The Environmental Decision-Making and Neuroscience Lab combines methods from neuroeconomics, econometrics, and behavioral economics to understand how individuals make important environmental decisions, from the valuation and protection of natural resources to the purchasing of energy-efficient appliances.
The lab was established in 2010 by Dr. Nik Sawe during his PhD under the guidance of neuroeconomist Dr. Brian Knutson, when Sawe recognized that many of the choices that neuroeconomics investigates – the allocation of scarce resources, trade-offs between immediate but short-sighted gains and larger long-term benefits, motivations for philanthropy and purchasing decisions – were directly applicable to environmental issues, yet the crossroads of the two fields remained almost wholly unexplored.
By combining nationwide surveys, behavioral economics experiments, and neuroimaging using fMRI, we can better understand how individual differences in the population (in their math skills or pro-environmental attitudes, for instance) can influence green consumer choices, environmental philanthropy, and other pro-environmental behaviors. We can then assess the efficacy of policies such as eco-labeling initiatives across many distinct types of decision-makers. Moreover, the use of fMRI allows us to examine the neural mechanisms that underlie the differential effects of these policies across these different decision-makers.
Our work has been kindly supported by a wide array of organizations over the years: National Geographic, The Precourt Institute for Energy, The Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, the Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging, the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, the Stanford Center for Ethics in Society, and the Haas Center for Public Service.
The lab was established in 2010 by Dr. Nik Sawe during his PhD under the guidance of neuroeconomist Dr. Brian Knutson, when Sawe recognized that many of the choices that neuroeconomics investigates – the allocation of scarce resources, trade-offs between immediate but short-sighted gains and larger long-term benefits, motivations for philanthropy and purchasing decisions – were directly applicable to environmental issues, yet the crossroads of the two fields remained almost wholly unexplored.
By combining nationwide surveys, behavioral economics experiments, and neuroimaging using fMRI, we can better understand how individual differences in the population (in their math skills or pro-environmental attitudes, for instance) can influence green consumer choices, environmental philanthropy, and other pro-environmental behaviors. We can then assess the efficacy of policies such as eco-labeling initiatives across many distinct types of decision-makers. Moreover, the use of fMRI allows us to examine the neural mechanisms that underlie the differential effects of these policies across these different decision-makers.
Our work has been kindly supported by a wide array of organizations over the years: National Geographic, The Precourt Institute for Energy, The Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, the Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging, the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, the Stanford Center for Ethics in Society, and the Haas Center for Public Service.