eRationality

We are data mining wine descriptions to predict the price of wines: do reviewers use an alternate vocabulary for expensive wines?

We are studying how social accountability information about companies affects consumer behavior. We are also developing Web-based tools to help consumers learn about and act on such information.

We are using transaction data to look at how patterns of human behavior change over time and space, and with which macroeconomic features these changes correlate. Do spending patterns change fundamentally or merely scale up with increased income? How does spending/merchant composition change as a region gets bigger/richer/more economically diverse? Do network features help to predict economic ones?

We are building a platform to aggregate the medical knowledge of physicians, and to provide patients a key source of information on the effectiveness of treatments, independent of cost and other biases. We hope this information will provide a basis for better patient-physician interaction.

How do high-level cognitive functions emerge from primitive neural computations to mediate complex human behavior? We are developing precise, focal ways of investigating phenomena such as trust and risk-taking, in order to understand how they play roles in purchasing, decision-making, social interaction, and other real-world scenarios.

With the Marketing and the Placebo Effect project, we are investigating how various economic, cultural, and social factors such as pricing, branding, or stigma could affect how people will experience their medications.

This project explores how agency affects decision-making, spending, and risk-taking. We are working to determine if agents behave differently when acting on behalf of others.

There is often a large gap between what we intend to do and what we actually do. We are building tangible tools to help individuals unitize action and better meet the goals they set.