Decision Science News

2009 MEETING OF THE SOCIETY FOR JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING

Just a reminder that the annual Society For Judgment and Decision Making Conference, the conference most in line with the interests of the readers of this blog, is just around the corner.

When: November 21-23, 2009. Early registration and welcome reception will take place the evening of Friday, November 20.

Where: Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, MA. Hotel reservations at the $175 Psychonomic convention rate can be made by clicking here.

Details:

Program (updated 11/6)

Poster abstracts (updated 11/6)

Registration form

Map:

Decision Science News will be there, as always, covering both the judgment and decision-making action.

INCREASED CREATIVITY WHEN THINKING ABOUT DISTANT THINGS

Decision Science News has nothing against a good word problem. Heck, there would be no field of Judgment and Decision Making if it weren’t for Kahneman & Tversky’s word problems.

Here’s one

A prisoner was attempting to escape from a tower. He found a rope in his cell that was half as long enough to permit him to reach the ground safely. He divided the rope in half, tied the two parts together, and escaped. How could he have done this?

This problem was given to students in Indiana. One group was told that this problem and others like it were devised in Indiana. A second group was told that the problems were created in a research institute located in California, “around 2,000 miles away”. A third group was told bubkis. Remarkably, the group told that the problems were created far away managed to solve more of them.

(Spoiler alert: DSN is about to give the answer. Don’t look down if you want to figure it out
….
….
….
….
….
….
….
….
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… the prisoner split the rope in half lengthwise).

Taking a distant perspective works, and it’s not just that people will think harder when you evoke California. A recent paper shows how in this example and others, looking at things from a distance facilitates problem solving. You can read all about it in Scientific American online.

MAX PLANCK POSTDOCS IN DECISION MAKING IN ECONOMICS, LAW, OR PSYCHOLOGY

The International Max Planck Research School on Adapting Behavior in a Fundamentally Uncertain World (Uncertainty-School) combines approaches from Economics, Law and Psychology to explain human decisions under uncertainty more effectively and to better design institutional responses. The Uncertainty- School is jointly hosted by the Max Planck Institutes at Jena, Berlin and Bonn, and the Psychology and Economics Departments of the FSU Jena. International Partners are the Department of Psychology of Indiana University, Bloomington and the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Outstanding candidates are invited to apply for doctoral fellowships in economics, law and psychology.

Applicants are required to hold at least a Masters Degree (or Diplom in applicable countries) or a State Exam with honors in one of the above mentioned disciplines or an equivalent degree in a related discipline. Fellowships start on February 1st, 2010 and include funding for up to three years. Research will be conducted in English at either Jena, Berlin or Bonn. Besides the summer school, dedicated to providing a sound knowledge in the neighboring disciplines, doctoral fellows will benefit from the academic training and intellectual life at the participating institutions.

Deadline for applications is November 1st, 2009. Program details and the online application form are provided at http://www.imprs.econ.mpg.de/application. Applications have to be submitted online and should include a CV, transcripts, a letter of interest and two letters of recommendations.

Both, the Max Planck Society and the Friedrich Schiller University are committed to improve the opportunities for women in the sciences and particularly encourage them to apply.

The International Max Planck Research School on
Adapting Behavior in a Fundamentally Uncertain World (IMPRS Uncertainty)
Max Planck Institute of Economics
Kahlaische Strasse 10
07745 Jena
Germany
imprs@econ.mpg.de
http://www.imprs.econ.mpg.de

DEPARTMENT OF OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROFESSORSHIP

Department of Operations and Information Management
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

The Operations and Information Management Department at the Wharton School is home to faculty with a diverse set of interests in decision-making, information technology, information-based strategy, operations management, and operations research. We are seeking applicants for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position. Applicants must have a Ph.D. (expected completion by June 30, 2011 is acceptable) from an accredited institution and have an outstanding research record or potential in the OPIM Department’s areas of research. Candidates with interests in multiple fields are encouraged to apply. The appointment is expected to begin July 1, 2010 and the rank is open.

