Psychology and the New Private Law
ORCID
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2020
Abstract
Tess Wilkinson-Ryan offers a framework for understanding the contributions of psychological methods and insights for private law. She argues that psychological analysis of legal decision-making challenges the predominant conception of choice and preference in private law, especially in the wake of the law and economics movement. Unlike economists, psychologists almost never talk about preferences; they talk about decisions, choices, beliefs, and attitudes. One of the interventions of psychology in the NPL is to reject simplistic accounts of preferences. Focusing on cognitive and social psychology, Wilkinson-Ryan explores how each choice entails a series of considerations: doing the math (calculation), understanding self-interest (motivation), reckoning with the visceral experience of being a human (emotion), internalizing social norms (social influence), and conducting a moral audit (moral values). In doing so, Wilkinson-Ryan outlines the case for taking behavior and cognition seriously in the NPL.
Keywords
Psychology, new private law, behavioral law and economics, cognitive & social psychology
Publication Title
The Oxford Handbook of the New Private Law
Repository Citation
Wilkinson-Ryan, Tess, "Psychology and the New Private Law" (2020). All Faculty Scholarship. 2714.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/2714
Publication Citation
In The Oxford Handbook of the New Private Law 125 (Andrew S Gold et al. eds., Oxford 2020)