You might have heard of Bitcoins, but do you know why it's so exciting? How does it work and why is blockchain one of the most exciting new technologies of computer science? We'll try to answer those questions in this class.

We'll go through one or two coding challenges. We will start with coming up with ideas for problems, then writing pseudocode, then writing actual code, and we will work at debugging any problems in that code. If we have time, we will discuss ways of improving the solution we have, such as improving coding style and optimality of the code.

Why are some product designs good and why are some product designs bad? What counts as good or bad product design? We'll look at some examples in this class, and we will try to see how the underlying human factors lead to good and bad designs. As a simple illustration, have encountered a door where you immediately want to pull the door only to find out that you have to push the door to open it?

We'll be going through a variety of interesting experiments in the field of psychology. These experiments will include concepts from social psychology and decision making. We will talk about bystander effect, attention blindness, the Milgram experiment, heuristics, and biases, and others. We will also talk about the statistical techniques required to make experiments valid.

We'll go through one or two coding challenges using Python 3 (or a language of your choice). We will start with coming up with ideas for problems, then writing pseudocode, then writing actual code, and we will work at debugging any problems in that code. If we have time, we will discuss ways of improving the solution we have, such as improving coding style and optimality of the code.

Oftentimes, people make decisions that they do not agree with in hindsight. We will examine the factors that led to those decisions using cognitive, social, and economic standpoints. Finally, we will consider how we can exploit the theories of decision-making to influence others' decisions.

We'll be going through a variety of interesting experiments in the field of psychology. These experiments will include concepts from social psychology and decision making. You will be participants in some of these experiments. We will also talk about why experiments might be valid.