More information about the Department is available at: http://opimweb.wharton.upenn.edu/

Interested individuals should complete and submit an online application via our secure website, and must include:
• A cover letter (indicating the areas for which you wish to be considered)
• Curriculum vitae
• Names of three recommenders, including email addresses [junior-level candidates]
• Sample publications and abstracts

To apply please visit our web site:
http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/home/recruiting.html

Further materials, including (additional) papers and letters of recommendation, will be requested as needed. The department will begin reviewing applications on December 1, 2009. To ensure full consideration, materials should be received by December 1st, but applications will continue to be reviewed until appointments are made.

Contact:
Professor Eric K. Clemons
Operations and Information Management Department
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
3730 Walnut Street
500 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6340

The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Women, minority candidates, veterans and individuals with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

DIFFERENT PEOPLE USE DIFFERENT HEURISTICS: START IDENTIFYING STRATEGIES

Decision Science News does not like arguments that ‘people’, on average, do (or do not) use a certain decision making strategy. If half the people use the strategy, and half do not, on average it looks like everyone does a little bit, even when the average is as vacant as a volleyball. It’s like the joke about three statisticians who go duck hunting. The first shoots too high, the second shoots too low, and the third yells out “we hit it”!

The good news is Elke Weber, Kerry Milch, Michel Hangraaf and Kirstin Appelt are releasing their new database of individual difference measures used in JDM research, the Decision Making Individual Differences Inventory (www.dmidi.net).

Kirsten writes:

I’m very excited to announce that the Decision Making Individual Differences Inventory (DMIDI — rhymes with “p. diddy”) is now live at http://www.sjdm.org/dmidi/.

Developed at Columbia University, the DMIDI is a database of over 150 individual difference measures commonly used in judgment and decision research. Because it categorizes and provides basic descriptive information for all of these measures, the DMIDI is designed to be a resource for researchers, students, and practitioners.

The website is designed to be user-friendly. We welcome any feedback–additional measure information, new measures to add, corrections, etc. Please direct comments/questions to me at dmidi.net@gmail.com.

We hope that you will find the DMIDI useful!
Best,
~Kirstin Appelt

Photo credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/seraphimc/91337745/
Decision Science News received a promotional consideration from P Diddy in exchange for this announcement.

LAND OF MYSTERIOUS REPETITION

Decision Science News used to think of Bulgaria as a haven for cheap skiing, but has recently learned that it is the land of magical coincidences.

On September 6th, the winning lBulgarian ottery numbers were

4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42

Amazing? Hardly. But on the very next play of the lottery the winning numbers were

4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42

Amazing? Yes. Coincidence? Maybe. Shenanigans? Maybe. Eighteen people bet on the winning numbers the second time around, which is technically a fraction of the Bulgarian population. According to the BBC an investigation is underway.

Friend of DSN and professional R meister David Smith has done his own analysis of the problem and figures that

given conservative assumptions, there’s just over a 1% chance of a back-to-back drawings somewhere in the world over a 50-year period.

David concludes the Bulgarian lottery result “is not so quite so surprising after all”.

But what we have here is the probability of the data given the null (randomness) at 1%. And what do most scientists do when the probability of the data given the null is less than 5%?

SJDM NEWSLETTER / CONFERENCES / SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY NETWORK

Some assorted news this week.

1) The current Society for Judgment and Decision Making Newsletter is ready for download at http://www.sjdm.org/newsletters/09-sep.pdf

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2) The SJDM’s annual conference will be held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, MA during November 21-23, 2009. Early registration and welcome reception will take place the evening of Friday, November 20. Hotel reservations at the $175 Psychonomic convention rate can be made by clicking here.

Program

Poster abstracts

Registration form (discount for registration by 11/6, or, putting it another way, surcharge for registration after 11/6)

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3) One item that didn’t make the newsletter is the following conference, which is interesting as it is the largest of its kind in India to date:

The 3rd International Conference on Global Interdependence and Decision Sciences will be held in Hyderabad, India, from Dec 28 to Dec 30, 2009. It is one of the biggest decision sciences events of the world, and is being organized by IIT Mumbai, ASCI and the Decision Sciences Institute. The website for the event is http://www.icgids2009.in

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4) Over the past few months, the Social Psychology Network has introduced several new resources related to decision making. We list some of the new features here:

CAN YOU AVOID SEGREGATION?
http://www.UnderstandingPrejudice.org/segregation

Building on the work of Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling, this new interactive learning resource shows that small social preferences at the individual level can generate surprising patterns of segregation at the group level, and it shows how the same dynamic can be used to reverse segregation. In addition, the site offers more than 100 web links and readings for visitors interested in learning more about segregation.

