentations during the final class periods, with groups doing a short Q&A after playing their video. The presentations take place during the last few class periods and the paper is due on the day of the final exam (May 11. Note that you must come to present your video in person or you will not receive credit for the video portion.

There are two project options:

Option 1: Business Proposal: Describe an original business idea that capitalizes on one or more of the phenomena discussed in the course. Your paper and presentation should clearly outline the proposal and argue for why it should be effective. Provide a brief review of past research relevant to the phenomena and cite any research that would support the viability and potential of your new venture.

Option 2: Study a Case of Biased Decision-Making: Identify and research a real, unwise organizational or political decision that was made due to one of the biased decision processes covered in this course. Your paper and presentation should describe the setting/context in detail, what judgment errors were made, as well as evidence supporting the offered interpretation. Summarize past research on the relevant judgmental error and suggest strategies that might have been used to prevent the error, citing appropriate research to support your recommendations.

You have the option of completing this project solo or in groups of up to 3. If you elect to do the project with a group, the group will turn in a single paper and make a single presentation, with each member of the group receiving the same grade.

Participation (15% total). The class will be a more fun and interesting experience to the degree that students are engaged with the material and participate in creating a dynamic classroom environment. To help you connect the course material to your lived experience, at the end of each class I will pose a “Question of the Day” (QOD). This will be a short prompt asking you to reflect on the course material and consider how it connects to something you have experienced. You will be required to respond to the prompt on the class yellowdig board. Answering these questions should take about five minutes (although feel free to spend however long you’d like!) and is worth 10% of your grade. Responses are due at the start of the following class. I encourage you to read and comment on your peers’ responses as well.

In addition participating through the QOD responses, I encourage you to speak up during class and make a contribution to the discussion. If you are uncomfortable with class participation, please let me know at the beginning of the term and I will work with you to help you overcome this barrier. Overall, my goal is to have a lively and widespread discussion; it is not important that every contribution you make is correct; what is important is that it is thought-out, provocative, and engaging. Verbal participation in class will formally be counted for 5% of your grade.

USC Statement on Academic Conduct and Support Systems

Academic Conduct:

Students are expected to make themselves aware of and abide by the University community’s standards of behavior as articulated in the Student Conduct Code. Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own words – is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Part B, Section 11, “Behavior Violating University Standards” .  Other forms of academic dishonesty are equally unacceptable.  See additional information in SCampus and university policies on scientific misconduct, .

Support Systems:

Counseling and Mental Health - (213) 740-9355 – 24/7 on call

studenthealth.usc.edu/counseling

Free and confidential mental health treatment for students, including short-term psychotherapy, group counseling, stress fitness workshops, and crisis intervention.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 1 (800) 273-8255 – 24/7 on call



Free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention and Services (RSVP) - (213) 740-9355(WELL), press “0” after hours – 24/7 on call

studenthealth.usc.edu/sexual-assault

Free and confidential therapy services, workshops, and training for situations related to gender-based harm.

Campus Support & Intervention (CSI) - (213) 740-0411



A team of professionals here to assist students, faculty, and staff in navigating complex issues. Whether you are here seeking support for yourself or someone else, we are available to help you problem solve, understand options, and connect with resources. Please note that we are not an emergency resource and are not available 24/7.

Office of Equity and Diversity (OED)- (213) 740-5086 | Title IX – (213) 821-8298

equity.usc.edu, titleix.usc.edu

Information about how to get help or help someone affected by harassment or discrimination, rights of protected classes, reporting options, and additional resources for students, faculty, staff, visitors, and applicants. The university prohibits discrimination or harassment based on the following protected characteristics: race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, physical disability, medical condition, mental disability, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information, and any other characteristic which may be specified in applicable laws and governmental regulations. The university also prohibits sexual assault, non-consensual sexual contact, sexual misconduct, intimate partner violence, stalking, malicious dissuasion, retaliation, and violation of interim measures. 

Reporting Incidents of Bias or Harassment - (213) 740-5086 or (213) 821-8298

usc-advocate.care_report

Avenue to report incidents of bias, hate crimes, and microaggressions to the Office of Equity and Diversity |Title IX for appropriate investigation, supportive measures, and response.

