From Decision Theory to Personality Based Decision Theory

In this research, the PIs plan to develop a new theory of human economic and strategic decision making and behavior, to test it experimentally, and to investigate the neural and genetic basis of the factors identified in the model. The approach involves unifying two different theoretical views of human behavior. One view, derived from Personality Theory, involves what are known as the "big five" -- five major dimensions of personality shown to influence behavior. The second view, derived from Decision Theory, is that economic behavior is determined by attitudes toward uncertainty and attitudes regarding allocations of rewards and penalties over time. Aggregating the two theories produces an ad hoc model of human nature with seven parameters or more. Preliminary data show that this increases our ability to predict behavior substantially. The research will further explore the predictive power of the model and relate the traits derived from personality and decision theory to their neural and genetic underpinnings. In terms of broader impacts, this research will contribute to both our ability to predict individual behaviors in given contexts and tailor interventions to modify behaviors in circumstances were this is desirable.