DATA VISUALIZATION TOOLS AND VIDEOS

http://www.socialpsychology.org/methods.htm#visualization

These new resources include links to web videos that dramatically illustrate how “data animation” is being used to address global problems such as poverty, climate change, and the spread of HIV. Inspiring, informative, and highly recommended for teachers, students, and anyone who analyzes statistical data.

PSYCHOLOGY HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

SPN now offers its free news service through a variety of channels:

RSS (over 11,000 subscribers)
http://www.socialpsychology.org/headlines.rss

PsychWidget (over 16,000 downloads)
http://www.PsychWidget.org/

Twitter (over 1,700 users)
Tweets by PsychNews

iGoogle (over 3,800 users)
http://www.google.com/ig/directory?hl=en&type=gadgets&url=www.socialpsychology.org/headlines.rss

Headlines Box (for your home page, course syllabus, or blog)
http://www.socialpsychology.org/headlines.htm
AN INVITATION TO EDUCATORS
http://www.ActionTeaching.org/

Do you teach about peace or social justice in a way that creates a more peaceful and just society? Do you teach about health psychology in a way that improves the health of your campus or local community? Does your teaching of decision science help students become less biased or prejudicial?

If you practice action teaching of any kind, you’re invited to apply for the SPN Action Teaching Award (Deadline: January 15, 2010). The $1,000 prize honors classroom activities, student assignments, field experiences, and web demonstrations that promote a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. (Note: Entries are most competitive when they include an assessment of learning outcomes and/or student reactions.)

2009 BRUNSWIK SOCIETY MEETING CANCELLED, THOUGHTFUL ESSAY EXPLAINS

Egon Brunswik

Ken Hammond wrote this conference cancellation notice / thoughtful essay. If you are concerned with current directions in Brunswikian research, it may be the most interesting conference cancellation notice you ever read.

[Edited for length – Ed]

Dear Participants in the Brunswik Society

As many of you will have noticed, the 2009 meeting has been cancelled. This was done because of my dissatisfaction with the program and the manner in which it has been carried out. An explanation follows some brief history.

The Brunswik Society was organized 25 years ago in Boston during a discussion with several colleagues in which we expressed our dissatisfaction with the absence of Brunswikian concepts and research (about which more below) in the Judgment and Decision Making Society meetings. It may be worthwhile to remind readers that the J/DM Society that exists today emerged from two separate meetings; (a) the ones that had taken place to encourage further work on the Bayesian approach that had been developed by Ward Edwards and colleagues and (b) the meetings that had taken place in Boulder, Colorado that included Bayesian work and Brunswikian work developed by me and my students as well as other colleagues . Ward’s meetings continue (despite his death), but the meetings in Boulder were discontinued many years ago. Fortunately, Jim Shanteau, Gary McClelland, John Castellan (dec) and others took up the task and formed the current J/DM Society. It was the absence of Brunswikian discussion in the J/DM meetings that led to the formation of the Brunswik Society 25 years ago. The meetings were generally considered successful in that the attendance grew so much that it became necessary to expand the meetings to one and onehalf days; this was astonishing to me. In view of this apparent success, why has the 2009 meeting been cancelled?

A little more history; when the Society was formed I made all the arrangements and set up the one day program. Initially, about 10 people attended, and attendance gradually grew to about 45 participants, literally, from all over the world. As the Society grew, Tom Stewart set up a web page, a newsletter was created, and other attributes of a successful scientific Society appeared. After about 10 years of organizing meetings I asked Tom to take over this task, which he did very successfully (the attendance grew). Tom asked Jim Holzworth to organize the meetings after about eight years or so and Jim has been doing so. My dissatisfaction with the recent meetings grew out of my judgment that the meetings did not critically discuss Brunswikian concepts or methodology, but merely gave thin examples of some of his ideas. I decided that many of these papers might have been interesting 20 years ago, but did not advance our understanding of Brunswikian principles.

