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DYNAMIC DECISION MAKING LABORATORY
The Dynamic Decision Making Laboratory (DDMLab) (www.cmu.edu/ddmlab) in the department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) invites applications for two Postdoctoral fellowship positions in cognitive psychology and decision making.
Research projects require experience planning and conducting laboratory studies with complex, dynamic simulations. The DDMLab offers training and research opportunities involving several aspects of dynamic decision making: learning and transfer, cognitive support and cognitive modeling among others. Fellows will be involved in one of two types of projects. One is a research project sponsored by the National Science Foundation on Hypothesis Generation and Feedback in the context of medical diagnosis. Another one is a research project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research on Automaticity development in complex tasks. The ideal candidates will have a Ph.D. in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Decision Science or Human Factors.
They expect candidates to have strong research interests in all facets of dynamic decision making research: conducting cognitive task analysis of real world situations, helping in the design of computer simulations that mimic the real world, conducting laboratory studies using these simulations, analyzing data and writing research reports. Appointment will pay highly competitive rates based on background and experience. The position is scheduled to start immediately and extend for one or up to two years. Applicants should send curriculum vitae, statement of research skills and interests, relevant journal articles, and contact information for three references. Electronic applications are encouraged. Please send electronic documents (Word, Pdf) to: coty_at_cmu.edu or forward paper documents to:
Dr. Cleotilde Gonzalez
Dynamic Decision Making Laboratory
Social and Decision Sciences Department
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Ave – Porter Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Carnegie Mellon is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. For more information on their Equal Employment/Affirmative Action Policy and our Statement of Assurance, go to: http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/SoA.html
TRANSFORMATIVE CONSUMER RESEARCH
The Association for Consumer Research, in conjunction with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and the Marketing Science Institute, are sponsoring a conference next July 6 – 8 (2007) entitled Transformative Consumer Research: Inspiring Scholarship for Collective and Personal Well-Being.
Its goals are (1) to motivate increased consumer research that begins with, and directly addresses, an important challenge, problem, or opportunity in consumer behavior that has an essential role in the well-being of people and other living beings and (2) to guide consumer researchers in designing, conducting, and communicating their scholarship to maximize the likelihood that consumers, their representatives, and/or other individuals charged with overseeing human and ecological welfare can learn about and act upon the insights. There is no registration fee, all food and refreshments are provided, and up to 60 attendees (those presenting papers) will receive free accommodations on the Dartmouth campus. The deadline for applications and submissions is January 31, 2007. For more details, please visit the following website:
http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/faculty/punam.keller/conference/
Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/ericlandry/118399835/
NEURAL DIFFERENTIATION OF EXPECTED REWARD AND RISK
Neurofinance. Yes, everybody is talking about it, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting. Same for neuroeconomics.
This work by Kerstin Preuschoff, Peter Bossaerts, and Steven Quartz looks for the neural underpinnings of the two pillars of mid 20th century financial decision theory: risk and return.
ABSTRACT
In decision-making under uncertainty, economic studies emphasize the importance of risk in addition to expected reward. Studies in neuroscience focus on expected reward and learning rather than risk. We combined functional imaging with a simple gambling task to vary expected reward and risk simultaneously and in an uncorrelated manner. Drawing on financial decision theory, we modeled expected reward as mathematical expectation of reward, and risk as reward variance. Activations in dopaminoceptive structures correlated with both mathematical parameters. These activations differentiated spatially and temporally. Temporally, the activation related to expected reward was immediate, while the activation related to risk was delayed. Analyses confirmed that our paradigm minimized confounds from learning, motivation, and salience. These results suggest that the primary task of the dopaminergic system is to convey signals of upcoming stochastic rewards, such as expected reward and risk, beyond its role in learning, motivation, and salience.
TO READ THE ARTICLE:
Kerstin Preuschoff, Peter Bossaerts, and Steven R. Quartz (2006). Neural Differentiation of Expected Reward and Risk in Human Subcortical Structures, Neuron 51, 381–390
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SUMMER INSTITUTE IN INFORMED PATIENT CHOICE
Patients make decisions about a matter that is very important to them, their health. New findings on the representation of information can improve decision making, and new tools, such as the Distribution Builder, put these findings to work. It is a bright new era of informed patient choice.This coming summer, try to catch Dartmouth’s summer institute on the topic from June 25th to July 6th, 2007.More information here: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cecs/siipc/An all-star cast of the decision science crowd includes:Roy Baumeister
Gerd Gigerenzer
Mary Frances Luce
Craig McKenzie
Valerie Reyna
Kathleen Vohs
Timothy D. Wilson
George L. Wolford II
J. Frank Yates
MINDLESS SIGNIFICANCE TESTING
Some well-made points grow old while no one pays attention to them. One of the most embarrassing for social science is its categorical perception of p-values.
Tender of kindred Web site Andrew Gelman and Hal Stern have an article whose name says it all: The Difference Between “Significant” and “Not Significant” is not Itself Statistically Significant.
OTHER RECOMMENDED READING
- Here’s a nice Science News article by Bruce Bower on the issue.
- Cohen, J. (1994). The earth is round (p < .05). American Psychologist, 49, 997-1003.
- Gigerenzer, G. (1993). The superego, the ego, and the id in statistical reasoning. In G. Keren & C. Lewis (Eds.), A handbook for data analysis in the behavioral sciences: Methodological issues (pp. 311-339). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Gigerenzer, G. (2004). Mindless statistics. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 33, 587–606.