The Office of Disability Services and Programs - (213) 740-0776

dsp.usc.edu

Support and accommodations for students with disabilities. Services include assistance in providing readers/notetakers/interpreters, special accommodations for test taking needs, assistance with architectural barriers, assistive technology, and support for individual needs.

USC Support and Advocacy - (213) 821-4710

uscsa.usc.edu

Assists students and families in resolving complex personal, financial, and academic issues adversely affecting their success as a student.

Diversity at USC - (213) 740-2101

diversity.usc.edu

Information on events, programs and training, the Provost’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, Diversity Liaisons for each academic school, chronology, participation, and various resources for students.

USC Emergency - UPC: (213) 740-4321, HSC: (323) 442-1000 – 24/7 on call

dps.usc.edu, emergency.usc.edu

Emergency assistance and avenue to report a crime. Latest updates regarding safety, including ways in which instruction will be continued if an officially declared emergency makes travel to campus infeasible.

USC Department of Public Safety - UPC: (213) 740-6000, HSC: (323) 442-120 – 24/7 on call

dps.usc.edu

Non-emergency assistance or information.

Students with Disabilities

USC is committed to making reasonable accommodations to assist individuals with disabilities in reaching their academic potential. If you have a disability which may impact your performance, attendance, or grades in this course and require accommodations, you must first register with the Office of Disability Services and Programs (usc.edu/disability). DSP provides certification for students with disabilities and helps arrange the relevant accommodations.  Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to your TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in GFS (Grace Ford Salvatori Hall) 120 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776. Email: ability@usc.edu.

Emergency Preparedness/Course Continuity

In case of a declared emergency if travel to campus is not feasible, the USC Emergency Information web site () will provide safety and other information, including electronic means by which instructors will conduct class using a combination of USC’s Blackboard learning management system (blackboard.usc.edu), teleconferencing, and other technologies.

CLASS SESSIONS OVERVIEW

| | | | |

|# |Date |Topic |Readings/Assignments Due |

|1 |Mon 1/13 |Introduction |Read: Brooks (2011) |

| |Wed 1/15 |Heuristics and Biases 1 |Read: Gawande (1999), Tabuchi (2019) |

|2 | | | |

| |Mon 1/20 |MLK Day (no class) | |

|3 |Wed 1/22 |Heuristics and Biases 2 |Read: Gladwell (2003) |

|4 |Mon 1/27 |Overconfidence & Self-Serving Biases |Read: Gladwell (2009); Wallace (2005);Williams (2012) |

|5 |Wed 1/29 |Expectancies and Memory |Read: Chase & Dasu (2001) |

| | | |Watch: Community, Season 2, Episode 3 |

|6 |Mon 2/3 |Prospect Theory |Read: Surowiecki (2016) |

|7 |Wed 2/5 |Want/Should Conflicts |Read: Cassidy (2006); Perry (1996) |

|8 |Mon 2/10 |Commitment Devices & Choice over Time |Read: Leiber (2010); Trope, Liberman, & Wakslak (2006) |

|9 |Wed 2/12 |Social Norms and Conformity |Prepare: OPOWER case |

| |Mon 2/17 |President’s Day (no class) | |

|10 |Wed 2/19 |Fairness |Listen to: Planet Money podcast |

|11 |Mon 2/24 |Cooperation |Listen to: Finding Fred podcast |

|12 |Wed 2/26 |Mental Accounting |Read: Mullainathan (2016) |

|13 |Mon 3/2 |Midterm |Mid-semester HW assignment due |

|14 |Wed 3/4 |Cognitive Dissonance, Escalation |Read: Tavris & Aronson (2007) |

|15 |Mon 3/9 |Doing Experiments |Prepare: Green Bank of the Philippines Case |

|16 |Wed 3/11 |Doing Experiments 2 |Read: Stone (2015), Ju (2016), Gardner (2012) |

