You're looking for a field called Behavioral Economics. There's a lot of research that's being done in this area right now. Dan Ariely's book, "Predictably Irr

You're looking for a field called Behavioral Economics. There's a lot of research that's being done in this area right now. Dan Ariely's book, "Predictably Irrational" is a great introduction, and he was a good bibliography for further reading as well.