Decision Science News

Professors Eric Johnson and Elke Weber of the Center for Decision Sciences show how the way that tradeoffs between benefits and costs of budget cuts are presented can drastically impact people's opinions on public policy. More specifically, when tradeoffs are framed in terms of understandable, personal, and concrete numbers, people disagree less. 

What color is your house? After reading that question, what were you thinking about? The obvious answer is the color of your house. Though this exercise may seem ordinary, it has profound implications. The question momentarily hijacked your thought process and focused it entirely on your house or apartment. You didn’t consciously tell your brain to think about that; it just did so automatically.

Exposure to climate models' predictions affects policymakers and climate negotiators less than the informed general public, a paper by Valentina Bosetti and co-authors assesses. But the right presentation format can improve forecasts' effectiveness.

Social and behavioral scientists caution that you must be careful when you use the “convert communicator” tactic. If the converts bash their own group too much, they lose persuasive powers and credibility. They must hold on to some essence of their original group identity while revealing this specific decision is about not being able to align that identity with this particular candidate.

  Professor Elke Weber and co-authors Shahzeen Attari and David Krantz studied factors "affecting the adoption of personal energy conservation behaviors and endorsement of energy conservation goals proposed for others." Two internet surveys show asymmetrical responses between goals for self and others. One possible explanation for the asymmetry is

Cass Sunstein reviews Richard Thaler's new book, The Mischievous Science. Thaler's book is an account of the struggle to bring the discipline of economics down to earth. He aims to change the way people think about the field, themselves and the world. Sunstein's review discusses much of the history of behavioral economics. He mentions that while scientists such as Elke Weber have made much progress on the subject of answering questions about heterogeneity in human behavior, there is still much to learn.

The Guardian has a panel of experts share what they think are the best ways to promote positive action for climate change. Suggestions include connecting the dots, highlighting the economic benefits, and forgetting about the pictures of polar bears. CDS' own Elke Weber recommends that we don't forget that small efforts add up. We need to communicate solutions that are credible and effective that will cumulatively scale up in the long run.   

Ruth Greenspan Ball and Elke U. Weber, in honor of Earth Day, discuss how people need to think of climate change in both big and small ways. Fighting climate change goes beyond just global and national changes, it needs to be a part of our everyday lives. Researchers estimate that 40% of electric use and carbon emissions in the United States come from individual and household use. The ideas for small scale change are here, such as keycards that activate electricity in hotel rooms. The continued pursuit and activation of these ideas is key. 

At the Second Annual Climate Change Conference at Loyola University Chicago, researchers discussed why it is so difficult to motivate people to undertake climate-friendly behavior changes. Elke Weber, Columbia Business School, discussed the psychological barriers we face when trying to be climate-friendly. These include that our decisions are often guided by emotion, rules and habits, and they often reflect a bias for the status quo.

Older adults have very different money priorities than younger members of their families. Rather than focusing on accruing wealth, older adults should strive to spend less and to plan their estate. A large concern when it comes to these activities is cognitive decline. Eric Johnson, Columbia Business School, says that while cognitive challenges are present in older age, years of collected wisdom can counteract this decline.