| |3/15-3/22 |Spring Break | |

|17 |Mon 3/23 |Making tradeoffs |Read: Zetlin (2014); Osnos (1997) |

|18 |Wed 3/25 |Enhancing Creativity |Read: Grossman (1997); Brown (2008) |

|19 |Mon 3/30 |Bounded Ethicality |Read: Barron (2013) |

|20 |Wed 4/1 |Group Decision Making |Prepare: Challenger Case. |

| | | |Due: 1 page final project proposal |

|21 |Mon 4/6 |General Well-Being |Read: Melton (2012), Porter (2012) |

| | | |Read/Watch: Izenberg, J. (2014) |

|22 |Wed 4/8 |Influence |Read: Cialdini (2001), Mathur et al (2019) |

|23 |Mon 4/13 |Intuition vs. Analysis |Read: Hayashi (2001); Gladwell (2005) |

| | | |Listen to: 99% Invisible podcast |

|24 |Wed 4/15 |Group work/guest lecture |-- |

|25 |Mon 4/20 |Improving Org Decision Making 1 |Read: Thaler & Sunstein (2003); Loewenstein & Ubel (2010)|

|26 |Wed 4/22 |Improving Org Decision Making 2 |Read: Krakauer (1996); Heath, Larrick, & Klayman (1998); |

| | | |Kahneman et al (2011) |

|27 |Mon 4/27 |Improving Org Decision Making 3 |Keeney (1992) |

|28 |Wed 4/29 |Presentations |Munger (1995) |

| | | |Final projects due 5/11 (date of scheduled final exam) |

DETAILED SESSION INFORMATION

Reminders: Reading materials are already posted to blackboard. Cases are available as part of the course reader. Adequate preparation for class includes reading all assigned readings before that session’s class meeting and completing the open-reading quiz for each class.

Class 1: Introduction (January 13)

• Brooks, D. (October 20, 2011). Who you are. The New York Times.

Class 2: Heuristics and Biases 1 (January 15)

• Gawande, A. (1999). The cancer cluster myth. The New Yorker, February 8, 1999.

• Tabuchi, H. (January 2, 2019). A Trump county confronts the administration amid a rash of child cancers. The New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2019 from

MLK Day, NO CLASS (January 20)

Class 3: Heuristics and Biases 2 (January 22)

• Gladwell, M. (March 10, 2003). Connecting the dots: The paradoxes of intelligence reform. The New Yorker.

Class 4: Overconfidence and Self-serving Biases (January 27)

• Gladwell, M. (July 27, 2009.). Cocksure: Banks, battles, and the psychology of overconfidence. The New Yorker.

• Wallace, D. F. (2005). Commencement address given at Kenyon College.

• Williams, A. (Nov 30, 2012). Saying no to college. The New York Times.

Class 5: Expectancies and Memory (January 29)

• Chase, R. B. & Dasu, S. (June, 2001). Want to perfect your company’s service? Use behavioral science. Harvard Business Review, 79-84.

• Watch: Community, Season 2, Episode 3

Class 6: Prospect Theory (February 3)

• Surowiecki, J. (June 6, 2016). Losers! The more Trump emphasizes loss, the more voters may take a risk on him to get it back. The New Yorker. Retrieved July 20, 2016, from

Class 7: Want/Should Conflicts (February 5)

• Cassidy, J. (September 18, 2006). Mind games: What neuroeconomics tells us about money and the brain. The New Yorker.

• Perry, J. (February 23, 1996). How to procrastinate and still get things done. Retrieved September 7, 2016, from

Class 8: Commitment Devices and Choice over Time (February 10)

• Leiber, R. (August 13, 2010). Your card has been declined, just as you wanted. New York Times.

• Trope, Y., Liberman, N., & Wakslak, C. (2007). Construal levels and psychological distance: Effects on representation, prediction, evaluation, and behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17, 83-95.

Class 9: Social Norms and Conformity (February 12)

• Cuddy, A.C. & Doherty, K.T. (2010). OPOWER: Increasing Energy Efficiency through Normative Influence. Harvard Business School Press: Cambridge, MA.

Presidents Day, NO CLASS (February 17)

Class 10: Fairness (February 19)

• Listen to the following Planet Money podcast (August 28, 2015):



Class 11: Cooperation (February 24)

• Listen to the following Finding Fred podcast (November 12, 2019):



If you are not familiar with Fred Rogers or the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood children’s show, first check out:

Class 12: Mental Accounting (February 26)

• Mullainathan, S. (2016, February 12). How to pinch pennies in the right places. The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2016 from .

Class 13: MIDTERM (March 2)

Class 14: Cognitive Dissonance, Escalation (March 4)

• Tavris, C. and Aronson, E. (2007). Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. Harcourt Books: USA. Introduction & Chapter 1.

