The Global Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Jan K.'s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Jan K.
Qualifications:
Previous academic positions
- 2012-2020: Research Scientist --- Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- 2017-2018: Research Scientist --- German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin, Germany
- 2007-2012: Research Scientist --- Department of Organizational Behavior, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
- Before 2007: positions at RUB, Bochum; University of Erfurt; Arizona State University, USA
Education
- PhD and diploma in psychology (RUB, Bochum, Germany)
- Studied psychology, philosophy, dramatic arts, and German language (RUB, Germany; Harvard University, USA)
- Drama instructor (Unna, Germany)
Research interests:
- Simple heuristics and decision making: I study descriptive and normative properties of structurally simple human decision heuristics in individual and social settings; also comparing them to standard and advanced techniques in statistics and machine learning. I investigate information search and cue use in human decision making. To reach these goals, I utilize experiments, computer simulations, and mathematical analysis.
- Serious games: I develop serious games to explore decision making in simulated environments, including board-games.
- Behavioral ethics and moral psychology: I investigate the power of interventions and institutions in distributive justice, cooperation, punishment, and interpersonal commitments.
- Crowdsourced online research: I investigate the dynamics, possibilities, and problems of crowdsourced online research. This theme encompasses several subprojects and includes the qualitative and quantitative assessment of insufficient effort responding, and an analysis of professional participants on Amazon Mechanical Turk and comparable platforms. I also focus on questions of Big Data methods, Big Data Ethics and, in particular, Data Privacy for crowdsourced participants.
- Economic psychology and investment decisions: I study investment decisions and decision policies used by naive and professional investors, and explore economic interactions in incentivized experiments.
- Computer simulations: Using agent-based simulation methods and techniques from artificial life, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary computation, I study social interaction, decision making, and the performance of heuristics and strategies.
- Interdisciplinary projects: I transfer methodologies between disciplines and dovetail approaches originating in psychology, philosophy, machine learning, and economics.
Media mentions
- The Economist: https://www.economist.com/business/2020/02/27/when-rank-leads-to-rancour
- People Management: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/voices/comment/why-ranking-staff-leads-to-destructive-competition
- IESE Insight: https://www.ieseinsight.com/doc.aspx?id=2143&idioma=2
Google scholar profile
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xTS1e48AAAAJ&hl=en
Artistic projects:
German drama workshop (Arizona State University, 2003), playwright
Teaching
Judgment and decision making; Cognitive, social, and statistical heuristics Gamification & Serious Games Behavioral ethics; Behavioral economics Bounded rationality; Organizational culture Negotiation; Strategic interactions Management Science; Business modelling
