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Author

Alina Petrova

Editor-in-chief

Alina Petrova is a Year 12 student preparing to apply to university, and the founder and editor of The Unreasonable Human. She reads across psychology, economics, behavioural science and neuroscience, and writes about the gap between how people are supposed to decide and how they actually do.

Why she started the journal

Writing by Alina Petrova

What the tip jar teaches us about nostalgia

We are far better at explaining our choices than at making them.

11 May 20268 min read

Illustration of a bare tree over a faint grid, overlaid with rust-red, pale blue and black-spotted circles

The case against the rounding error

Economists have a model. The rest of us have a Tuesday.

8 May 20268 min read

Is regret overrated?

With Dr. Owen Adeyemi on the surprising economics of attention, and what the data actually shows.

3 May 20263 min read

The Unfinished Argument

Economists have a model. The rest of us have a Tuesday.

29 Apr 20265 min read

Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall

Envy is a small kind of hope

The cost is obvious, the benefit is diffuse, and so the benefit loses.

29 Apr 202613 min read

Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall

The case against the round number

What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.

22 Apr 20265 min read

People crossing a sunlit concrete hall

What 18,000 baskets say about trust

We are far better at explaining our choices than at making them.

19 Apr 202612 min read

A lone figure climbing a pale stone staircase towards an arched window filled with light

Is habit overrated?

With Prof. Leila Adeyemi on the surprising economics of doubt, and why the textbook still gets it wrong.

19 Apr 20263 min read

Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall

What the group chat teaches us about pride

Before we try to fix people, it is worth understanding what they are for.

18 Apr 202612 min read

A lone figure climbing a pale stone staircase towards an arched window filled with light

The Small Argument

The cost is obvious, the benefit is diffuse, and so the benefit loses.

16 Apr 20268 min read

People crossing a sunlit concrete hall

The loyalty of the school run

What feels like a preference is often just a default nobody questioned.

11 Apr 202611 min read

Illustration of a bare tree over a faint grid, overlaid with rust-red, pale blue and black-spotted circles

The luck of the receipt

Before we try to fix people, it is worth understanding what they are for.

3 Apr 202614 min read