Normative Implications

This chapter discusses the normative implications of the psychological findings documenting deviations from rationality, with particular focus on fundamental issues that cut across different legal fields. It first outlines the contribution of happiness studies and heuristics-and-biases research to theories of human welfare and the formulation of normative theories. The chapter then focuses on the normative significance of prevailing moral judgments (as studied by moral psychologists) for legal policymaking. Moving on to more pragmatic issues of lawmaking, the chapter examines two major implications of behavioral studies for setting the goals of legal norms: preventing the exploitation of people’s cognitive biases by others, and protecting people from their own fallibility. Finally, turning from goals to means, the discussion highlights the contribution of behavioral studies to the design of disclosure duties and behaviorally informed regulation (nudges).