I tried to convey that criticism to the Program committee but failed. I concluded that the Committee would never see my point and that the only way to change course and restore the original purpose of the formation of the Society was to cancel the 2009 meeting and to start over with a new Program committee. Jason Beckstead and Elke Kurz-Mickle accepted appointment for the future. Because of my advanced age, after this message I will no longer participate in the affairs of the society, although of course my interest will continue. In what follows I indicate some topics that I believe warrant discussion at our meetings.

Topics

a. Uncertainty. Despite the central place of this concept there has been little or no discussion of uncertainty in the last 20 years of Brunswikian meetings. This despite the disputes between Gigerenzer and Kahneman and their followers, each of whom has based an entire research program on different ideas about uncertainty. “Probability” is now prominent in the theories of a few cognitive psychologists (e.g., Anderson, 1991) but has yet to achieve a prominent place in the modern neuroscience.

b. Compromise. Compromise is one of the most important, yet least recognized and least employed, concepts introduced by Brunswik. It is at the root of his theory of cognition. He gave it considerable prominence in his 1956 book when he contrasted the two “intentions” of perception, namely, “proximal” (retinal) size and “distal” (object) size. Actual judgments were found to be located on a continuum between these two poles of intention, and thus represented a “compromise” between the two poles (its specific location depending on conditions), although generally approaching the distal pole. When discussing the intellect, compromises were located between intuition (perception) and analysis (thinking), and the process was termed “quasirationality”, the specific form of which was also dependent on conditions. This term — quasirationality — was chosen because it indicates approximation to, but not full achievement of, rationality. “Compromise” runs through all of Brunswik’s theorizing and can be brought to bear on modern theories of judgment as well as decision making. It is most apparent when theories such as TTB that entail “maximizing” are contrasted to “matching” behavior [TTB refers to the Take The Best heuristic of Gigerenzer & Goldstein, 1996 – Ed] . In this situation matching behavior would represent the compromise between (a) maximizing (TTB) that marks the analytical pole of cognition and (b) dividing weights equally among all cues as the most “thoughtless” method of judging that would mark the intuitive pole of cognition. Yet I have never heard a discussion of this concept in any Brunswikian meeting.

c. Achievement. I believe we need a richer, more inclusive, concept than mere “accuracy”, I prefer to speak now in terms of correspondence competence, and coherence competence (see, Dunwoody, et al (2009) for a discussion of these terms). “Accuracy” simply means correspondence of the judgment or decision with an empirically correct criterion, and that, of course, is of high significance. Coherence could mean the same, but the derivation of the “answer” would in general require the competence – explicit or implicit — to include other aspects of the task or process of judgment — as the Gestaltists first showed us with their concept of the gestalt. That is, a judgment — reached intuitively or analytically — based on the coherence all the elements — and their relationships — of the judgment should match all the elements — and their relation ships — of the task.. Correspondence theorists for their part, could and should enrich their conception of correspondence competence to include error distributions, as I describe elsewhere.

d. Intersubstitutability. The terms “vicarious functioning” and “vicarious mediation” were central to Brunswik’s emphasis on the uncertainty in the environment; they served to remove the ambiguity introduced by the broad concept of uncertainty; they specified exactly where both subjective and environmental uncertainty arises, how uncertainty in the environment causes uncertainty in the subject, why some environments are more uncertain than others, and many other features of our relation to our ecology. Brunswik was very specific about both matters, particularly in the field of visual perception. He denoted the uncertainty in the environment by pointing to the differences in validity and reliability (the latter often neglected) in various indicators or cues in the environment to object size — none are fully dependable — and also denoted their intersubstitutability (their intercorrelations with other cues indicate how often substitution can be used). This intersubstitutability is one reason why our visual perception and that of other mammals is so good. Fortunately for students of judgment and decision making, all these concepts carry direct implications from perception to the study of human judgment. But they are seldom examined in empirical detail. I have never seen such an examination at the Brunswik meetings.

