Behavioural Science Group
We focus on the behavioural science central to human welfare, particularly:
- economic and consumer psychology;
- judgement and decision making;
- psychology and the law;
- road safety and driving research
- income, inequality, happiness and health; and
- risky and intertemporal decision making.
We use laboratory and field experiments, large longitudinal datasets, and mathematical modelling to apply the core principles of cognitive psychology and behavioural science to the important decisions in our everyday lives.
The group is part of the University's Behaviour Spotlight programme, with members from Economics, Mathematics, and Warwick Business School. We have joint weekly research meetings and a weekly seminar programme as part of the DR@W laboratory.
Key areas of research
Models of judgement and decision-makingSeveral group members work on mathematical models of perception and attention, consumer choice, and risky decision-making. Ongoing or recent funded projects include Adam Sanborn’s research on the sampling algorithms used by the human brain and many others. |
Behavioural operations in policingIn collaboration with Law and Warwick Business School Kim Wade and her colleagues are exploring the decision making of front-line police officers, applying mathematical models of memory, judgment and decision making. |
Road Safety and Driving ResearchMelina Kunar, Derrick Watson and colleagues work with around 60 local authorities/Road Safety teams around the UK and internationally interested in using our road safety interventions. The team also works closely with the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership on a number of projects. |
Interdisciplinary CollaborationsWe collaborate extensively with behavioural economists both within and beyond Warwick. Recent large grants have supported the The Network for Integrated Behavioural Science (joint with Warwick Business School, University of Nottingham, and University of East Anglia) and a collaboration between Psychology and Warwick Business School investigating the behavioural economics of value. |
Research Labs
The Centre for Operational Police Research - COPR
Launched in 2014, the Centre for Operational Policing Research (COPR) is a new interdisciplinary research centre bringing together the departments of Warwick Business School (WBS), Law and Psychology. With the aim of developing a research agenda that is both intellectually innovative and has clear policy and practice implications within policing, we have built a network at chief officer level of 12 police forces across England and Wales.
Virtual Reality and Psychophysiology Laboratories
Researchers have access to Physiological measurement facilities and Virtual Reality VR laboratory along with specialist support. Projects cover a wide range of topics including, for example, the use of VR in education, road safety and simulation, and the physiological measurement of reactions to vehicle behaviour and the detection of deception.
Driver Research
The Behavioural Science Team work together to research road safety, distracted driving, transport choices and Autonomous Vehicles. The team have worked with the Police, Local Authorities, Jaguar Land Rover and Road Safety Charities in relation to driving research.
Warwick Modelling Behaviour Lab
Group Members
| Dr Elisabeth Blagrove | Professor Gordon Brown |
| Dr Michaela Gummerum | Professor Thomas Hills |
| Dr Emmanouil Konstantinidis | Dr Melina Kunar |
| Professor Elliot Ludvig | Dr Maria Robinson |
| Dr Noorin Rodenhurst (RF) | Professor Adam Sanborn |
| Dr Mikhail Spektor | Dr Jake Spicer |
| Dr Pete Trimmer | Professor Kim Wade |
| Dr Christian Tsvetkov | Dr Lukasz Walasek |
| Professor Derrick Watson | Dr Wenjia Joyce Zhao |
Honorary
| Dr Johanna Falben |
| Dr Ula Cartwright-Finch |
| Dr Sam Johnson |
| Dr Stefanie Keupp |
| Dr Nicholas Lange |
| Dr Stella Qian |
| Dr Owain Ritchie |
| Dr Sidney Sherborne |
| Dr Pablo León Villagrá |
| Dr Jianqiao Zhu |
Research Students
| Erika Aparicio | Isabelle Barrett | Pip Brown |
| Alexandra Bulbuc | Andrew Camara | Lucas Castillo |
| Peiqi Chen | Naomi Chopra | Lily Erner |
| Jing Gao | Xiaomu Guo | Prisca S Han |
| Danyang Hu | Zhihong Huang | Dasol Jeong |
| Halleyson Li | Kuangheng Li | Yunxiao Li |
| Yitong Lin | Zinan Lin | Emily Peters |
| Marc Skelton | Zepeng Sun | Zhongtian Wang |
| Mengran Wang | Thomas White | Haijiang Yan |
| Yuqi Ye | Jenny Zhou |
Scientific impact at Warwick
Paper out in @BPPjournal : "Evaluation of the 'take time to think' safer gambling message: a randomised, online experimental study". We show that this ubiquitous warning message does not credibly alter gambling in an online roulette task. Read more here
Maximising the Value of Witness Evidence
Confronting the unreliability of the human memory
Improving Road Safety Education and Driver Training
Raising awareness of the need to pay attention on the road