The recent economic meltdown might be traced, in part, to a section of the brain humans share with lizards.

Delivering unexpected insights from leading analysts and powerful experiments, "Mind Over Money" exposes the mysterious and surprising nature of two of the most powerful forces on our planet: the human mind and money.

"For much of the 20th century, studying emotions was out of favour, says Jennifer Lerner, director of Harvard University’s Laboratory for Decision Science.

"As a result, most of the big questions in the field remain unanswered."

"Right now things are uncertain in the country due to the economic crisis and the Afghanistan and Iraq problems," Lerner said. "When people feel uncertain, it tends to induce chronic fear/anxiety and pessimistic risk estimates.

"Interestingly, the emotion of anger is the opposite of fear. It induces optimistic risk estimates and feelings of certainty/control. So it may be that the chronic, ambient sense of uncertainty/anxiety in the country occasionally gives way to angry outbursts that are amplified by the background state of fear. It feels much better, subjectively, to be angry than it does to be afraid."

Metal detectors, X-ray machines, and dogs are used at security checkpoints to look for bombs. Now a next-generation technology under development in Cambridge will look for the bomber.

With funding from the US Department of Homeland Security, Draper Laboratory and other collaborators are building technology to detect potential terrorists with cameras and noninvasive sensors that monitor eye blinks, heart rate, and even fidgeting.

For decades researchers ranging from economists to psychologists to neuroscientists have tried to understand how people make decisions, both mundane and major. NPR's Talk of the Nation guest host Paul Raeburn and guests look at what happens in the mind of "the decider" when there's a choice to be made.

A bad mood can cost you. That's what new research suggests. Jennifer Lerner, Ph.D, director of the Emotion and Decision Making Group at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, had participants view either a sad video (a clip from "The Champ," in which a boy cries at the side of his dying father) or an emotionally neutral one (about the Great Barrier Reef).

Afterward, she asked how much they'd be willing to spend on a sporty water bottle. Those who watched the poignant film offered almost 300 percent more. Sadness devalues one's sense of self, explains Lerner. The urge to pay more may be an attempt to elevate your own worth.

Jennifer Lerner's favorite emotion - intellectually speaking - is anger. Partly that's because anger courses through American political rhetoric. But it's also because anger as a topic of philosophical inquiry has smoldered in scholars' minds for thousands of years.

Fess up, fellows: The masters of the universe have turned out to be masters of disaster. No matter which aspect of the financial crisis you consider, there is a man behind it.

Locking in an electric rate or hedging against oil price spikes bring a degree of financial certainty, hopefully reducing the chance of a budget-busting surprise. But as with many strategies in these days of financial turmoil, the results don't always work out as expected.

Jennifer Lerner, director of the Harvard Decision Science Laboratory and CPL faculty member, is joined by doctoral student Viral Gandhi as they present and discuss the efforts of their lab to better understand the decision making process of leaders.

Anger is usually seen as a negative emotion, but it has at least one effect that would be useful in undoing the recession. Right now, banks aren't lending enough, and too many consumers are hiding whatever liquidity they have under their mattresses. Both banks and consumers need to be a little more risky.

The science of decision making is relatively new, operating at the nexus of psychology, economics, and neuroscience. And Lerner, 40, is one of its pioneers.

When people feel blue, for instance, they tend to both overshop and—speaking of emotional, irrational behavior—overpay, by as much as 300 percent compared to when they are not depressed, as scientists led by behavioral economist Jennifer Lerner of Harvard reported this year.

The emerging field of decision science now has a permanent anchor at Harvard Kennedy School. The Harvard Decision Science Laboratory – a cutting edge research facility dedicated to examining the factors affecting judgment and decision making – opened its doors with a gala ribbon-cutting ceremony and series of lab tours on Friday, Dec. 5.

The first issue includes articles on Asim Khwaja’s research on the positive impact of the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj; Jennifer Lerner’s work on behavioral and decision science; and Nolan Miller’s study of food subsidies for the very poor.

Dr Lerner presented the results of some elegant research carried out in the immediate aftermath of September 11th. Her research showed that the perception of risk was strongly influenced by emotional factors, and that people were likely to make judgments on risk influenced by whether or not they were in states of anger or fear.

Fear can often result in a reaction of anger, which is not ideal when considering your next investment move. Possibly the best solution is to keep calm and look for opportunities, not revenge.

Some researchers say it has also been rich with examples of the ways in which shaken confidence -- and other psychological and behavioral factors -- affects individuals' financial decisions and the economy as a whole.

For decades, classical economics used mathematical models to explain market theory. Psychology was trumped by an empirical approach. Now economists are returning to the view that human behaviour does influence the market because emotions directly impact on the perception of risk.

Anger has been shown to bias perceptions of risk, which can fundamentally shape leaders' most critical decisions.

"In our studies, what we find is that people in a fearful state will make risk-avoidant choices," said Jennifer Lerner, director of the Laboratory for Decision Research at Harvard University.

New research shows that emotions affect our judgement in different ways. Anticipate how you might act on feelings that arise – and negotiate more rationally.

Human judgment and decision-making is a little like an iceberg — a lot of it lies far below the surface. Harvard Kennedy School Professor Jennifer Lerner, who directs the new Laboratory for Decision Science, draws upon psychology, economics, and neuroscience to better understand the social and emotional influences on judgment and decision making that tend to escape our conscious awareness. Her latest research paper, “Misery is not miserly: Sad and self-focused individuals spend more,” is scheduled for publication in Psychological Science.

Even a temporary bout of the blues can lead to extravagant buys

When you’re depressed, you tend to devalue things around you. But then why are you more inclined to hit the mall and buy stuff at higher prices than you would at other times? A new paper to be published in Psychological Science provides an answer to that question — and support for a theory of the self proposed by William James more than a century ago.