e. Representative design. We are gradually making progress with the recognition of the sensibility of Brunswik’s suggestions regarding experimental design. The current Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied has declared that she will no longer accept mss that claim that their work applies to the “real world”, and instead will require demonstration of representativeness. Most important, however, in order for the phenomena that give rise to the requirement of representativeness , the organism must be given a multi-cue environment in which to behave. Unfortunately, however, even in Gigerenzer’s demonstrations of the ubiquity of heuristics, multi-cue environments are generally avoided in favor of binary presentations (Gigerenzer, 2009, and earlier). But if multi-cue tasks are used, the organism will also have a chance to engage in vicarious functioning in response to the vicarious mediation of information. Whether it will, and under which circumstances, has become a research issue of considerable interest (see Gigerenzer & Brighton, 2009, Hogarth & Karelaia, 2007). It has become clear, however, that answering this question does require the researcher to provide an environment representative of a wide range of conditions, that is, an environment that includes causal texture (cf. Tolman & Brunswik, 1935).

These five concepts (uncertainty, compromise, achievement, intersubstitutability, representative design) are the backbone of Brunswik’s probabilistic functionalism and marked the presentation of a new kind of experimental psychology. But they seldom make their appearance at meetings of the Brunswik Society.

Of course, I strongly hope for the long life of a Brunswik Society that discusses the ideas put forward by Egon Brunswik in a fashion that is congruent with his aims for the development of a scientific discipline.

Kenneth Hammond
9/1/09

DECISION RESEARCH JOBS, SEPTEMBER 2009

Research Associate for Empirical Research on the Neurobiology of Decision-Making: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Behavioral Experiments

Requirements
Demonstrated skills and experience in behavioral neuroscience research and in programming (Matlab and Eprime). Demonstrated ability to do work independently and having the necessary social skills and positive attitude to interact with test persons. Either a Master or PhD in psychology, neurobiology, cognitive science or a related field (possibly also in computer science, but with an interest in behavioral decision-making and cognitive neuroscience). Demonstrated relevant abilities are more emphasized than the specific degrees or work experience.

Job Duties
Insead is a leading business school with campuses in France and Singapore and a center in Abu Dhabi. This is an opportunity for a candidate post-master level with a background in behavioral neuroscience/ neuro-psychology / BDM with knowledge in neuroscience to conduct rigorous applied research on economic decision-making with a particular focus on food consumption. The research associate will work for faculty from the Marketing area at INSEAD and Neuroscientists from Aix-Marseille Université and from the Department des Etudes Cognitive of the Ecole Normale Supérieure. The researcher is expected to program experiments in Eprime, recruit subjects and assist fMRI data and behavioral data collection as well as doing simple data analysis steps using software like SPM, Matlab and Stata or R. She/he is required to speak English and French fluently. The position is for 12 months on a part time basis (~2 days a week). Application deadline is 30.09.2009 and start date is Nov 2009.

Campus: Europe/Fontainebleau. Status: Cadre. Contact person: Veronique Pereira. Contact email: cvbox@insead.edu

Hilke Plassmann, PhD
Assistant Professor of Marketing
INSEAD, Boulevard de Constance

77300 Fontainebleau, France
tel. +33 (0) 160724313
fax. 33 (0) 160729240
e-mail: hilke.plassmann@insead.edu

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BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS/NEUROECONOMICS MULTI-DEPARTMENT SEARCH

The University of Southern California, College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, invites applicants for a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in behavioral economics / neuroeconomics, broadly defined. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, neurocomputational models of learning, neuroscience of decision-making, affective neuroscience, behavioral and experimental game theory and economics studies of bounded rationality. Eventual appointment will be in either Psychology, Economics, or Neurobiology.

USC offers many opportunities for collaboration across these and other units of the university. Resources include the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center, the Brain and Creativity Institute, the Institute for Economic Policy Research, and a broad interdisciplinary Economics and Neuroscience community composed of more than 70 faculty members in the basic, engineering, and clinical sciences. USC strongly values diversity and is committed to equal opportunity in employment. Women and men, and members of all racial and ethnic groups, are encouraged to apply.

