Mission statement
Many pressing societal problems are behavioral in nature. To tackle them, we believe it is paramount to advance our understanding of human behavior and the factors that shape it. With our research we hope to effectively help people make smarter decisions in complex environments.
Vision
Changing one’s behavior is difficult and there are many barriers to change. So how can we help people understand their current decisions, and help them change their behavior for the better? We envision our research as being guided by insights from behavioral economics. Behavioral economics provides us with the necessary tools to identify which barriers to change in behavior are present, why these barriers exist, and what the optimal behavior should be. In turn, this knowledge allows us to design interventions to help people make better decisions.
Type of behaviors:
- Health related: physical activity, sleep, lifestyle, diet, mental health
- Financial: investment, insurance, planning, organization, speculation, gambling
- Security: cyber security and workplace security
- Unethical: lying, cheating
Factors that shape behavior:
- Socio-economic: income, gender, social environment
- Physiological and psychological: Stress, stereotypes, cognitive capabilities, emotions
- Information and education
Methodology
- Field, laboratory, and online experiments