If you're sad and shopping, watch your wallet: A new study shows people's spending judgment goes out the window when they're down, especially if they're a bit self-absorbed.

Scientists have unravelled a bit of the mechanics of retail therapy. A new study has shown that sadness prompts people to overspend, but only if they’re focused on themselves.

Feeling glum and introspective, and think a little shopping might be the ideal therapy? A new study says, "Don't do it".

Those who feel blue and self-focused pay more for material goods.

People who feel sad and self-focused spend more money to acquire the same commodities than those in a neutral emotional state, U.S. researchers say.

Study shows that sadness can make people more likely to open their wallets.

How you are feeling has an impact on your routine economic transactions, whether you’re aware of this effect or not. In a new study that links contemporary science with the classic philosophy of William James, a research team finds that people feeling sad and self-focused spend more money to acquire the same commodities than those in a neutral emotional state.

Memo to Mitt Romney: do not—I repeat, do not—try to get over your disappointment over your failed campaign by going shopping. Or buying a company. Or even buying stocks. If you do, you are likely to overpay by at least 300 percent.

Accountability is in the air in Washington.

An unspoken assumption -- shared by those in government, the press and the public -- is that accountability is always a good thing. Holding people's feet to the fire, the thinking goes, improves decision making and integrity. Ultimately, accountability supposedly leads to soul-searching, introspection and better policymaking.

A growing body of psychological experiments, however, shows that this assumption is wrong.

A provocative study has found that people who respond to stressful situations with angry facial expressions, rather than fearful expressions, are less likely to suffer such ill effects of stress as high blood pressure and high stress hormone secretion.

"LONDONERS will not be divided by this cowardly attack…Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail," London Mayor Ken Livingstone told the terrorists on 7 July. The following day the Queen said: "Those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life." But is it realistic to expect "business as usual" under the shadow of a terrorist threat? Can psychology explain why some react to terrorist outrages with defiance while others admit their fear, swapping the Tube for a bicycle?

THE RELEASE OF THE TRANSCRIPTS of New York City emergency communications from the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks brought back the flood of emotions that Americans experienced during the worst attack in the nation's history. As a recent Carnegie Mellon University study demonstrates, intense emotions have a powerful effect on how Americans continue to perceive the risk of terrorism and their memories of 9/11.

APS Member Jennifer S. Lerner, Carnegie Mellon University, recently received the National Science Foundation's prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) at a White House ceremony. The PECASE program recognizes outstanding scientists and engineers who, early in their careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge. It is the highest national honor for researchers in the early stages of their careers.

You wouldn't know it to watch her in action, but Jennifer Lerner specializes in anger.

In person, the 36-year-old Carnegie Mellon University professor is poised, good-natured and frequently lets loose with a deep-throated laugh.

But her research has made anger her signature work -- in particular, understanding how it shapes people's views of life and influences the decisions they make.

Scientists in a new field of study called behavioral economics have made some provocative findings about how consumers? feelings affect their buying and selling decisions. In a study published recently in the journal Psychological Science, the researchers found that emotions that have nothing to do with the transaction at hand can influence what price people are willing to pay to buy something and what price they are willing to accept when they sell. ?We?re showing for the first time that incidental emotions from one situation can affect economic transactions in unrelated situations,? says Jennifer Lerner of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

For research investigating the role of emotion in judgment and decision making and for disseminating behavioral decision research to broader audiences of students, the public, and policymakers.

Jennifer Lerner, a social psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University, and Roxana Moreno, a cognitive psychologist and education researcher at the University of New Mexico, were named this month as recipients of the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

President Bush makes presentation in a White House ceremony.

Chart: "Sum of All Fears:" Two months after 9/11, 973 Americans were asked to estimate the probability that within the next year they, as well as the average American, would experience risky events and take precautionary actions.

Bad moods are bad for business.

We are now increasingly able to predict non-intuitive ways in which emotions exert their effects. And we can document that incidental emotions matter even when real money is at stake.

Carnegie Mellon University has awarded the Anna Loomis McCandless professorship to Yoky Matsuoka, assistant professor in the Robotics Institute in the School of Computer Science, and the Estella Loomis McCandless professorship to Jennifer Lerner, an assistant professor of social and decision sciences and psychology. The professorships are given every three years to two junior faculty members who have shown great promise in their field.

Feeling down or disgusted? Wait, don't buy or sell anything. And whatever you do, stay away from eBay or other online shopping sites until you cheer up.

A new study says incidental emotions can influence the prices at which individuals buy and sell.

Don't go shopping when you're sad.

In a provocative result from the new discipline of behavioral economics, scientists find that emotions that have nothing to do with the transaction at hand can influence what price people are willing to pay for something and what price they are willing to accept.

Americans wildly overestimated the risk of terrorism after the shock of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a nationwide "emotion experiment."

Americans wildly overestimated the risk of terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a nationwide "emotion experiment."

Despite its mixed reputation, anger can play a constructive role at home, at work and in the national consciousness, psychologists are finding.

Two different emotional reactions to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks--anger versus fear--led to divergent beliefs about the risk of further attacks and how the government should respond, a new study finds.

This weekend, the war on terrorism is a war of nerves.

From bombings at nightspots to snipers in the suburbs, the threat mutating faster than the West can impose its curatives.

The number tumbles. First 6,700, then 5,000. Down, down, down, 4,500, 4,000, now 3,300.

The death toll in the World Trade Center attack keeps falling as officials refine their count. When they are finished, the toll will be much smaller than anyone anticipated, probably about 3,000, less than half the number that made headlines in the weeks following the attack.