- Krantz, D. H. (1999), The null hypothesis testing controversy in psychology, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 94, 1372-1381.
- Rozeboom, W. W. (1960).The fallacy of the null hypothesis significance test. Psychological Bulletin, 57, 416-428.
Image credit: I made it in R
PXLAB: FREE PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIMENT SOFTWARE
You could spend a lot of money on software that runs psychology experiments and takes care of: precise timing, control over blocks & randomization, graphics presentation, online data collection, and more.
Or, you could use PXLab which is free and open-source, which means your are allowed to adapt it to suit your purposes and run as many copies as you want.
Visit the site and check out the demos. (The Implicit Associations Test is particularly interesting to try out on yourself if you have never done so before). It’s all a gift of Hans Irtel at U. Mannheim in Germany.
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TENURE-TRACK POSITIONS AT THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNC-CHAPEL HILL
POSITIONS: The Department of Health Behavior and Health Education in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is seeking applications for up to three Tenure-Track positions beginning winter/summer 2007. Appointment may be made at the Assistant, Associate or Full Professor level depending upon experience and research and scholarly accomplishments.
DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW: In approaching prevention and disease management in diverse populations and through diverse community settings in the US and internationally, faculty of the Department have identified three areas of particular emphasis: (1) Health Communication, (2) Interpersonal and Social Processes in Health and Disease, and (3) Community Engagement. A range of quantitative and qualitative research methods cut across these, including controlled evaluations of interventions, community-based participatory approaches, and multi-level analysis and modeling. Training programs lead to M.P.H. and Ph.D. degrees and prepare students for careers in public health research, teaching, administration, and practice. Across all of these, the Department is committed to research and practice that advances social justice and especially seeks candidates who will add to the diversity of its faculty.
RESPONSIBILITIES: The Department seeks faculty members who will contribute to its overall research, teaching and service programs. Given its emphasis areas of Health Communication, Interpersonal and Social Processes, and Community Engagement, a cover letter accompanying applications should describe the pertinence of the applicant’s work to one or several of these three areas and, possibly, synergies among them. Along with those whose research addresses thematic or topical aspects of these areas, individuals whose research emphasizes methodological contributions to them are also encouraged to apply. Specific responsibilities will include funded research, teaching graduate level courses, advising graduate students, and participating in the Department’s service programs.
QUALIFICATIONS: An earned doctorate in behavioral or social sciences or other disciplines pertinent to health behavior and health education. Candidates should demonstrate the ability to establish and collaborate in multidisciplinary, funded research programs, as well as a clear track record of scholarly accomplishment. They should also have expertise in working with graduate students as well as a commitment to graduate-level teaching.
DATES: Applications will be reviewed until the position is filled.
TO APPLY, send curriculum vita and cover letter summarizing qualifications to: Edwin Fisher, Ph.D., Chair Department of Health Behavior and Health Education School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Rosenau Hall, CB#7440 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440 E-mail: searchhlthbeh@email.unc.edu
SJDM 27TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE NOV 17-20, 2006 HOUSTON
It’s on. The 27th (can you believe it?), JDM conference program starts Saturday morning. As usual, Decision Science News will be in attendance, covering both the judgment and the decision-making action.
CONFERENCE TOOLS
Ecologically-rational types will be interested to attend the Brunswik Society meeting Thursday and Friday.
NEURAL REPRESENTATIONS OF EXPECTED UTILITY
Those in the NY metro area may wish to catch a Center for the Decision Sciences talk Thursday, November 9th, 2006 from 5:15pm-6:45pm, at Columbia University’s Warren Hall Room 311 at 115th & Amsterdam in New York City. The speaker is friend of DSN and CDS Jason Zweig and he’ll be discussing insights from his book “Your Money and Your Brain” to be released by Simon & Schuster in April, 2007.
Those who may be interested in Zweig’s book or neuroeconomics generally will find this paper by Brian Knutson and Richard Peterson of the Stanford Psychology Department of interest.
Abstract:
“While the concept of “expected utility” informs many theories of decision making, little is known about whether and how the human brain might compute this quantity. This article reviews a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) experiments designed to localize brain regions that respond in anticipation of increasing amounts of monetary incentives. These studies collectively suggest that anticipation of increasing monetary gains activates a subcortical region of the ventral striatum in a magnitude-proportional manner. This ventral striatal activation is not evident during anticipation of losses. Actual gain outcomes instead activate a region of the mesial prefrontal cortex. During anticipation of gain, ventral striatal activation is accompanied by feelings characterized by increasing arousal and positive valence. These findings affirm the role of emotion in the anticipation of incentives, and may provide an initial step towards a neural reconstruction of expected utility.”
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IMPROVING DECISION MAKING BY NOT MEETING FACE-TO-FACE
Scott Armstrong of Wharton has recently polled the mailing lists of decision experts looking for evidence that face-to-face meetings lead to more accurate forecasts and better decisions than alternatives such as virtual teams or prediction markets. He found none. Evidence-based Armstrong comes down on the side of the prediction that face to face meetings are less effective than more efficient alternatives.
To learn more, read the readable article in Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting.
Photo credit: Gary King’s MatchIt Software: http://gking.harvard.edu/matchit/
