Human Systems and Behavior

How digital identity and social proof shape trust and consumer behavior in the online marketplace.

Exploring how luxury goods serve as symbols of status and identity beyond mere utility.

Examining how anchors, decoys, and dissonance shape price perception and brand loyalty.

Exploring persuasion as a science through the Elaboration Likelihood Model.

Exploring the psychology of consumer behavior, from cognitive biases to future trends in decision-making.

Exploring how cognitive biases undermine rational consumer choice.

We analyze the Wealthy-Harming Preference (WHP), quantifying how spiteful envy drives support for economically inefficient tax policies.

We analyze the historical proscription of envy and quantify its modern role as a hidden, punitive driver of demand for wealth redistribution.

Successful brands must proactively manage malicious envy, especially in high-inequality markets, or face boycotts and negative word-of-mouth.

Veblen's concepts explain why competitive status seeking traps individuals in a costly, self-defeating cycle of spending, creating large societal welfare losses.