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Unit of study_
FINC3023: Behavioural Finance
2026 unit information
This unit explores the interaction between psychology and behaviour in financial decision-making. The unit will examine how people evaluate financial risks in practice, and how behavioural biases affect financial decisions. It will also focus on the importance of trust, cooperation, and financial wellbeing in the decision-making process. The unit will then examine group behaviour in financial markets, its effects on asset prices, bubbles and crashes, and implications for financial product design. In this unit, you will learn practical skills to help you succeed in industry, including how to navigate stakeholder engagement, design optimal choice architecture, and apply behaviourally-informed strategies for corporate financial decisions, financial planning and investment advice.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Business (Business School)
| Study level | Undergraduate |
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| Academic unit | Finance |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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FINC2012 |
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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None |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Apply the basic framework of expected utility as the classical normative approach to model financial decision-making.
- LO2. Consider the role of bounded rationality, limited attention and other phenomena that restricts, hinder or limit the ability of individuals to make efficient financial decisions, and how they adopt different heuristics and behaviours to make actual decisions or follow professional financial advice.
- LO3. Assess how rules-of-thumb or perceived wisdom of simple financial advice for lay persons might interact, reinforce or stave off effects that arise from individual biased beliefs or inconsistent preferences.
- LO4. Determine how the combination of institutional design, external determinants and individual financial decision-making behaviour combine and interact to produce market-wide phenomena such as price bubbles, crashes and excessive trading volume.
- LO5. Integrate the role of social interactions and social preferences with financial decision-making in different corporate domains.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 2 2026
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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