Decision Research

Decision Research (DR) investigates human judgment, decision making, and risk.

Our research scientists and associated research staff have a wide range of expertise and work on basic research and in a variety of applied areas including aviation, business, environmental issues, finance, healthcare, intelligence analysis, and terrorism.

We work with private companies, nonprofit organizations, and federal and international agencies.

Research Capabilities

Featured

Building upon work in cognitive science, social psychology, and neuroscience, our researchers develop, test, and apply affect-based theories of judgment and decision making.

Aviation Safety

Our research is aimed at developing a deeper understanding of aeronautical decision making and developing enhanced aviation training and decision-support tools.

Compassion

Our research explores psychological barriers to compassion such as psychic numbing and pseudoinefficacy and seeks to develop ways to mitigate their harmful consequences.

Environmental Decisions

What political, cultural, geographic, psychological and other factors drive environmental perception and behavior and how can we develop methods to help individuals and organizations make better decisions about environmental management?

Genocide Prevention

We examine the psychological causes of genocide and suggest designs for legal and institutional mechanisms that will enforce proper responses to genocide and other forms of mass murder.

Health Economics

We apply decision-making science to help healthcare providers make better decisions.

Heuristics & Biases

Since the 1960s researchers at Decision Research have been conducting research designed to reveal the cognitive and affective mechanisms that are utilized in human decision making.

Risk Perception

How do individuals and organizations “perceive” natural, technological, and social hazards? How can their communications be improved to enhance their decision making, and how can their behavior achieve the best tradeoffs?

Risk Assessment

Our research is aimed at investigating the problems associated with risk assessment and developing techniques for overcoming them.

Nuclear War

Our psychological studies have implications for concrete steps that can be taken to reduce what are unacceptable risks to humanity.

Classroom Decision Skills

With the support of administrators and teachers we have been exploring the possibilities for systemic changes in students’ individual and collective choice-making skills.

Terrorism

We study the social amplification of risk from terrorism and devise methods for estimating the effects and combating them.

Traffic

Our research focuses on understanding drivers’ risky decisions and behavior, such as speeding, driving too close to the vehicle in front, texting, and other distracting activities.

TRIAD - Tool for Risk Identification, Assessment, & Display

A new computerized approach for conducting risk assessments developed at Decision Research with support from NASA. It is designed to provide a flexible approach to practical risk assessment with wide applications in government, industry, and business that avoids many of the pitfalls of the common informal approaches.

News and Stories

Featured

Paul Slovic receives the Franklin Institute’s 2022 Bower Award for Achievement in Science

Paul Slovic and Colleagues Receive Best Paper 2021 from Risk Analysis

Decision Research's 45th Anniversary Celebration

Podcast and Radio Interviews with Paul Slovic

Paul Slovic, president of Decision Research and professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, has been featured in number of recent podcast and radio shows to lend his expertise on psychic numbing, the Covid-19 pandemic, and other topics. . . .

The Arithmetic of Compassion

In 2016, researchers at Decision Research launched the educational website The Arithmetic of Compassion to teach people about psychological barriers to compassion, including psychic numbing, pseudoinefficacy, and the prominence effect. . . .

1,000 Publications

Decision Research scientists have published over 1,000 reports, articles, book chapters, and books on decision making and risk management. . . .