The Strimman lecture series got a flying start to its new season. With a new approach called ‘live research’, where experts from inside and outside academia discuss various topics, the first evening attracted a full house. The focus was on the economy and financial decision-making and covered big issues such as whether we can really trust money. Kinga Barrafrem, docent in economics at Linköping University and expert on behavioural economics, was one of the guests.
“It was great to have this interaction with other researchers and the audience about current issues and trends. I love doing research, but sometimes I forget to spread my research to a wider audience. This was a fantastic way to do it,” she says.
Make better decisions
Kinga Barrafrem researches financial decision making and focuses strongly on how we humans collect, process – but also misinterpret information that we get from, for example, social media. Recently, she has also looked at how digital technology and artificial intelligence can influence financial decisions.
“I haven’t analysed my data yet, so I daren’t say too much. But there are quite a lot of opportunities with AI, especially for people who have a little less financial knowledge or ignore the information they receive. They can get a boost and make better decisions. Those who already make sound financial decisions probably don’t need any help from AI.”
Why do some people not want to have or avail themselves of information?
“Information can make us feel bad. If there’s a financial crisis, some people don’t want to look at their shareholdings and instead bury their heads in the sand. It may also be that we don’t understand that more information will help us make better decisions. Then there are also people who avoid making decisions, delegate to others or simply put everything off.”
One trend that Kinga Barrafrem is interested in is the FinTok phenomenon on the social media platform Tiktok. This is a community that has billions of interactions and where mostly young people are active.
“Such a forum is interesting in many ways and can affect people differently. It can be a great source for a good financial education, but it can also contribute to bad consequences as many young people say that they make decisions based on things they’ve seen there instead of talking to a bank or financial advisor,” says Kinga Barrafrem.
About Strimman
Strimman is a lecture series that has been organised by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at LiU for over 40 years. This year’s theme is “Decision-making in a time of change “. Hosts Daniel Västfjäll, professor of cognitive psychology, and Gustav Tinghög, professor of economics, invite guests from inside and outside academia to talk or, as they themselves call it, “live research” at the main library in Linköping.
