Ohio State's Behavioral Decision Making (BDM) Initiative is hosting its first research forum. In its inaugural forum, BDM researchers will highlight the diversity of existing Ohio State decision research and encourage collaborations across areas of decision research at the university.
Opening remarks will be offered by Gifford Weary, dean, social and behavioral sciences and professor of psychology.
The keynote speaker will be Psychology Professor Laura Scherer from the University of Missouri. Scherer's research is primarily concerned with when, how and to what advantage people use spontaneous associations and “gut feelings” in judgment. In her work, Scherer addresses how spontaneous feelings, versus deliberative reasoning, can influence life-altering medical decisions. This latter work aims to inform the development of patient decision support tools.
Following Scherer's presentation, the following graduate students involved in behavioral decision making research will present their work:
Andrzej Baranski, economics, on "Contribution and Redistribution: A Study of Partnerships"
Matt Hitt and Vittorio Merola, political science, on "What about Numbers? Cognitive Ability and Political Persuasion in Public Opinion"
Dimitry Mezhvinsky, economics, on "Boycotting and Buycotting: Third-Party Punishment and Reward, Alone and in Groups"
Joshua Kertzer and Kathleen Powers, political science, on "The Networked Structure of Foreign Policy Attitudes"
Dan Schley, psychology, on "Number Processing in Consumer Valuation"
Ohio State is one of only a handful of institutions to have such a dedicated BDM program. It provides diverse opportunities for students to have real, hands-on experience in working with researchers to resolve complex personal, societal, and scientific problems. As a cross-disciplinary program at Ohio State, BDM allows students to study within their own discipline while reaching across disciplinary boundaries to answer important theoretical and applied questions and make individuals and society more healthy, wealthy, and safe.
Please RSVP to tusler.1@osu.edu if you plan to attend