Applications received before November 1 2009 will be given preferential review; interviews will begin shortly thereafter. Candidates must have a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree at the time of the appointment. Please send representative reprints/preprints and a curriculum vita electronically to multisearch@college.usc.edu. A minimum of three letters of reference should be sent by email to the same address or by post to USC College Search, ATTN: Ann Langerud, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-106

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Florence Levy Kay Fellowship IN psychology and BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS*

Brandeis University invites applications for a two-year, non-renewable Florence Levy Kay Postdoctoral Fellowship for teaching and research at the intersection of Psychology and Economics, beginning Fall 2010. This interdisciplinary joint appointment will be in the Departments of Psychology and Economics with the possibility of linkages with programs such as Neuroscience. The Fellow, who will be appointed as a faculty member at the rank of lecturer, will teach one course per semester, covering topics such as attitude formation and change, co-operation and competition, prosocial behavior, decision-making, game theory, behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, and distributive justice. The Fellow will also actively pursue his or her own research interests with the support of an $8000 research fund.

We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in any of the following fields as applied to the interface of psychology and economics: (i) motivated and emotion-guided choice, (ii) decision-making under uncertainty, (iii) valuation or utility; (iv) fairness, trust, and reciprocity; [v] empathy, sharing, and co-operation; (v) subliminal persuasion; (vi) individual or cultural differences; [vii] learning and emotion. Potential topics for study include the attentional, cognitive, and physiological (including neuroendocrine, hemodynamic, and neurophysiological) correlates of the phenomena listed above. Opportunities are available for collaboration in research labs involving cross-cultural issues, lifespan development and aging, electrophysiology, neuroimaging, and neuroendocrine assessments, and eye-tracking.

The Ph.D. must be in hand by September 2010. The salary for the first year is $53,732, plus university employee benefits and up to $1500 in moving expenses. Send letter of interest, CV, brief description of research, copies of relevant publications, teaching evaluations, and three letters of recommendation to Kay Fellowship Search Committee,

Department of Psychology MS 062, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454-9110. First consideration will be given to candidates whose complete applications are received by January 15, 2010, but we will accept applications until the position is filled.

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The Marketing department of the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University, the Netherlands seeks a postdoc for a 3-year project on ‘Emotions and (Financial) Decision Making’, starting asap.

You will work as a team member of xDELIA, a recently funded FP-7 EU research consortium whose aim is to study the role of emotions and expertise in financial decision making. xDELIA, which stands for “Excellence in Decision-making through Enhanced Learning in Immersive Applications”, is investigating the role of behavioral biases and emotions in professional financial trading, private investment, and personal finance (i.e. the financial capability of the general public). An important goal of the xDELIA project is to develop sensor and serious game technologies to support non-formal learning in building financial competence and expertise. A key task of the postdoc is to contribute to the theoretical underpinnings of the xDELIA project, utilizing his/her expertise into the psychology of decision making, emotions and emotion regulation. The empirical research will consist of conducting experimental research (in the lab and in situ), testing for example the effect of biofeedback (physiological measures of affect) on decision making, and publishing these results in top academic outlets. Conducting online panel surveys or online field experiments into personal finance decisions is also expected to be part of the project.

Within RSM, you will be a member of the Marketing department , well-known for its expertise on consumer behavior and behavioral decision making and you will have the opportunity to collaborate with neuroscientists at the Erasmus Center for Neuroeconomics . In your research you will have access to the excellent lab facilities at the Erasmus Behavioural Lab . We are looking for an experimentally trained (social) psychologist, consumer behavior researcher or cognitive scientist with an interest in financial decision making (relevant PhD or expected to hold one shortly).

Information and application
For more information on the job, our requirements and our offer, see the full description here. Your application consisting of a letter of motivation, your CV and preferably two letters of reference can by sent by email to asmidts@rsm.nl.

Professor Ale Smidts
Professor of Marketing Research
Dean of Research
Rotterdam School of Management
Erasmus University Rotterdam

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THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND DECISION SCIENCES AT CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY seeks candidates to fill a junior-level tenure-track position in behavioral decision research and policy.

Candidates should have a strong commitment to applying behavioral decision research to public policy and to creating the basic research foundations for such applications. They should have a background in both normative/analytical and behavioral decision research, with a strong research program in at least one. Although their application interests could be in any policy area, the department has strengths in environment, energy, health and safety, finance, national security, and risk. Teaching would support the department’s graduate and undergraduate programs.

