Topics
Nudge :
Decision biases can be harnessed to influence behavior. "Nudges" are small changes to people's decision-making environment that make certain choices and behaviors more likely, without restricting people's freedom of choice. My work on nudge includes using default flu-shot appointment to increase flu vaccination rate, using a worse sanitizer option to promote hand hygiene, and using fruit-and-vegetable pictures on lunch trays to promote healthy eating among preschoolers.
Decision Biases:
People are not perfectly rational. The difference between the rational model of decision making and how people actually make decisions are decision biases. I have studied decision biases such as the Naturalness Bias—people's preference for natural options over equivalent unnatural options, "100% effect"—the attraction of the description 100%, even if it refers to 100% of a small subset, and how the perception of percentages are distorted.
Policy:
Much of my research has implications on policy, especially health policy. I also study policy questions directly, such as how to allocate limited healthcare resources, whether the public has different views for how resources should be allocated depending on the type of resources, how it is described, and whether it has life-and-death consequences.
Vaccination and Altruism
I have a long-standing interest in vaccination behavior, because vaccination is a key preventive behavior that takes little effort, but has major health impact at both the individual and population level. I study the role of altruism, risk perception, and naturalness on vaccination behavior. My work on nudge also overlapped with my interest in vaccination.
To see more research under each topic, click links below.