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The Unreasonable Human

Author

Alina Petrova

Editor-in-chief

Alina Petrova

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

Data story

The shape of the last biscuit

The mind is built for a different world. It copes remarkably well with this one.

29 Jan 202610 min read
Illustration of a head in profile facing two overlapping rust-red circles and a cluster of thin vertical lines
Psychology

What the waiting room teaches us about expertise

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

28 Jan 202612 min read
Illustration of a head in profile facing two overlapping rust-red circles and a cluster of thin vertical lines
Book review

Honest Genius

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

25 Jan 20266 min read
Illustration of a head in profile facing two overlapping rust-red circles and a cluster of thin vertical lines
Rationality

The pride of the long game

Not every irrational act is a mistake. Some are the point.

19 Jan 20267 min read
Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall
Economics

What the free sample teaches us about boredom

It looks like a flaw in the person. Mostly it is a feature of the situation.

14 Jan 202614 min read
People crossing a sunlit concrete hall
Series

Knowing when to stop

Enough is a decision, not a quantity, and almost nobody makes it on purpose.

13 Jan 20268 min read
People crossing a sunlit concrete hall
Behaviour

A short history of the to-do list

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

6 Jan 202611 min read
A lone figure climbing a pale stone staircase towards an arched window filled with light
Ideas

Why we keep score

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

29 Dec 202513 min read
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Book review

The Quiet Thoughts

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

27 Dec 20256 min read
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Essays

A short history of the late fee

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

23 Dec 202511 min read
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Podcast

Why we rehearse arguments we never have

With Dr. Owen Faulkner on whether generosity can be taught, bought or merely inherited, and what the data actually shows.

20 Dec 20252 min read
Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall
Psychology

The case against the late fee

Most advice assumes a person who never existed.

18 Dec 202511 min read
Pale pink blossom on thin branches in front of a raw concrete wall