2023-08-08, Giese, Helge, Neth, Hansjörg, Wegwarth, Odette, Gaissmaier, Wolfgang, Stok, F. Marijn

In this study, we contrast how different benefit and harm information formats and the presence or absence of an ease‐of‐access nudge may facilitate COVID vaccination uptake for a sample of 620 unvaccinated Dutch adults at a timepoint when the vaccine had been widely available for more than a month. Using a 2 × 2 between‐subjects factorial design, we varied the information format on mRNA COVID vaccination statistics (generic text vs. facts box) and an affirmative nudge emphasizing the ease of making a vaccination appointment (absent vs. present). We assessed the acceptance of the vaccination information provided, perceptions on the vaccination, and whether participants directly visited a COVID vaccination appointment website. Whereas the facts box did not significantly affect participants' information acceptance, vaccination attitudes, intentions, and link clicking, the affirmative nudge alongside an online link systematically increased the likelihood of clicking on the link to make a vaccination appointment. A verbal nudge emphasizing the ease of vaccine accessibility is more likely to increase vaccination uptake in an unvaccinated population than informational campaigns on vaccine effectiveness.

2018, Neth, Hansjörg, Gaisbauer, Felix, Gradwohl, Nico, Gaissmaier, Wolfgang

Risk-related information — like the prevalence of conditions and the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests or treatment decisions — can be expressed in terms of probabilities or frequencies. By providing a toolbox of methods and metrics, riskyr computes, translates, and displays risk-related information in a variety of ways. Offering multiple complementary perspectives on the interplay between key parameters renders teaching and training of risk literacy more transparent.

2017, Veksler, Bella Z., Boyd, Rachel, Myers, Christopher W., Gunzelmann, Glenn, Neth, Hansjörg, Gray, Wayne D.

Visual working memory (VWM) is a construct hypothesized to store a small amount of accurate perceptual information that can be brought to bear on a task. Much research concerns the construct's capacity and the precision of the information stored. Two prominent theories of VWM representation have emerged: slot-based and continuous-resource mechanisms. Prior modeling work suggests that a continuous resource that varies over trials with variable capacity and a potential to make localization errors best accounts for the empirical data. Questions remain regarding the variability in VWM capacity and precision. Using a novel eye-tracking paradigm, we demonstrate that VWM facilitates search and exhibits effects of fixation frequency and recency, particularly for prior targets. Whereas slot-based memory models cannot account for the human data, a novel continuous-resource model does capture the behavioral and eye tracking data, and identifies the relevant resource as item activation.

2015-05-15, Neth, Hansjörg, Gigerenzer, Gerd

We distinguish between situations of risk, where all options, consequences, and probabilities are known, and situations of uncertainty, where they are not. Probability theory and statistics are the best tools for deciding under risk but not under uncertainty, which characterizes most relevant problems that humans have to solve. Uncertainty requires simple heuristics that are robust rather than optimal. We propose to think of the mind as an adaptive toolbox and introduce the descriptive study of heuristics, their building blocks, and the core capacities they exploit. The question of which heuristic to select for which class of problems is the topic of the normative study of ecological rationality. We discuss earlier views on the nature of heuristics that maintained that heuristics are always less accurate because they ignore information and demand less effort. Contrary to this accuracy–effort trade-off view, heuristics can lead to more accurate inferences—under uncertainty—than strategies that use more information and computation. The study of heuristics opens up a new perspective on the nature of both cognition and rationality. In a world of uncertainty, Homo sapiens might well be called Homo heuristicus.

2021, Neth, Hansjörg

This book provides an introduction to data science that is tailored to the needs of students in psychology, but is also suitable for students of the humanities and other biological or social sciences. This audience typically has a basic familiarity with statistics, but rarely an idea how data is prepared to allow for statistical testing. By working with a variety of data types and many examples, this text teaches strategies and tools for transforming, summarizing, and visualizing data. By keeping our eyes open for the perils of misleading representations, the book fosters fundamental skills of data literacy and cultivates reproducible research practices that enable and precede any practical use of statistics.

2017-08-14, Neth, Hansjörg, Gaissmaier, Wolfgang

2016-03, Neth, Hansjörg, Sims, Chris R., Gray, Wayne D.

How can we study bounded rationality? We answer this question by proposing rational task analysis (RTA)—a systematic approach that prevents experimental researchers from drawing premature conclusions regarding the (ir-)rationality of agents. RTA is a methodology and perspective that is anchored in the notion of bounded rationality and aids in the unbiased interpretation of results and the design of more conclusive experimental paradigms. RTA focuses on concrete tasks as the primary interface between agents and environments and requires explicating essential task elements, specifying rational norms, and bracketing the range of possible performance, before contrasting various benchmarks with actual performance. After describing RTA’s core components we illustrate its use in three case studies that examine human memory updating, multitasking behavior, and melioration. We discuss RTA’s characteristic elements and limitations by comparing it to related approaches. We conclude that RTA provides a useful tool to render the study of bounded rationality more transparent and less prone to theoretical confusion.

2019-08-23, Giese, Helge, Neth, Hansjörg, Gaissmaier, Wolfgang

Einleitung:
In psychologischen Theorien zur Gesundheitsverhaltensförderung nehmen soziale Konstrukte, wie z.B. Normwahrnehmung, einen zentralen Platz ein. Das tatsächliche Verhalten in sozialen Kontexten wird dabei oft außer Acht gelassen. In diesem Vortrag wird daher darauf eingegangen, inwiefern Normwahrnehmungen innerhalb eines sozialen Netzwerks soziale Einflüsse beim Alkoholkonsum erklären können.

Methoden:
109 Psychologiestudierende wurden zu drei Messzeitpunkten innerhalb des ersten Semesters zu ihren alkoholbezogenen Kognitionen, Alkoholkonsum und Freunden innerhalb des Semesters befragt. Zur Vorhersage sozialer Einflüsse auf Alkoholkonsum und Freundschaftsentwicklungen wurden RSiena Modelle angewandt.

Ergebnisse:
Der durchschnittliche Alkoholkonsum von Freunden im Semester sagte den Konsum zum nächsten Messzeitpunkt auch nach der Kontrolle von Kognitionen, wie der Wahrnehmung vom Verhalten der Freunde, vorher (b = 1,89, OR = 6,64, 95%CI [1,28; 34,50], p = 0,022).

Diskussion:
Soziale Einflüsse beim Alkoholkonsum von Erstsemestern können nicht vollständig durch kognitive Konstrukte wie Normwahrnehmungen aufgeklärt werden. Dies suggeriert, dass es zusätzliche soziale Kontexteinflüsse gibt.

2017, Mousavi, Shabnam, Meder, Björn, Neth, Hansjörg, Kheirandish, Reza

2016, Gaissmaier, Wolfgang, Neth, Hansjörg