Course Catalogue.

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

• Point out at least 25 common thinking errors
• Summarize three case studies of how important incentives and disincentives are in changing cognition and behaviour
• Give at least three examples of how liking or loving something can unconsciously distort your thinking about that entity
• Illustrate five examples of how authority figures can misinfluence and generate disastrous unintended consequences 
• List at least 10 antidotes to thinking errors

Description
The course provides a concise overview of behavioural finance. This is the study of the effects of psychology on investors and financial markets. It focuses on explaining why investors often appear to lack self-control, act against their own best interest, and make decisions based on personal biases instead of facts. While a popular theory is that the business world works in rational, predictable ways, the reality is markets are full of inefficiencies because of flawed thinking about prices and risk. The session highlights dozens of social psychology tendencies that can inadvertently mislead and distort your financial analysis.

The life experience and research of Charlie Munger, an American billionaire investor and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, inspire this course. Over a 70+ year career, he has identified a set of prevalent cognitive behaviours that can trigger flawed thinking and sub-optimal behaviour. Munger has shared this “worldly wisdom” in multiple speeches and writings, and this session is a summation of his work. 

Behavioural finance is essential for Technical Professionals because that is precisely what they do -- making business and financial decisions based on their psychology. How practitioners think, act, and decide is driven by their unique education, experience, biological influences, social pressures, and environmental factors. Gaining a richer and deeper understanding of psychology can help professionals gain insights into their actions as guardians of the public trust, arbiters of truth, and business advisors. The act of “thinking about thinking” will also provide a better understanding of your clients, peers, and the world. 

You’ll walk away from the course with a checklist of standard thinking errors that you or your team may be committing but not necessarily realizing it. You’ll also discover how to use psychology knowledge to avoid common human misjudgments and self-sabotaging behaviours in your professional and personal life.

Who Should Attend
Practitioners who want a foundational understanding of behavioural finance and wish to increase their awareness of social psychology tendencies that can cause business misjudgments and how to avoid and fix these common thinking errors.