The department is interdisciplinary, with faculty members from psychology, economics, political science, decision science, and history. Several have joint appointments in other departments, notably Engineering and Public Policy. Collaboration is a hallmark of the Department and University.

http://www.hss.cmu.edu/departments/sds/

Applicants should send a CV, two papers, three letters of recommendation, and a statement of research interests to: Chair, Behavioral Decision Research and Policy Search Committee Carnegie Mellon University Department of Social and Decision Sciences Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890. Please submit applications by October 15.

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The Chair of Decision Theory and Behavioral Game Theory at the ETH Zurich has multiple openings for Ph.D. candidates and Postdocs.

Potential candidates should be interested in studying human decision making and have interests and training in some of the following areas: experimental research methods in human decision making, decision theory, cognitive psychology, experimental economics, behavioral game theory, statistics and mathematical modeling.

Our team’s research focuses on individual decision making under risk and uncertainty and behavioral game theory. We are an interdisciplinary group, bringing together methods from experimental economics, cognitive psychology, and mathematical modeling to gain insights into how humans make decisions. In one line of research we study the dynamics of trust based cooperation among interdependent decision makers. This work examines various mechanisms that stave off the unraveling of trust and facilitate cooperation between interacting decision agents. In another line of work, we study how decision makers adapt and make trade-offs when making sequential choices among alternatives in a risky and dynamic environment.

Please apply online and submit your documents such as a copy of your curriculum vitae, a cover letter and copies of all relevant certificates/grades. Applications will be reviewed starting October 1, 2009 and on an ongoing basis until the positions are filled.

Online application:

Email any questions regarding the openings to: secretary@dbgt.gess.ethz.ch

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Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy University of Virginia Open Rank Search in Leadership and Public Policy

The Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia seeks applications for an open rank, tenure track position in leadership and public policy to begin in August 2010. Candidates must have an earned doctorate in political science, psychology, sociology or related field; must be willing to teach applied core courses on leadership skills for professional and master’s students in public policy; and must show a record or the promise of scholarly productivity and publications in high-quality academic venues. Candidates must have their Ph.D. in hand at time of appointment. Areas of potential research interest include but are not limited to: leadership as it relates to organizational behavior, judgment and decision-making, communication and persuasion, motivation, negotiation and conflict resolution, cross-cultural understanding, and crisis management. A joint appointment in an appropriate social science department in the College of Arts and Sciences is possible.

One of the newest public policy schools in the nation, the Batten School currently offers a five-year bachelors/ MPP program that graduated its first class last May. In the future, the School will offer a two-year MPP degree program as well as programs for undergraduates. The School aspires to become one of the nation’s top public affairs schools with distinctive commitments to leadership as a key skill required for success in public policy, the application of innovative research to effective problem solving, the integration of domestic and international policy in an increasingly globalized world, and is made possible by a $100 million endowment gift from retired media executive Frank Batten, Sr. Harry Harding was appointed founding dean July 1, 2009.

To apply, visit: https://jobs.virginia.edu and search on Posting Number 0604309. Complete a Candidate Profile and attach a cover letter outlining research and teaching interests in leadership and public policy and a curriculum vitae. Please submit samples of written work to: Chair, Leadership Faculty Search Committee, University of Virginia, Varsity Hall,
136 Hospital Drive, P.O. Box 400893, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4893.
In addition, please have three recommenders submit letters to the above address. Review of applications by the committee will begin October 1, 2009; however, the position will remain open to applications until filled.

The University of Virginia welcomes applications from women and members of underrepresented groups, seeks to build a culturally diverse intellectual environment and is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity and to the principles of affirmative action in accordance with state and federal laws.
https://jobs.virginia.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1252438800033

FLASH MOB #2 A SUCCESS

R Flashmob #2 was a big success, increasing the number of R questions on stackoverflow.com drastically.

Now’s a great opportunity to earn some “reputation” on stackoverflow.com by answering some questions tagged r.

(Don’t know R yet? Learn by watching: R Video Tutorial 1, R Video Tutorial 2)