HKS Authors

See citation below for complete author information.

Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, HBS

Abstract

In 1983-1985, while on the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I regularly attended the monthly faculty dinner meetings of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Many brilliant minds offered their insights into the ideas being discussed. And consistently, about five minutes before the end of the session, Howard Raiffa would offer the most insightful comment of the night, in a very humble form. As I drove home, I found myself continuing to think about what Raiffa had just said. I left MIT for Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1985. In 1996, I nominated Raiffa for an honorary doctorate from Northwestern, and many of my colleagues at the school quickly agreed that this was a great idea. By combining a descriptive understanding of human behavior with the goal of prescribing better decisions, behavioral economics evolved as a practical field very much in line with Raiffa's vision.

Citation

Bazerman, Max. "Prescriptions Based on a Realistic View of Human Behavior." Negotiation Journal 33.4 (October 2017): 309-315.