PhD students | Decision, Inference, and Cognitive Economics (DICE) Lab

Neil Wegenschimmel

Neil is a Ph.D. candidate in social psychology with MA’s in both psychology and sociology. He is broadly interested in cultural and social change, political psychology, personality, meaning and belief in different contexts (religion, extremism, polarization, and nihilism), media and information consumption, and the effect of digital social life on what we see as being real or true. His current research traces the relationships between negative affective states, differences in metacognition, and authoritarian belief structures.

Outside of psychology, Neil reads and writes widely while maintaining a life-long love of music-making, vinyl records, literature, travel, and history.

Research themes: Affective, cognitive, and metacognitive precursors to extreme and the ecological factors that may influence them.

To learn more about my research see my Google Scholar page.

Odin Fisher-Skau

Odin is a second-year graduate student in cognitive psychology. He is interested in forecasting and cognitive economics. For example, his current program of research seeks to model how various cognitive biases manifest in (simulated) prediction market contexts, as well as to develop interventions to ameliorate these biases. Another line of research concerns meta-decision making (i.e. how we choose what kinds of strategies to employ when making decisions) in everyday life.

Outside of his research, Odin enjoys puzzles, playing guitar, and fiddling with his home server.

To learn more about my research see my Google Scholar Profile.

Jisoo Kim

Jisoo is a second year graduate student in cognitive psychology, with a background in social psychology, psychophysiology of stress, and biology. Her interests lie in the fields of morality, legality, and decision making. She currently studies the relationship between judicial decision-making, morality, and the economic analysis of law.

In her free time, Jisoo enjoys reading, writing, horseback riding, and sailing. She currently fosters service dogs and loves to talk about them!

Avery Bernardin

Avery is a master’s student in Cognitive Psychology. He is interested in decision-making and behavioural economics. Specifically, his current research is exploring how anticipatory emotions shape people’s preferences for choices that involve both risk and delay.

Outside of research, he enjoys cycling, climbing, and comedy.

Jordan Sheen

I am a PhD student in cognitive psychology. Most of my ongoing research concerns persuasion, prosociality, and economic decision-making. I predominantly use AI dialogues to promote long-term attitude change so that we can study which argumentative styles work best and which cognitive mechanisms are activated when someone is persuaded. I also examine how accurate people’s self-perceptions of persuasion and prosociality are. In my other research, I use economic games and social dilemmas based on game theory to measure how people respond to incentives and social rules.

Outside the lab, I am obsessed with playing games, no matter what form they take. I also love exploring new places and enjoy learning new things about people.

To learn more about my research see my Google Scholar page.

Doğukan Demircioğlu

Dogukan is a Ph.D. candidate in Cognitive Psychology. His background also includes cognitive science and philosophy. His research centers around emotions, motivated reasoning, and decision-making, with a specific focus on understanding the psychological mechanisms behind people’s economic preferences. Recently, he has been exploring how people’s intuitive theories of emotion and cognition impact their risky and intertemporal choices.

When Dogukan is not researching, he finds joy in swimming, running, and doing yoga.