Class 15: Field Experimentation (March 9)

• Ashraf, N., Karlan, D., Yin, W., & Shotland, M. (2010). Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines. Harvard Business School Press: Cambridge, MA.

Class 16: Field Experimentation 2 (March 11)

• Stone, K. (November 4, 2015). A/B and see: A beginner’s guide to A/B testing. Retrieved July 21, 2016 from .

• Ju, S. (March 22, 2016). An anti-cookbook approach to A/B testing. Retrieved July 21, 2016 from .

• Gardner, J. (September 19, 2012). 12 surprising A/B test results to stop you making assumptions. Retrieved January 3, 2019 from

Further Optional Reading:

• Watch a presentation by Kelly Uphoff (Netflix Director of Experimentation and Algorithm for Growth and Targeting):



• Overgoor, J. (May 27, 2014). Experiments at Airbnb. Retrieved July 21, 2016 from .

Spring Break, NO CLASS (March 15-22)

Class 17: Making Tradeoffs (March 23)

• Zetlin, M. (Februrary 11, 2014). Automated tip amounts: How to regain control. Retrieved July 21, 2016 from

• Osnos, E. (1997, September 27). Too many choices? Firms cut back on new products. Philadelphia Inquirer, D1–D7.

Class 18: Enhancing Creativity (March 25)

• Grossman, J. (1997, May). Jump start your business. Inc. Magazine, 19.

• Brown, T. (2008). Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review.

Class 19: (Bounded) Ethicality (March 30)

• Barron, J. (2013, March 6). On campus, costly target of brazen thefts: Nutella. New York Times.

Class 20: Group Decision Making (April 1)

• Edmondson, A.C. & Feldman, L.R. (2002). Group Process in the Challenger Launch Decision (A). Harvard Business School Press: Cambridge, MA.

Class 21: General Well-Being (April 6)

• Melton, G. (January 4, 2012). 2011 Lesson #2: Don’t Carpe Diem, Momastery. Retrieved January 5, 2012, from

• Izenberg, J. (2014, April 1). ‘Slomo.’ New York Times.

o Please watch the short documentary

• Porter, C. (March 16, 2012). Shelagh was Here — An Ordinary, Magical Life. Retrieved August 17, 2015, from

Class 22: Influence (April 8) ** Class exercise; please wear comfortable shoes! **

• Cialdini, R.B. (2001) Harnessing the Science of Persuasion, Harvard Business Review, October 2001

• Mathur, A., Acar, G., Friedman, M., Lucherini, E., Mayer, J., Chetty, M., & Narayanan, A. Dark patterns at scale: Findings from a crawl of 11K shopping websites.

Class 23: Intuition versus Analysis (April 13)

• Hayashi, A. M. (2001) When to trust your gut, Harvard Business Review, 79, 58-65.

• Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking (pp. 147-188). New York, NY: Time Warner.

• Listen to the following 99% Invisible podcast:

Class 24: Group project work/guest lecture (April 15)

Class 25: Improving Decision Making 1 (April 20)

• Thaler, R. and C. Sunstein (2003). Libertarian paternalism. American Economic Review, 93(2), 175-179.

• Loewenstein, G., & Ubel, P. (2010, July 14). Economics behaving badly. The New York Times.

• Social and Behavioral Sciences Team, 2016 Annual Report.

Class 26: Improving Decision Making 2 (April 22)

• Krakauer, J. (1996, September). Into thin air. Outside magazine.

• Kahneman, D., Lovallo, D., & Sibony, O. (2011). Before you make that big decision. Harvard Business Review.

• Heath, C., Larrick, R. P., & Klayman, J. (1998). Cognitive repairs: How organizational practices can compensate for individual shortcomings. Research in Organizational Behavior 20, 1-37.

Optional:

• Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Management half-truths and nonsense: How to practice evidence-based management. California Management Review, 43, 77-100.

Class 27: Improving Decision Making 3 (April 27)

• Keeney, R. L. (1992). Creativity in decision-making with value-focused thinking. Sloan Management Review, 35, 33-41.

Class 28: Presentations, Wrap-Up (April 29)

• Munger, C. T. (1995). A lesson on elementary, worldly wisdom as it relates to management & business. Outstanding Investor Digest, 1, 49-63.

FINAL: MONDAY MAY 11. FINAL PAPERS DUE AT TIME OF FINAL.

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